Starting over 90 gal after 3years

[iamfor3]

Hi,
I have a 90gal tank that has been running about 8 -10 years. The past 3 it has just been sitting running and no water changes nothing just adding water. I want to start back in the hobby and reboot my tank also move it to a different part of the house. What to do with my live rock? can I reuse the sand? Still have asterina starfish in tank and who knows what else.
What to do ? Clean live rock and sand? Kill everything?

 

[blaxsun]

I guess it depends on how many pests there are in the tank and how "clean" you want your tank. Definitely clean/rinse the sand thoroughly, bake and dry if you plan to re-use it. There are some threads on bleaching your existing rock on R2R if you decide to "nuke them".

 

[brandon429]

do not nuke the rocks you can see they're perfect from the pics. simply rip clean the tank, move it to where you want.

 

[iamfor3]

I guess it depends on how many pests there are in the tank and how "clean" you want your tank. Definitely clean/rinse the sand thoroughly, bake and dry if you plan to re-use it. There are some threads on bleaching your existing rock on R2R if you decide to "nuke them".

Won't know until I tear it down I guess

 

[brandon429]

there is no need to bleach or sterilize the rocks, the bacteria on them are fine. to do so would set your new system back, those are still live rocks in great condition. sitting without feed didn't harm them, they still got feed from trace sources/contamination pathways within any home.

heres how to rip clean the sand/the tank

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

clean it first then reassemble it where it should be, as a totally ripped clean tank. you won't need bottle bacteria, your cycle is just fine, sitting in water can't uncycle live rock.

 

[Seansea]

No light on it for 3 years? I would just move the rock right in. Any aptasia or things like that are surely dead. Crazy you have aterina stars with no food going in. Tough little buggers. I would just use it to cycle your new set up

 

[iamfor3]

No light on it for 3 years? I would just move the rock right in. Any aptasia or things like that are surely dead. Crazy you have aterina stars with no food going in. Tough little buggers. I would just use it to cycle your new set up

Lol I just look in it today and seen one on the glass. I was impressed it was in there also

 

[iamfor3]

Lol I just look in it today and seen one on the glass. I was impressed it was in there also

 

[Mikeltee]

You aren't the only one bro. I have had a tank for 14 years. Over 2 years ago I got collia dinos and couldn't get rid of them. I didn't do a water change for 2 years and didn't have a skimmer on for one. Finally I started to see sponge grow. I did a water change and I'm back in the fight. I'm now dosing silicates and have a UV plumbed in the display. I'm getting ready to culture pods and phyto. I'm going to give it a few more months until I start over. Before the water change I had 5.0 Nitrates and .8phosphates. I think that imbalance is the source of my problem so I am going to use 25% recommended dose of GFO to regain balance and see. This all started with GFO + NoPox. I wasn't careful then. I will be from now on.

 

[iamfor3]

You aren't the only one bro. I have had a tank for 14 years. Over 2 years ago I got collia dinos and couldn't get rid of them. I didn't do a water change for 2 years and didn't have a skimmer on for one. Finally I started to see sponge grow. I did a water change and I'm back in the fight. I'm now dosing silicates and have a UV plumbed in the display. I'm getting ready to culture pods and phyto. I'm going to give it a few more months until I start over. Before the water change I had 5.0 Nitrates and .8phosphates. I think that imbalance is the source of my problem so I am going to use 25% recommended dose of GFO to regain balance and see. This all started with GFO + NoPox. I wasn't careful then. I will be from now on.

Good luck bro! Keep me posted