Help with a SPS 55g Restart!

How success would the be if I cycled the rock in a seperate container once its done taking the old rock out, live stock, and then remove the old sand DSB and replace it with 1" sand and put new cycled rock into tank? Say I did this in a day. Would I be able to put fish, anemone back into tank that night? Just trying to plan this out. I love my anemone and I am trying to keep it is all. Looking at options
 
Honestly, I like their BRS reef saver rocks better, but that is just imo. I would keep some of your live rocks and mix in dry rocks. Figure out why your system crashed in the first place or it will repeat. I use natural oceans sugar grain. I recently decided to redo my aquascape and will be adding dry live rock. They are very similar or is the same as BRS reef saver rocks. Hope everything works out and good luck!
 
I think i have 2 issues one is old tank syndrome the second is Xenia has taken over all my rock except the piece with my anemone on it. If i use any rock that i have now it will only be that piece and may set that up as a center piece. I have not decided on which rock I am going to use yet
 
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Well my roommate who owns the house if I take the tank down to do this wants to take a few days and put in new flooring. So now I need a new plan of attack. Can the livestock live in a Brute trash can for a few days?
 
Let us know when you start something. Look forward in your results more so then thinking what you should do.

+3 on real LR that was suggest a few times on your last thread as well. Should be the fastest way to restart successfully.
 
Ok, I know it is suggested that I start with live rock, but the money just isnt there to spend $600-$700 on rock I wish I could. I am going to go with dry rock. With that said what is the best way to deal with it once it gets here. I have it ordered. I have seen some have soaked it in a bleach bath, Muratic Acid bath, and some have used Vinegar. Bleach I worry about, never used in tank. Acid is not that easy to come by anymore from what some have said. I was thinking of going with a vinegar bath of 50/50 to help remove dead matter and lower PO4. I was thinking of doing a 24 hour soak in water, then do a 50/50 vinegar/ro/di water for 24 hours, clean and scrub ruck with a brush, soak another 24 hours on ro/di water. Then mix up a fresh batch of saltwater mix and test PO4 every few days and see if they are rising. If not then I will add some bacteria piece of shrimp and get the rock curing. I was also thinking after the first vinegar bath let it dry out for a few days, figure out how I wanna stack it, drill it if needed then start saltwater mix. What do you think?
 
Muriatic acid is easy to get, a pool store, a real home center or hardware store, all will have it and it works so much better than vinegar. Your plan is a good one except for the vinegar.
 
Part of what worried me about the Muriatic Acid was some people have reported that it completly dissolved some pieces of Pukani
 
If you mix it correctly, one part acid to ten parts water it will be dilute enough to not do at, and you control how long it is in there. Anyone who completely dissolved their rock did not follow directions. I did vinegar first and have done three subsequent acid baths all with muriatic, I did not lose or overly dissolve any rock.
 
Yea the onething i have always thought was that my rock was very very heavy and not very porus. The Pukani is very porus, light and i like the look of it. I am planning on drying and acid washing the rock i have for my next build
 
When i start cycling new rock hopefully this weekend is it better to add bacteria which i already had, add a cupful of existing sand from DT or should i add both to the container i am going to cycle rock in?
 
When cycling the tank can I use the saltwater thats in the tank now if I drain it into a container or do I have to use all new saltwater? Seems like a waste to drain it all out then fill up with fresh?
 
PO4 in tank is .049ppm or 16ppb on the Hanna 736 in tank from Pukani rock this is week two. I am running GFO to pull PO4 out of the rock
 
kissman running gfo,, nah ;) guess you want to didn't want to wait for a natural cycle. I've heard it takes time to removes p04 from rock (purging naturally), time you can't speed up. I wonder if you pull the GFO off line the p04 in the water column would increase after a few weeks since the rocks would be still purging. Others may know more in detail from what I'm suggesting, could be totally wrong but regardless I would test your p04 a few days/weeks after you remove the gfo you may be surprised. Let us know.

Brad
 
Brad65ford I appreciate your input on my other thread and Oh I totally agree with you, my plan is to continue to run GFO for 2 more weeks then like BRS suggests do a 100% water change and stop running the GFO. I don't want to run it once the rock is done leaching. At the same time the cycle has begun as I cure the rock. After doing a 100% water change I will see if the rock continues to leach. I will test the water for PO4 as soon as I fill the tank and then wait one week and test again to see if the rock is still leaching. How does that sound? I also have a question about the cycle. I just got my Nitrite test kit in the mail and a new ammonia kit as mine was a few years old. If I am showing nitrites which I clearly am do I need to worry about adding an ammonia source anymore? I was using the rock plus some freeze dried krill I use to feed my BTA but it was pretty much gone in the media bag. I removed the media bag and have not added any more krill for the last 2 days. My ammonia is about .5. I assume since my nitrites are at least 5ppm that my ammonia should be coming down any way. Is that correct? I assume your name is Brad and you own a 65 Ford what?

I do want it to be a natural cycle, but after all I have read with Pukani I see ammonia turns to nitrite turns to nitrate, and PO4 turns to algae after cycle. That is why I am running GFO
 
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Well as with all of us reefing is a hobby and at one time i used to be into fast fords/mustangs. Since then I've moved on and found a new hobby to dump money to (4 pieces of glass in which you throw money in between = reefing:)) Needless to say I now drive Audi's and don't mess with modifying cars. They are a joy to drive you forget about driving which i love.

Only reason I keep mentioning GFO subject is all the "possible" negatives that can happen quicker then good when using them. With your last system it looked so unbalanced i blame the GF0 a side from possible OTS etc.. One thing people don't realize is its not bad to have some algae growing in the tank I use it as a guide. Yes we all hate it but stripping the hell out of the p04 imo is to easy to do and its hard to bounce back from a strip system. Also there are a lot of beautiful sps corals that can take higher p04 levels. It seems as tho these days the thought is "get as close to 0 p04 for sps's" which is totally not ideal. If sps keeping was as simple as purchasing a GFO unit everyone would be doing it. Most GFO units I've seen used successfully are on larger tanks with large fish/food loads. Personally I've always had a problem controlling my p04 when running a sand bed but since then I've choose an BB system and i'm happy. Now it did take a few months to figure out the balance but now that the coralline is growing strong so is the corals.

I wish you the best, hopefully you will find the balance for successful sps's you desire. Don't forget you have a while before things start looking good. I give you a few months I hate waiting for dry rock takes what feels like forever, don't rush it. Also get the alk and ca as stable as you can when you do add your corals. Oh also start with some monti's, stay away from the harder acro's until you get the feel of what the corals like.

All the best,
Brad

p.s. keep it simple and take your time. Nothing good happens quickly, trust me.
 
I figured you were Mustang, LOL. When I was 18 I had a 1971 Mach 1 stock 429 was a beast! Wish I still had it. Anyway I know running the GFO can strip the tank which is part of the reason I want to do a 100% water change and stop running GFO. I am more at the moment worried about removing the PO4 from the rock but like I was saying while that is happening the cycle will begin. I know that the bacteria stick to the rock, sand and walls. So doing a 100% water change after 4 weeks hopefully will replenish the nutrients. I can continue the cycle. I also know that I will have some algae to start with which is fine, that's when I add a CUC. I don't want a field of grass, LOL! I appreciate your advice. Some people run there Pukani with LC I am doing it with GFO because I already had it.
 
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