need advice

[weezyfella]

Its been 12 days now and I'm still out of power from Hurricane Sandy and there is no word from LIPA as to when I'll be getting it back.
Unfortunately I've lost everything in my 80gal of three years, thousands gone. We had a generator which was running the heat in the house and my tank but it failed 3 days ago. I was also using a power inverter connected to the car during the times when the generator was off. But when the generator failed and the house temperature dropped to 50 degrees, the tank heater couldn't compete with the cold room temperature. The tanks temperature this morning was 48 degrees. Being too cold to sleep in the house and having to attend college full-time, I couldn't keep up with demand of tank. Now I'm faced with a clouded tank and complete whip out of livestock.
What is salvageable from the tank now, once I drain the water? (no fish or corals are alive at this point) sand or rocks? What advice would you give to reduce headaches and help me get back to were I once was. It's depressing and I'm annoyed at the fact I didn't have control of the situation. I don't want to leave the hobby so soon.

 

[reef bini]

Rock is good
Do a water change or two and let it run for a few days
Water tests good then start your reef again

 

[TheSherm]

The rock and sand is ok but your tank will cycle again. All the bacteria in your rock and sand are dead, needs to re cycle.

 

[weezyfella]

Should the water be completely removed or do partial water changes over a few days?

 

[Long Island Andy]

Should the water be completely removed or do partial water changes over a few days?

There is still plenty of bacteria in your rock. I would get a Rubbermaid tub and fill it with half way up with newly made salt water. Get your rocks and give them a good shaking in the existing tank water(get the detritus off) and place them in the Rubbermaid tub of newly mixed salt water. Drain the tank. Take out all the sand and either wash it with fresh water or toss in and buy new sand. Clean out the now empty tank. Add the washed or new sand and start filling with new saltwater. Add the rocks and keep filling. Removing all of the die-off will make for a shorter cycle and your back in business:wave:

Good Luck

 

[glennemo]

I'm going through the same mess. So far i did a 50% water change added a big bag of carbon in the sump and have a way over the top skimmer for my sized tank. The water looks better but is still very cloudy. When I first started the pumps the smell was disgusting. The whole house smelt like low tide lol. The skimmer is pulling the blackest smelliest stuff I've ever experienced in my life. Sunday I will do another 50% change and see what that brings. As far as params go, the ammonia spike fell pretty quick after removing the dead animals so I'm not sure all the bacteria actually died during my 7 days without power. Make sure you find all the dead snails and crabs if you had them. I sifted my sand pretty good to find all the nassarius that perished. During the black out I did have a battery powered airstone running that may have helped me. The only survivor that I've found is a red leg hermit crab.

 

[glennemo]

Update... some zoa's are OPEN. I think my star polyps may have survived ( still closed but still bumpy and pimply) And i see a G__ Damned APTASIA still kicking !!!!

 

[karp12]

Update... some zoa's are OPEN. I think my star polyps may have survived ( still closed but still bumpy and pimply) And i see a G__ Damned APTASIA still kicking !!!!

My star polyps took 7 days to open back up after five days no power just water movement and water changes.

 

[griseum]

Sorry to hear about your tank. Pretty good advice has been given. Dont let this discourage you, re-cycle the tank and think of it as an opportunity to do what you wanted to do differently this time.
Good luck.

 

[weezyfella]

I have a semi-deep sand bed, so I'm not sure if I should be shifting the sand as it had been untouched for 3 years (potential to release gases). I also had a melarunus wrasse, when I get power back I'll have to look to see if it came out of the sand bed or still hiding in there. What little coral that might survive I can't save since I'm still powerless.