Need help please!!!!!!!

[Ashtreyb87]

Today my daughter dumped a whole container of food in our saltwater tank and i spend an hour getting it all out but in doing so i sturred up the sand. I didnt think notjing of it at the time, the water got extremely cloudy so i washed the filters out so they work better to clear it up but then i noticed a neon laying in the sand trying to breathe!!! I think i must have stirred up a bunch of amonia and other junk trying to get the food out. I had to take all my fish, anemones, coral, most of the live rock out and move them to a small quarentine tank that we just recently re-set up!!! We lost a coral beauty and a cleaner wrasse before i could get them out. Will my big tank ever be safe to put the fish back in or do we need to break the whole thing down and re-set it up? I'm afraid i have too many fish in the 29gal tank so i need help knowing what to do now!!

 

[Ashtreyb87]

We have live sand and some rock still in the tank, will they survive or do we need to buy new?

 

[Reefer54]

You created a cycle, in which you released large amounts of stored nutrients into the water column.

do a water change, not a large one, just a normal one and try to remove the silty sediment that has settled once your water clears.

Then just wait. you may do more water changes, but relax, test your params, keep the qt tank in check, provide hiding places for the fish with pvc or what you have on hand.

your tank will cycle like it did when you started. once it has 0 ammonia, check your NO3, might have to do another normal water change. it will get stable, then you may add your fish back.

sorry for the losses.