Opinion on "restart"

[Rubasu]

I am getting carpet soon, so I will have to move everything out of my 40B into a 20 for a bit while it gets installed. (Just a couple corals and 3 smaller fish)

While this is going on, I am going to hook up a HOB overvlow (not going to drill this tank) and a 10g sump/fuge. I think I am going to use a HOB skimmer off of the sump so I can still have the fuge.

Question is: I have a small amount of bubble algae and a decent amount of GHA and possibly some dinos. Would it be wise for me to do an acid dip or something on the rocks before putting them back in to start "fresh"? Or maybe get new dry rock online? I can get by with everything in the 20g for a bit while the 40 is reset, so that won't be a big deal.

If so - What's the best way to go about this?

Thanks!

 

[CritterHeaven]

I think it makes sense to do some kind of soak for your rocks, rinse really really well and then even let them dry out. Only issue is of course that you will then need to let the tank cycle again before putting the livestock back in.

 

[Rubasu]

Yeah, I don't think a cycle would be an issue. If I thought I was completely overstocking my 20, I wouldn't even be thinking of doing this. So letting it cycle for a bit won't hurt anything. Thanks!

 

[Reef Frog]

Personally I would not restart an aquarium because I had the common stuff: dinos, hair algae, cyano etc. They can all come back so easily at a later date making the restart effort spent a total waste of time & effort. These things are going to happen as they are all part of virtually any marine environment, and they can be controlled successfully in other ways with some knowledge & effort. If you don't learn how to deal with these things you will never have a stable tank and will be more unlikely to enjoy the reef keeping experience.

Of course there are exceptions. Tanks that have minimal corals & other animals to disturb, extra grungy tanks that have gone to seed, exotic pest infestations, run away phosphate leaching from rocks, a toxic sand bed are but a few examples.

But for the basic run of the mill stuff? Naw. I think it's best to learn how to get rid of the basic stuff the old fashioned way. It builds character

 

[Ou8me2]

I'm not sure why you would want to start over. Most people who start over have lost pretty much everything. You'll probably end up with the same issues in time even if you restart. Tanks will go through stages of algae and all that and it's part of the tank maturing.

Solving the problems would be the best course of action IMHO.

 

[Rubasu]

Since I essentially have to tear it down anyway, will it hurt anything if I scrub the heck out of the rock? Is there anything that I can do to just kill the algae and not bacteria?

While I set the 40 back up after the carpet is installed, I am adding the 10g sump/fuge with a hob skimmer off of it. So from here forward, it will be easier to maintain so I may not have AS much algae in the DT.

I'm going to use new sand anyway since I am probably going to disturb it quite a bit while I drain and move it out of the way.

 

[outy]

will it hurt anything if I scrub the heck out of the rock? Is there anything that I can do to just kill the algae and not bacteria?

No, that is what I did during a carpet change.


Scrub the rocks and place them in a tub with new salt water in the dark.


Drill your tank and thank me later. I did using a diamond tipped grinding bit on a dremel and a squirt bottle of water. Make an external durso and the tank will be silent. My 100g was.


Your tank will still cycle again but it should only tank a week provided you keep water on your sand.


The new water will also help with GHA issues.