Restarting 225 Reef

[richw]

My 225 reef has been running for about 9 years. Over the past 12-18 months my nitrates have been creeping up no matter what I do. The nitrates are now obscenely high.

For this and a couple of other reasons I plan on taking a radical step; I am going to drain the tank and sump, do a 95% water change, take everything out of the tank (except for most of the sandbed, clean out the sandbed and sump and increase the fuge from 29 gallons to 65 gallons.

Has anyone ever done this? Do you think it will work? Will I get a mini-cycle when I put everything in and restart the tank? Any thoughts, suggestions or comments?

 

[angelman21]

actually about 6 yrs back i had the same problem with my 120 and did that exact same thing epmtied it out and cleaned the sand bed and filled with freshly collected saltwater... it worked out great in the end you should be alright especially if your gonna upgrade to a larger sump make sure you let the tank cycle properly i would recommend at least a month before you intoduce anything to the tank i would put your rock and sand and obviously the water and let it be make sure you have a good skimmer with plenty of water movement... good luck

 

[usefulidiot213]

I hope I don't have to do that. Sound's like a total pain in the tush..

 

[TruReef]

As far as sand, I would replace rather than clean imo. I've done this process several times to my 75gal. The first time I cleaned the sand and put back in, but never gained control of the nitrates, even after extensive cleaning. Just a few months ago I moved again, this time replacing the sand with special grade reef sand and love it so far.... perfect params... and yes it is a total pita...but worth it in the long run...happy reefing..