Tank been Dormant for 2 Months

[charleypounds@Hotmail.co.]

Hi everyone

My tank has been dormant for around 2 Months and has no fish inside.

It previously had 2 Clowns and some turbo snails and had been running with no issues for 6 months until a power cut had turned off the heater while I was away from home. Horrible for the fish and I still feel awful about it.

Anyway, the tank has now been dormant for around 2 months with nothing on in terms of light, filters, or the heater. It's been at around 20 Degrees C for the whole 2 months.

I now want to reintroduce some more clowns to it but I am stuck with how to go about doing this.

Can I do say a 50% water change and leave everything running for week for it to be ready to go again? Or am I best to empty the whole tank and start again? Also, can I use the same substrate or will I have to replace this?

The tank doesn't look too bad apart from some algae, I have attached some pics for reference.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[kharmaguru]

Too bad you didn't leave the filter running. I would say you are still going to have some bacteria and you should be able to get going again faster than a full cycle. Get your specific gravity back in line, everything running and up to temperature, do some ghost feeding to get the bacteria ramping up and let it run. Substrate should be fine once you get the water rolling again. Check your ammonia and nitrates just like a new tank, and you could be good to go in just a couple weeks possibly. Do a nice water change at that point.

 

[kfisc]

Sorry for the tank mis-hap; we all have had similar experiences. I'd agree you're in better shape to get going again than it might have been if you had a tank full of inhabitants. I'd actually top off the tank water you have now, get all your filtration and heating going, and then treat it entirely like a new tank, testing, testing testing, and with water changes as you would if brand new. I'd wager it will be a little over a month. Welcome to the site!

 

[charleypounds@Hotmail.co.]

Too bad you didn't leave the filter running. I would say you are still going to have some bacteria and you should be able to get going again faster than a full cycle. Get your specific gravity back in line, everything running and up to temperature, do some ghost feeding to get the bacteria ramping up and let it run. Substrate should be fine once you get the water rolling again. Check your ammonia and nitrates just like a new tank, and you could be good to go in just a couple weeks possibly. Do a nice water change at that point.

Hey Kharmaguru,

Thanks for your reply. I'll start that process off now. Most my parameters are okay apart from the Nitrate being quite high at around 40ppm. Ammonia is also slightly higher than normal but both of these were less than I expected. Also the salinity is quite high due to no added RO.

Hopefully should be ready soon as I am keen to get back into the hobby and also have some more rocks to add. If you don't mind me asking again, would you suggest I add these new rocks now or when the tanks levels are at a suitable level? They are not live rocks just some mined rock I bought from Amazon. Have been cured!

Thanks!

 

[charleypounds@Hotmail.co.]

Sorry for the tank mis-hap; we all have had similar experiences. I'd agree you're in better shape to get going again than it might have been if you had a tank full of inhabitants. I'd actually top off the tank water you have now, get all your filtration and heating going, and then treat it entirely like a new tank, testing, testing testing, and with water changes as you would if brand new. I'd wager it will be a little over a month. Welcome to the site!

Hi Kfisc,

Yeah not the greatest feeling, especially when everything had been going so well. Would you suggest topping it off with RO/DI water I assume? My salinity is quite high currently.

Thanks!

 

[kharmaguru]

Hey Kharmaguru,

Thanks for your reply. I'll start that process off now. Most my parameters are okay apart from the Nitrate being quite high at around 40ppm. Ammonia is also slightly higher than normal but both of these were less than I expected. Also the salinity is quite high due to no added RO.

Hopefully should be ready soon as I am keen to get back into the hobby and also have some more rocks to add. If you don't mind me asking again, would you suggest I add these new rocks now or when the tanks levels are at a suitable level? They are not live rocks just some mined rock I bought from Amazon. Have been cured!

Thanks!

You can add the rocks. Really the only unfavourable situation would be if your phosphates are high as it is known they can bind to bare rock surfaces and then potentially leach phosphate back into the water later. You should add some RODI and get your salinity back in check.

 

[kfisc]

Hi Kfisc,

Yeah not the greatest feeling, especially when everything had been going so well. Would you suggest topping it off with RO/DI water I assume? My salinity is quite high currently.

Thanks!

Definitely use RODI; buying one is a great investment that pays for itself over time. Good luck-

 

[charleypounds@Hotmail.co.]

Definitely use RODI; buying one is a great investment that pays for itself over time. Good luck-

Cheers, I just ordered one. Will definitely save me money and will save me a lot of hassle and petrol which is through the roof here in the UK!

 

[kharmaguru]

and petrol which is through the roof here in the UK!

Everywhere man. It was $1.30/litre before Putin here in Ontario (which was already too high) and now it's $2.10. Diesel is $2.30/litre (still can't figure out how diesel became more than gas). They're seriously going to break some people.

 

[VWD]

I think everyone covered what needs to be done. Get the salinity correct and everything running then a good water change and then when all perimeters are in check slowly add livestock. I’ve seen tanks shut down for months with livestock that survived super high salinity from evaporation and absolutely no water movement back when I did tank maintenance.