Thinking about hitting reset. Opinions?

[Chriss614]

My tank was plagued with ich and a hair algae overgrowth all at once and at the same time I need to move it onto a new stand. Currently the tank has no fish in it and has been Fallow for about 20 days. To move the tank onto a new stand I have removed all the rocks and placed them in bins with the water from the tank. The sand is out and has been cleaned. I'm concerned about the algea coming back as soon as the rocks go back and I'm also concerned about the quality of the water because it was mucky and had an odor. So here are the two options I see:

First option, I put the rocks and sand back in and run the water through some stockings to hopefully get out the particles causing the clouding and smell and then put back the corals and inverts and wait for the Fallow period to finish.

Second option, I throw away all of my old water and soak the rocks and sand in freshwater for 24 hours to kill the algea then let everything dry for a few days to make sure everything including the ich is dead. Then I would put everything back in and fill it with new saltwater then put back the inverts and corals and hope the cycle isn't to bad. I would then put the fish back in when they finish treatment in QT, in about 30 days.

My concern with option 1 is that the water will be of bad quality and I will get algea bloom right away. My concern with option 2 is the ich may be transfered back into the tank by hitchhiking on my snails.

I would love to hear some feedback on what everyone thinks is the best option for my situation.

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[juanmanuelsanch]

if you are going through all this hassle I would just hit reset. Have everything clean up (you need information on how to do it correctly) and then dry up.

The fish...well you can treat them in a QT tank while the new tank is cycling again.

IF you want to be extra save all corals should go a 90 days fallow period. That way if there is any ich attached to it, it will live its cycle and die.

 

[scooter31707]

Yes, I would hit the reset button. Remember, hair algae is very common in new tanks. CUC and GFO can help combat it. With no fish, it sounds like you may be getting a lot of phosphates from your rock. Did you use dry rock?

 

[Chriss614]

Yes, I would hit the reset button. Remember, hair algae is very common in new tanks. CUC and GFO can help combat it. With no fish, it sounds like you may be getting a lot of phosphates from your rock. Did you use dry rock?

I used live rock. I am actually leaning more toward just setting it back up without drying because I don't want to waste 75 gallons of water and months of bacterial growth plus the family might kick me out if all equipment and rocks and such are scattered about for much longer haha. I should be able to get rid of the algea with a good CUC.

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[scooter31707]

I would get some CUC, especially some Turbo snails and run some GFO.

 

[notenoughtanks]

I have dealt with this a few times. I would scrub all of the rocks in salt water, dip them in some clean water before you put them back in the tank. Then get yourself some Mexican turbo snails and a butt load of Emerald crabs. Then start tackling the phosphate which is the source.

 

[Chriss614]

I have dealt with this a few times. I would scrub all of the rocks in salt water, dip them in some clean water before you put them back in the tank. Then get yourself some Mexican turbo snails and a butt load of Emerald crabs. Then start tackling the phosphate which is the source.

I think this is what I'm gonna go with. Do you QT your CUC or is the chance of bringing in ich too low to go through the trouble?

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[notenoughtanks]

I personally never have. But I can't say this is good practice as I don't know for certain they can or cannot transfer it.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

if you had ich and you have the opportunity to start fresh I dont understand why you wouldnt do it. Believe me beneficial bacteria will be the rest of your worries, your water and rocks are already infected.

So either you spend 90 days fallow so the ich lives all the cycles, or you spend a month cleaning and resetting so you can have fish back ASAP.

I would also recommend quarantine everything before you put it in the main tank (and since you will be cycling you wouldnt mind). If you fail to do this you will go to square one again.

You can even use some of that water from your main tank into the QT since you will be treating the QT tank the bacteria would die.

 

[Chriss614]

if you had ich and you have the opportunity to start fresh I dont understand why you wouldnt do it. Believe me beneficial bacteria will be the rest of your worries, your water and rocks are already infected.

So either you spend 90 days fallow so the ich lives all the cycles, or you spend a month cleaning and resetting so you can have fish back ASAP.

I would also recommend quarantine everything before you put it in the main tank (and since you will be cycling you wouldnt mind). If you fail to do this you will go to square one again.

You can even use some of that water from your main tank into the QT since you will be treating the QT tank the bacteria would die.

This was my thought process at first. However, I am already about halfway through the Fallow period so if I just set it back up then I will probably get the fish back faster. If I reset then I will have to properly clean everything and throw away my infected water and dry out everything wet which will take a considerable amount of time. Then I will have to setup and wait for the tank to cycle fully again before I can add everything back. That's a lot of time for my corals to be in a small QT that was quickly setup. So the way I see it I will save little to no time by resetting. Feel free to argue my thinking, I am always open to ideas.

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