What do I do??

[abecker]

So a little back ground on my system. I had my tank setup completely and everything was going fine until I woke up to everything dead in my tank. The tank was in the beginning stages and I had introduce a few inverts and two clowns for about a month. The power strip that I had my skimmer plugged into was tripped. I think there was a short which killed all of my fish. I drained everything and let my tank sit as it was because I was super frustrated.

Fast forward to today and I would like to try and get this thing back up on the ground. My sand and rock have been dry for a year.

Questions:

Do I need new sand and rock or can I get them to recycle?

How do I figure out what actually happened to my skimmer/power strip?

Thanks for your help!

 

[gone fishin]

You can reuse the rock and I would ditch the sand.

I would check out the skimmer pump. I would start by putting it in a 5 gallon bucket and turn it on to see what happens. If it trips the GFI you most likely need a new pump.

 

[leetch]

Hopefully some of the experts in here will answer your questions. I certainly don't qualify as one and below are just my personal opinions.

I'd ditch the sand but keep the rock. I'd get a single cured rock just to help seed the tank but I don't believe it's 100% necessary.

You are going to be starting from scratch so be patient and don't add things too soon. get the tank up and running with new sand, your rock, filtration, lights,etc. Start "feeding" the tank to get the bacteria flowing. Let the tank cycle and again, be patient.

The power problem could have been a powersurge into your house and the power strip did it's job by tripping. I don't know what you had plugged into it also as it could have been overloaded. Another possibility is that you had it too close to the tank and moisture, overflowing wter, splashed water, etc got into the powerstrip causing it to trip. If you are concerned, I'd find an electrician who can check the system and load, once it's up and running (assuming you can't do it yourself).

I have 3 power strips. I keep my filter and flow plugged into one. My skimmer and secondary flow plugged into the second one and my lighting is plugged into the third. The strips are positioned so it's impossible for tank overflow, splashes, etc to get near the circuit. My tank would literally need to explode to get my power strips wet.

Don't get frustrated. It takes time and patience and above all it takes research and resilience when a mistake occurs...and mistakes will occur.

Good luck and again, I hope a few of the experts in here provide you with some better guidance.

 

[abecker]

Thanks leetch. To answer your comments the skimmer was the only thing plugged into the strip.

Since everything was dead I reset the power strip and watched it trip again. (Sorry I forgot I tried that)

 

[leetch]

Thanks leetch. To answer your comments the skimmer was the only thing plugged into the strip.

Since everything was dead I reset the power strip and watched it trip again. (Sorry I forgot I tried that)

Well then I'd say it's one of two things.

1) Bad power strip.
2) Bad power supply on the skimmer pump.

You could try a new power strip and see if the skimmer trips it also but please be careful, playing with electricity is not fun and can cause serious problems. (I can tell you from experience by accidentally grabbing a coil wire on a running car. I got thrown backwards and couldn't feel my arm for about a week...lol).