My tank is a mess

[bb9146]

While I was out of town there was a power outage and the temperature in my tank dropped 10 degrees and most of my corals & fish died. I removed the live rock that the zoos were attached to but after cleaning the dead coral off the live rock I don't know what to do with the rock. It has been sitting for a week now and has turned white, what procedures do I have to perform before I can put the rock back in the tank. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[anonome]

So sorry for the loss. Ouch, $$$$. Since the fish are gone, put the rock back in the tank and start over....let it cycle so you can start from scratch again. Clean off as much of the dead stuff as possible.

 

[bb9146]

Thanks anemone, but not all the corals died. If I just put the rock back in the tank won't it kill the corals that survived?

 

[lbaskball]

Your tank went 10degrees lower? What state do you live in? Its hard to get my temperture of my tank to even go down 3degrees here in california.

 

[triga22]

He lives in Il. Cold up there.

 

[trainfever]

If it has been sitting for a week out of the tank, then just clean it real good and put it back in the tank, it is dead rock now and there is nothing on it to start a cycle.

 

[larryndana]

Originally Posted by trainfever
If it has been sitting for a week out of the tank, then just clean it real good and put it back in the tank, it is dead rock now and there is nothing on it to start a cycle.
yeah, just clean it well before putting back in....should be fine.

 

[aztec reef]

put the rocks in a salt bucket give it a good wash then put them back in tank, check parameters and do a water change if needed.

 

[aztec reef]

Actually just do the Waterchange for fun.

 

[dennis210]

I would suggest mixing up a bucn of salt water ahead. Then place all rock that was removed into a plastic tub, siphon water out of tank to fill tub (cover rocks, replace water in display tank with new salt mix. Now geta powerhead moving water in the tub, leave it one week and then just rplace it into your tank. Now with a scuplted new rockwork display, change all filter material, clean your skimmer, clean your viewing panels, (it's like a brand new set up). Now don't touch it for a week accept for topping off. Then test your levels. If anything is off then do a water change. Once NH3, NO2, NO3, are all zero then start worry about pH, Alk, abd Ca. Go into the archives and print off a chart by Reefnut on Alk and Ca levels. Try to main a 1.023 / 1.024 SG, pH 8.3 / 8.4, Calcium in the 440 - 460 range and Alk in the 180 - 200 ppm CaCO3 range. Good luck

 

[kevin34]

Is there anyway to prevent the temp from dropping during a power outage?

 

[bb9146]

Thanks for the help everyone, this board is a great thing.

 

[reef46]

Originally Posted by Kevin34
Is there anyway to prevent the temp from dropping during a power outage?
If you don't have a backup genorator, I would say the best thing would be to wrap your tank in a large blanket to trap as much heat in the tank as possible. Though that will only help to a certain degree.