Next step to take?

star

star

Member
I posted this message earlier today in another section and have not had a single response so I thought I would try to see if anyone would help me here.
I have just totally redone my 55 Gal. tank after loosing everything. My heater exploded in the tank and long store short, no fish are left. After trying everything to get the nitrates down, I finally removed all the LR and took out and replaced all the LS added about 10 gallons of the original water back which was covering the LR and have the LR back in the tank. All the rest of the water is new salt water. Only living critters are 1 brittle star, one peppermint shrimp, 3 hermit crabs, 2 sand sifting snails and about a dozen tiny little snails. I did this on Sunday and as of this morning everyone is still alive.
Ok - now my question is what do I do next? Do I just let it run for awhile? Do I add a cleaner crew now? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
gmr48

gmr48

Member
id watch it for a week or so and see if theres a spike, there might not be one cause of the live rock from the old tank but the new sand might cause one! but then again im new to all this so what do i know, ill leave it to the experts
 
robertmathern

robertmathern

Active Member
did you replace the sand with true live sand or just the bagged stuff at the lfs. If it was the bagged stuff at the lfs you wont really have a cycle. I say add a feww cleaners and slowly add stuff in the tank. But like GMR said wait a week to see if you get a spike. If you do it will be small and not last long.
 
star

star

Member
It was the bagged stuff from the LFS - all I could get my hands on at short notice. It looks great - but the water is still a bit cloudy - thats from the new sand right??
 
robertmathern

robertmathern

Active Member
Originally Posted by Star
http:///forum/post/2921377
It was the bagged stuff from the LFS - all I could get my hands on at short notice. It looks great - but the water is still a bit cloudy - thats from the new sand right??
Yes its from the new sand should be gone in a couple days. So since it was the bagged stuff sitting on there shelf. Test your water over the next few days. I dont think you are goind to have a cycle at all. Just slowly add a cuc if your test come back good in the next few days.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
How high were your nitrates how long was the tank set up before you took out the LR and replaced the sand
 
star

star

Member
Yes, this is the same tank when I joined in 04 so it had been going for some time when the heater exploded.
We tested so many times for nitrates and have gone thru so many kits its ridiculous.
Finally got to the point that as soon as you actually add the final drops to the test tube it immediately turned bright red (dangerous levels) so wouldn't bother go any further.
I did water changes to the point that we started messing with other levels so slowed down with that and still no change.
I removed all the bio balls, foam etc that originally came with the filter, tested again, still bad.
We put in LR into the now empty holder which was the filter underneath with carbon in bags and changed it out every couple of weeks. No change.
We added a couple of hunderd $ worth of LR to the tank - sorry don't remember weight, but several huge pieces more as I didn't really have that much to start with - still no change.
Now the funny thing is all the inverts were thriving. The snail were having babies on the glass and the little white guys where running around everywhere, there were hundreds of bristle worms in the sand bed and the crabs were quite happy. The tiny starfish that come in the LS were all doing great.
Keep in mind, I have been fighting this now for over a year. Hit a very hard time financially and couldn't do much with the tank, so for my Birthday last week got some help to try to get the tank going again.
I added some sand sifting crabs and more shrimp back in November - they all seemed to be doing great - then early Jan. all of a sudden couldn't find any bristle worms, no little guys on the glass, no little starfish, only find the guys listed above. So something finally happened and changing out the sand was my last option. I am hoping that it was a smart move and not another step backwards.
 
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