Soap Q Please Help!!

[tammy]

Hello everyone I need help very VERY BAD!! A few months ago we bought another reef tank and when we brought it home and set it back up it crashed. To make a long story short EVERYTHING doid in the tank - EVERYTHING. Well today I was adding a lot of water because when the tank crashed we basically let it sit there for a few weeks and the water level really dropped. So I finally fix it all up and plug everything in and when the sump starts I notice there are a lot of soap suds. A little has gone into the tank and even though I rinsed and rinsed the sump out there are still a few suds. Not many but jsut a little. Here is my question since the tank has to re-cycle since it badly crashed do I really really have to empty all 125 gallons of water? Or will the last few suds go away over a couple of months with the skimmer? I really can't affort to replace all that rock and everything now so I was hoping since everything in the tank is already dead I was hoping the skimmer will pick up the few suds that are left. Thanks in advance for your help.
T
PS....No, I didn't wash anything with soap, I never do that with anything that goes in or near a tank. I think one of our two toddlers may have gotten a little of the laundry soap in there. I think it was Tide, if that makes a difference.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

OK - bummer and yes you should remove everything from the tank -
go buy a new plastic trash can and fill it with new saltwater. Get some of the powerheads and the heater in it and run them to the right temp/circulation. Move your rock into the "temp" tank and clean out your skimmer - move it too. You can put your sand in the temp unit as well.
Clean out the rest of your equipment piece by piece and replace the water in the tank to about half full of new water. Get the tank ready by setting the right circulation salinity/water temp (you are going to need two heaters - one for the temp and one for the main tank) and when you do water changes from your existing tank put that water into the tank.
Start putting the rock and sand back into the tank aftger about two water changes on your other tank. Begin filtering, add the rest of the rock and sand back into the tank over the next two water changes.
Turn on the skimmer and your tank will be semi-cycled.
Good Luck