180 Tank reboot

[ecam]

Aiptasia has killed my will to maintain a reef tank all methods have failed. I need to reboot. I plan to reboot the tank. I currently plan to do the following which I found on another thread:

“Now if the tank needs to be completely sterilized, then fill it with FW, have all the pumps and plumbing running, and add bleach at about one cup per 10 gal of water. Let this mix circulate over night. Then drain the system and refill with FW only, and circulate that over night. Repeat with FW 2 more times, or until you can no longer smell the bleach. On these later rinses you can add something like Seachem Prime to remove any remaining bleach.”

If I do this I have a few questions

Since I’m bleaching the tank. To ensure all organics are dead. Can I double up and leave the rock in the tank as well and basically bleach all rock, sand and equipment as well ?

Any Ill effects from this ?
How long should I take on each step ?

Bleach system
Bleach rock
Remove bleach
Vinegar system (etch rock for phosphate )
Drain and fill with fresh saltwater and begin cycling rock

What would be the ratio of bleach to water for 220 gallon system (180 and 75 sump )
Same for vinegar to water when etching


My other concern is that this will be done in my bsmt. Where I have my qt tank and frag tank running. Any concerns that the evaporated chlorine would harm those tanks ?

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Thanks for any tips and advise. I plan on starting this on Sunday and hopefully aquascaping before New Years

 

[jkapit]

This may be of help, my reboot thread. My tank was also overun with Aiptasia and Dino.

http://www.njreefers.org/threads/joels-175-gallon-re-build.91544/

 

[mtraylor]

Before you go nuclear. Do you have a pic of the aquarium?

 

[mtraylor]

Is all your parms under control and the only thing you are having an issue with is aptasia?

 

[ecam]

Too late for that. I drained the tank partially and got side tracked. I put flow in the display but not sump. my sump was a nice healthy swamp. So no choice but to reboot. Drained sump completely and display is almost done. Just trying to put together a game plan

 

[ecam]

Thanks jkapit. Read that on the sister site.
I was planning on running bleach and water through the entire system to sanitize the plumbing equipment and rock in one shot. Is that risky? I did notice someone mention that it was dangerous for the seams

 

[mtraylor]

Oh ok. Well I have never done a reboot like what you described, so I will just follow along to see how it goes. Good luck.

 

[jkapit]

Thanks jkapit. Read that on the sister site.
I was planning on running bleach and water through the entire system to sanitize the plumbing equipment and rock in one shot. Is that risky? I did notice someone mention that it was dangerous for the seams

Yes, I have heard running bleach could be harsh on the seems. I really don’t know. Forgot where I read this, but there is some dilution rate where bleach is still effective. You could think about doing that strength for a short amount of time.

I did use some bleach and ran it through my system for some amount of time to nuke as much as possible. I just don’t remember how much bleach and for how long. I would defer to others who perhaps know more about the risks.