Conflicted on whether or not to completely restart

[Donny41]

So I recently bought a red sea reefer 250 to replace my 40 breeder that has started to bow out pretty bad. This was my first reef tank and is full of corals that I dont necessarily like or want, as well as a huge amount of vermetid snails that I cant stand. I have had dino and geledium outbreaks at different times as well, and while the tank is basically algae free right now, I know that they can pop up at any time once they have been in the tank. I think I can do a better job keeping out certain things now that I have more experience, which is why I am leaning towards a complete restart but then I keep going back and thinking that's crazy because I feel like I've just reached a point where all my coral is growing well coraline is starting to encrust really well and water chem has been stable and tanks algae free all of which is what I want but could potentially be disrupted by a tank transfer anyway.. feel like I'm rambling now but curious to hear if anyone has any thoughts or comments or guidance perhaps if you've found yourself in a similar situation. Thanks!

 

[Peach02]

I have a ich problem in my tank currently and the reef safe medication I am using does not seem to be working. So we both have a problem that could be fixed by restarting our tank. What I am considering is getting a bigger tank and removing all fish quarantining them and slowly transphering things over after quarantining them. You could take a similar approach by taking all things out restarting the tank and trying to prevent them.
However a majority of tanks go through a Dino and other algae bloom early on and then stabilise, this is what sounds like happened here so if you were to restart there is a high chance you would just get this algae again. Im not 100% sure on the snails but from some quick research they can be eliminated or controlled.
What I would recommend for you is work on perfecting your current tank and trying to get rid of the snails if you want to. But I wouldn't recommend restarting your tank because you had a Dino and other algae outbreak

 

[Donny41]

Thanks for the reply! Not restarting the tank because of algae and I'm actually very happy with my tank currently. It's just the tank itself is old and is losing its structural integrity. So regardless I am getting a new tank (ordered on friday) but keep going back and forth on whether I should start this tank from scratch with new rocks/sand to avoid problems that I did have during the life of this current tank or if I should just transfer everything over. Current tank has been salt water for about 20 months, had been set up as a cichlid tank for years before that.

 

[Bastray]

If it was me I would restart. Keep the old tank up until the new one is cycled. Then put the corals from the old one you like into the new one. When I upgraded my tank this is what I did. I actually cut all the corals from the old rock and then put my old rock in the sump for biological filtration. I did it more just to have a fresh start, but new rock to Aquascape how I wanted my new tank and just to start fresh with a fresh challenge.

 

[Peach02]

Thanks for the reply! Not restarting the tank because of algae and I'm actually very happy with my tank currently. It's just the tank itself is old and is losing its structural integrity. So regardless I am getting a new tank (ordered on friday) but keep going back and forth on whether I should start this tank from scratch with new rocks/sand to avoid problems that I did have during the life of this current tank or if I should just transfer everything over. Current tank has been salt water for about 20 months, had been set up as a cichlid tank for years before that.

Okay, well congrats on the new tank.
If you be very careful with your new tank you could prevent the snails from crossing over, however I'm not sure you could prevent an ugly stage that mainly comes down to luck. So if you want to be more careful I would recommend new rocks and sand, ideally dry rock

 

[old salt reefer]

One cell is all it takes. If there's one dino cell on your old coral into the new tank it goes. New tank, new sand , new rock and new coral/fish and one dino cell same thing. Choice is yours. In this hobby you fight your battles as they come. I think that's half the fun(well maybe not half).

 

[Donny41]

If it was me I would restart. Keep the old tank up until the new one is cycled. Then put the corals from the old one you like into the new one. When I upgraded my tank this is what I did. I actually cut all the corals from the old rock and then put my old rock in the sump for biological filtration. I did it more just to have a fresh start, but new rock to Aquascape how I wanted my new tank and just to start fresh with a fresh challenge.

If the the new tank were going in a new spot this is what I would do (minus using the old rock in the sump) but it's going in the same spot as the old one. What I may do is frag the coral that I do want to keep and transfer that temporarily my brothers tank while the new one cycles

 

[Donny41]

One cell is all it takes. If there's one dino cell on your old coral into the new tank it goes. New tank, new sand , new rock and new coral/fish and one dino cell same thing. Choice is yours. In this hobby you fight your battles as they come. I think that's half the fun(well maybe not half).

Yeah this is another reason why it's a difficult call because even if I do start completely new and dont transfer anything I could still easily get some crap even if I am as careful as can be

 

[Peach02]

Yeah this is another reason why it's a difficult call because even if I do start completely new and dont transfer anything I could still easily get some crap even if I am as careful as can be

if you want to prevent chances of getting problems like this I would recommend a quarantine tank and synthetic salt not natural sea water

 

[Donny41]

if you want to prevent chances of getting problems like this I would recommend a quarantine tank and synthetic salt not natural sea water

Definitely agree. I do use synthetic salt but I dont quarantine which I know would help alleviate some of the issues.

 

[Donny41]

Okay, well congrats on the new tank.
If you be very careful with your new tank you could prevent the snails from crossing over, however I'm not sure you could prevent an ugly stage that mainly comes down to luck. So if you want to be more careful I would recommend new rocks and sand, ideally dry rock

Yep dry rock all the way.. used one small peice of live rock when I first started which is how I got geledium in my tank. Not worth the risk imo

 

[Hermie]

My main issue would be the vermetid snails, that would make me want to restart. I think I have 1 in my tank right now on a hammer frag I didn't QT. I really really don't want them to spread so I have to keep a close eye. I need to kill that one right now actually. I keep trying to kill them "all" but can't stop monitoring.

 

[Donny41]

My main issue would be the vermetid snails, that would make me want to restart. I think I have 1 in my tank right now on a hammer frag I didn't QT. I really really don't want them to spread so I have to keep a close eye. I need to kill that one right now actually. I keep trying to kill them "all" but can't stop monitoring.

Absolutely hate those things. I had one on an acan frag and had no idea what it was so I didn't remove it.. year later and they are all over the place. I dont know how much of a negative effect they have in the tank but I would much rather not have them.