Saltwater Tank Help - Should I start over?

[Fizzogg]

Hi everyone,

I live in Houston TX and was like everyone else here, was affected by the February Freeze.. lost power and water for several days and also my saltwater tank, everything died, water temp was 39 degrees by the time the power was restored :-( Before the freeze, I was dealing with a small green hair algae bloom and was getting it under control but since then it's gone nuts. Question is... since I have nothing to lose, should I just start over? Drain it, scrub everything and start new? I put a new CUC to work but I think it's just too much and I'm hesitant to use 'chemicals'... I don't have the lights on at all (since there's no live stock (except CUC)) and scrubbing and water changes aren't working. The tank was running for about 18months (mostly successfully during that time) but now I feel I'm just wasting my time...

Would love some advice if anyone has done this, dealt with this... should I? shouldn't I? or is there a better solution

Thanks in advance!

 

[Patientman]

Sorry for the delayed opinion.
TERRIBLE what happened there! IF I were in you situation I would seriously consider a fresh start. Would be fearful of the potentially high number of dead micro-organisms that would just make it even longer for a "true cycle" to occur.
There are many experts here … hoping more advice turns up! DO keep us posted on what you decide!
Good luck!

 

[brandon429]

not only can you redo it, but we can use all your existing rocks and sand still if you want.

check these examples, these are rip cleans. we take apart / deep clean meanly/ put back without a cycle

all their fish and corals remain, only the surfaces are cleared:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

that rip clean above was fixing simple algae in two tanks, not even a crash or pre stress event but just for simple algae control in nanos.


check this list: 400 or so rip cleans same method, but for the reason of moving homes (deep cleaning reefs does not hurt them if done right)

if we move dirty reefs home to home, about a third die. If we move clean reefs, forty pages no deaths and we get new jobs daily just about. welcome to rip cleaning / breaks all the rules but nothing is better to replace the option lol

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

prep notes:

what's the one thing all those tanks have in common in our job: they're tap water rinsing the sandbed, new or old. #1 rule, tap water for reasons listed.

-light re ramping trick. mentioned over and over. start the new tank on dimmer lights than currently running.

-rocks are cleaned off in saltwater only, we preserve those bacteria. The sandbed bacteria doesn't matter, rip it during cleaning. be thorough.

we don't have to even see pics of your reef to rip clean it, this way simply works for all reefs. but post a pic if you can we might see some standout details