Tank restart

[Iconicjellyfish]

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas! Unfortunately I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to completely restart my new 48+14 reef tank luckily I only have a clown fish that has stuck with me through it all! Started out rough and didn’t know what to do got impatient and didn’t start a QT and used conditioned tap water for the first 62 gallons and rodi for the water that evaporated. I believe this might contribute to the recent deaths of a couple fish as well as some bad practices on my part and just want to completely start fresh and add more of the same live rock as well as aquascape a little better. I have what I believe is live rock 2.1 that had been cured at the store?? Maybe they had it in a cascading tank I didn’t ask why they did this I assume maybe to sell the water weight too? My main question is how do I completely clean this live rock without turning it white? Just let it dry out for a week or so? Bleach? I plan on getting new sand and completely clean all surfaces with rodi. Any help would be greatly appreciated I didn’t see to much on cleaning this type of rock without turning it white if anyone maybe has a link that would be great too! Thank you in advanced.

 

[Terri Caton]

It would help if you tell us what kinds of problems you had to make you want to restart. That could affect how you need to proceed.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

It would help if you tell us what kinds of problems you had to make you want to restart. That could affect how you need to proceed.

probably not good reasons lol, maybe you could help solve the problems too, Ive killed about 5 fish in the last 2 weeks and have no good reason why they die the same day i put them in my tank, parameters are fine(im gonna get a tds meter asap) i got a little ahead of myself as you can see in the thread i put down below. and the way i look at it, if im gonna start cycling a qt tank i might as well restart my DT but maybe im going way to extreme with that too.

Ammonia isn’t coming down

Hello fellow reefers! I’m cycling a 48gallon tank with a 14 gallon sump. I’m brand new to salt water aquariums. When I went to my local fish store to get my tank I got everything I needed in a kit from aquatop. I had the guy show me everything I need and long story short for two weeks I wasn’t...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

@Terri Caton you actually responded once to that thread

 

[Terri Caton]

Ok. Read through all posts on the other thread. Here’s my opinion for what it’s worth.

Don’t restart your tank yet. Restarting is a super drastic last measure. You will lose all of the good things that are already there.

Get some Polyfilter. See if a color change will tell you anything about something bad in your tank.

I’m not sure how many or what % water changes you have done?

Are you running carbon?

Once I know those answers I’ll give you the rest of my 2 cents.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Ok. Read through all posts on the other thread. Here’s my opinion for what it’s worth.

Don’t restart your tank yet. Restarting is a super drastic last measure. You will lose all of the good things that are already there.

Get some Polyfilter. See if a color change will tell you anything about something bad in your tank.

I’m not sure how many or what % water changes you have done?

Are you running carbon?

Once I know those answers I’ll give you the rest of my 2 cents.

I’ve only done a 5% water change, this will be the first week it’s been cycled

I’m not running any carbon just a bio block I’m going to wait till I get a tds meter to make any real drastic moves like restarting the tank, but more input helps as well. I figure restarting it might help me mentally slow down because I’m weird lol

 

[Terri Caton]

No you’re not. Lol. When things seem disastrous it’s normal to be tempted to have a “do over”.

Get some Polyfilter. Not only will it tell you if you have abnormal metals in your tank but it will filter them out.

Since you already have live sand and rock you can do a couple of huge water changes. Like 90%+ and be fine. Your clown will be too. Just match salinity and temp first. And don’t use tap water. Lol

 

[Terri Caton]

This is your first lesson in the patience this hobby requires. The saying is true, nothing good in this hobby happens fast. Including restarting your tank.

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

No you’re not. Lol. When things seem disastrous it’s normal to be tempted to have a “do over”.

Get some Polyfilter. Not only will it tell you if you have abnormal metals in your tank but it will filter them out.

Since you already have live sand and rock you can do a couple of huge water changes. Like 90%+ and be fine. Your clown will be too. Just match salinity and temp first. And don’t use tap water. Lol

So I should do a 90% water change or a couple that add up to 90%? How many times should I do it?

 

[Terri Caton]

I had a confusing thing happen like you. Ran Polyfilter but it showed nothing. Then did two 90% water changes in one week. Things started to settle down after that.
I did, strangely enough, end up losing the fish that were in the tank during the craziness one by one over the next few weeks. But any new fish added after that were completely fine. Now I’m glad I did not throw in the towel and start over. It was because of good advice I received that I kept at it and now all is well.

 

[Quietman]

See @Iconicjellyfish...always someone here that's been through it and is happy to share. Best of luck...looking forward to seeing that tank in 6 months.

 

[Tomb85]

Just remember to do research on the nitrate and nitrite cycle as that will help understand all the nasty part of reefing to help your fish survive.

 

[raketemensch]

Also keep in mind that the TDS meter is just for your RODI water, not for testing your tank, which will always have solids added (like, say, salt).

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Hey guys I forgot to post an update on this thread but I believe and am 99% sure that the fish have died to copper because I have brass fittings on the check valve I installed, I read up on here that brass fittings leak copper into tanks, and thanks to @Terri Caton for recommending poly filter cause it confirmed my belief when it turned blue within 30 minutes! Going to restart the tank cause it seems like it’s impossible to get copper out of the rocks and sand. Thanks @Terri Caton @Quietman and everyone else that helped me through this I’ll keep you updated on what goes on!

 

[raketemensch]

Hey guys I forgot to post an update on this thread but I believe and am 99% sure that the fish have died to copper because I have brass fittings on the check valve I installed, I read up on here that brass fittings leak copper into tanks, and thanks to @Terri Caton for recommending poly filter cause it confirmed my belief when it turned blue within 30 minutes! Going to restart the tank cause it seems like it’s impossible to get copper out of the rocks and sand. Thanks @Terri Caton @Quietman and everyone else that helped me through this I’ll keep you updated on what goes on!

Are those rocks toast now, or is there a way to "clean" them?

 

[Iconicjellyfish]

Are those rocks toast now, or is there a way to "clean" them?

From what I understand it will always leach copper out, I’m sure there’s a way to clean them but to get the tank back up and started ASAP and not have to deal with that I might as well just buy more, plus I didn’t aquascape very well so I can redo that too lol they’ve been “Soaking” in copper for about a month and a half now and I imagine that there was a lot more copper then just adding copper to get rid of diseases.....