Tap water to kill parasites/ aquarium flush

[SuthernReefer]

For those of you not aware of my situation. I just setup my 75 gallon tank last week. It has not fully cycled. I currently only have 12 lbs of LIFE rock and about 80lbs of live sand in it. I have 60 lbs of Marco on the way.

Long story short, we got 2 clowns to speed up the cycle, they had ich. They haven't even been in the tank 48 hours yet, but 1 is already dead and I'm expecting the other won't last much longer.

Ive been researching on how to best treat the fish and tank. Don't want to use copper because I want to later add corals.

I got to thinking, instead of hoing fallow, would draining my tank and drying it out for some time kill the parasites? Turns out some have already considered thirs, but I don't know the results.

To take it in another direction: Since chlorine and or freshwater kills a lot of these parasites, couldn't a person drain their saltwater tank, refill with tap water, cycle it a few days, vac sand, refill, drain it, let everything dry, then refill with your saltwater. Essentially its the same thing as the freshwater dip method, only you're doing it to your whole setup

I think I'm going to give this a try, then add some bio-spira and try this cycling thing again. Anyone here think this would work?

 

[Timfish]

freshwater will work in killing everything including your live sand so if you're ok with that it will be quicker than going fallow. You might find this article informative

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

This may be incorrect but my impression is you're new to reefing. These videos you may find informative:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

 

[Spare time]

One thing you could do is set up a qt tank because by the time the qt fish would be good to go, the tank will be ready. I know that not everyone has room for a qt, but it seems like it could be a sort of win win in this scenario

 

[SuthernReefer]

freshwater will work in killing everything including your live sand so if you're ok with that it will be quicker than going fallow. You might find this article informative

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

This may be incorrect but my impression is you're new to reefing. These videos you may find informative:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

Thanks for the videos, I will definitely check them out. I really enjoy learning as much as I can. Yes, I'm totally new to saltwater, though I have ran freshwater for years in the past.

I think what I'm going to do is just hook up a python and drain my tank. Take the sand out and clean the tank really well. Then I'l add fresh sand, my new rocks, and add new media to filter.

So starting fresh to be safe and save time. Yall think the LIFE rock will be ok after drying a few days or should I wait? Was thinking of boiling them in hot water. Hate to waste 80 lbs of sand, but it seems too risky to recycle and probably hard to fully dry that much. Plus the bacteria will be gone.


@Spare time, I am definitely going to get a little 10, 20, or 30 gal. for a qt.

 

[Timfish]

Any rock and sand will be safe to use after rinsing in fresh water. Sand can be dosed with a dechlorinator or rinsed with RO/DI and resued. (FWIW I use tapwater on my systems, check your local municpalities reports, should be available online.)

From your comment about boiling I'm assuming you haven't heard about palytoxin. It's a thermally stable toxin and is responsible for ciguatera poisoning from eating fish. If reef systems it's mostly found in some palies but potentially could be eslewhere. It can't be absorbed through the skin but it can be aerisolized and inhaled or absorbed through a cut. So - NEVER, EVER BOIL OR RINSE IN HOT WATER ANYTHING FROM A MARINE AQUARIUM to avoid aerosolizing the toxin. Just rinsing off in cold tap water is enough.

 

[SuthernReefer]

Any rock and sand will be safe to use after rinsing in fresh water. Sand can be dosed with a dechlorinator or rinsed with RO/DI and resued. (FWIW I use tapwater on my systems, check your local municpalities reports, should be available online.)

From your comment about boiling I'm assuming you haven't heard about palytoxin. It's a thermally stable toxin and is responsible for ciguatera poisoning from eating fish. If reef systems it's mostly found in some palies but potentially could be eslewhere. It can't be absorbed through the skin but it can be aerisolized and inhaled or absorbed through a cut. So - NEVER, EVER BOIL OR RINSE IN HOT WATER ANYTHING FROM A MARINE AQUARIUM to avoid aerosolizing the toxin. Just rinsing off in cold tap water is enough.

Good to know. Thanks

 

[Spare time]

Thanks for the videos, I will definitely check them out. I really enjoy learning as much as I can. Yes, I'm totally new to saltwater, though I have ran freshwater for years in the past.

I think what I'm going to do is just hook up a python and drain my tank. Take the sand out and clean the tank really well. Then I'l add fresh sand, my new rocks, and add new media to filter.

So starting fresh to be safe and save time. Yall think the LIFE rock will be ok after drying a few days or should I wait? Was thinking of boiling them in hot water. Hate to waste 80 lbs of sand, but it seems too risky to recycle and probably hard to fully dry that much. Plus the bacteria will be gone.


@Spare time, I am definitely going to get a little 10, 20, or 30 gal. for a qt.

Sounds good! If you need any help setting it up, I'd be more than willing to help.