Vacation Tank Cleanup Help

[GpixL_]

Hi, so I recently started my saltwater tank but went on vacation for a month. So I moved all my corals and fish to a trusted store for them to look after. I then completely shut off my tank. I am getting back in a few days and wanted to see if anyone had advice on how to deal with whatever I will come back to so I can get my livestock back in the tank. When I left I started to get some hair algae and normal algae so I assume ammonia levels are sky high, water level low, and all parameters screwed. What is a good way to clean my rocks of algae/hair algae, clean sand, glass, and get everything back on track?

Thanks!

 

[Jedi1199]

Hi, so I recently started my saltwater tank but went on vacation for a month. So I moved all my corals and fish to a trusted store for them to look after. I then completely shut off my tank. I am getting back in a few days and wanted to see if anyone had advice on how to deal with whatever I will come back to so I can get my livestock back in the tank. When I left I started to get some hair algae and normal algae so I assume ammonia levels are sky high, water level low, and all parameters screwed. What is a good way to clean my rocks of algae/hair algae, clean sand, glass, and get everything back on track?

Thanks!

Wow... you have a situation I have never seen before.

The first issue that jumps out at me is "I completely shut off my tank"

This is probably the worst thing you could possibly have done. You basically have a box full of stagnant water. I would expect that you will get home to the worst rotten egg smell...

Damage control... You have been gone for roughly 20-30 days. In that time with zero flow and zero filtration you have a box of rot! Good news is the algae is probably dead. Bad news is, so is everything else.

Drain the tank, wash the sand, scrub the dead algae off the rocks and start again. You basically need to "Rip Clean" this tank. Scrub every bit of every surface.. tank, rocks, sand, powerheads, wavemakers, skimmer, ect ect.. EVERYTHING in the system.

Start making new water the moment you get home. NONE of the existing water is usable.

 

[GpixL_]

Wow... you have a situation I have never seen before.

The first issue that jumps out at me is "I completely shut off my tank"

This is probably the worst thing you could possibly have done. You basically have a box full of stagnant water. I would expect that you will get home to the worst rotten egg smell...

Damage control... You have been gone for roughly 20-30 days. In that time with zero flow and zero filtration you have a box of rot! Good news is the algae is probably dead. Bad news is, so is everything else.

Drain the tank, wash the sand, scrub the dead algae off the rocks and start again. You basically need to "Rip Clean" this tank. Scrub every bit of every surface.. tank, rocks, sand, powerheads, wavemakers, skimmer, ect ect.. EVERYTHING in the system.

Start making new water the moment you get home. NONE of the existing water is usable.

So I have to restart the tank? Like new bacteria and everything?

 

[Jedi1199]

So I have to restart the tank? Like new bacteria and everything?

Most likely, yes.

It is possible that some of the nitrifying bacteria is still alive. (Its hard to kill that stuff) but the tank is basically "nuked"

After you get it all cleaned up and refilled, start testing with a QUALITY test kit (not the API garbage) and see where you stand. You may or may not need to recycle it. As I said, cycling bacteria are VERY resilient.

Since you have your stock safe and secure at your LFS, I would leave it there till you are sure you are safe to re-add them.

I dislike being the bearer of bad news, but reality is what it is. After a month sitting stagnant, your tank is unfit to use as it is.

 

[GpixL_]

Most likely, yes.

It is possible that some of the nitrifying bacteria is still alive. (Its hard to kill that stuff) but the tank is basically "nuked"

After you get it all cleaned up and refilled, start testing with a QUALITY test kit (not the API garbage) and see where you stand. You may or may not need to recycle it. As I said, cycling bacteria are VERY resilient.

Since you have your stock safe and secure at your LFS, I would leave it there till you are sure you are safe to re-add them.

I dislike being the bearer of bad news, but reality is what it is. After a month sitting stagnant, your tank is unfit to use as it is.

Thats what I assumed yes. I will get on it when I get back. Thanks for the help

 

[AydenLincoln]

Wow... you have a situation I have never seen before.

The first issue that jumps out at me is "I completely shut off my tank"

This is probably the worst thing you could possibly have done. You basically have a box full of stagnant water. I would expect that you will get home to the worst rotten egg smell...

Damage control... You have been gone for roughly 20-30 days. In that time with zero flow and zero filtration you have a box of rot! Good news is the algae is probably dead. Bad news is, so is everything else.

Drain the tank, wash the sand, scrub the dead algae off the rocks and start again. You basically need to "Rip Clean" this tank. Scrub every bit of every surface.. tank, rocks, sand, powerheads, wavemakers, skimmer, ect ect.. EVERYTHING in the system.

Start making new water the moment you get home. NONE of the existing water is usable.

I agree with this!

 

[Jedi1199]

Thats what I assumed yes. I will get on it when I get back. Thanks for the help

A piece of advice?

Do NOT start dosing a ton of chemicals into this system. EDIT: this INCLUDES BOTTLED BACTERIA!!

Clean it all thoroughly.

Refill with all clean new water, and then test your parameters.

One thing I see time and time again is that "knee jerk" reaction when things go wrong. This is not a hobby of overnight success.

Once you get the tank cleaned out and refilled, all of the hardware scrubbed squeaky clean, and it is running as before, Test your water. Assume you are starting from ground zero.

The difference here is it may cycle much faster than before.. I would test it at the minimum every other day.

See how it progresses.. This will give you an indication of when to start re-adding your stock.

 

[GpixL_]

A piece of advice?

Do NOT start dosing a ton of chemicals into this system. EDIT: this INCLUDES BOTTLED BACTERIA!!

Clean it all thoroughly.

Refill with all clean new water, and then test your parameters.

One thing I see time and time again is that "knee jerk" reaction when things go wrong. This is not a hobby of overnight success.

Once you get the tank cleaned out and refilled, all of the hardware scrubbed squeaky clean, and it is running as before, Test your water. Assume you are starting from ground zero.

The difference here is it may cycle much faster than before.. I would test it at the minimum every other day.

See how it progresses.. This will give you an indication of when to start re-adding your stock.

Ok so I just came back and I see that there is no algae, glass is clean, and no smell . I tested ammonia and it came out 0 which doesnt make sense to me but maybe the bb is "doing its work"? Does it make sense for me to test the rest of the water quality and see if it is somehow usable or better to just throw it away and start new? Only reason I am asking is because not nearly as much water evaporated as I thought and the 55g tank is basically full (prob has about 45-50g in it still.)