Zero Nitrate & Phosphate readings, what now?

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It's going to be difficult to add water back now without stirring up more crud from the sand. There's nothing wrong with taking out the remaining water, but if you do, I'd stir up the sand first so you siphon out as much gunk as possible. Then you'll need to add new saltwater back immediately...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Assuming you remove the remaining water, if you can find a piece of clean plastic that you can lay over the sand so you can pour in water without disturbing the sand further, that would be ideal. Otherwise, you may cause a mini cycle...

 

[CallMeLloyd]

I'm scrubbing the rocks now and placing them in tank as I get done with them as well as try to make a different rock scape. Once I'm done with rocks and rock scape is done I'm going to remove remaining milky water and add in fresh mixed saltwater. Once I put a few gallons in, I'll start adding back my water that my fish are in & continue to add in new saltwater. I may even try and syphon sand again once tank is filled back up. And will clean/replace filter media & add chemipure blue before I go to bed. I hope I never have to do this again haha. I'm also scraping off vermetid snails as I see them before rocks go back in.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

It's going to be difficult to add water back now without stirring up more crud from the sand. There's nothing wrong with taking out the remaining water, but if you do, I'd stir up the sand first so you siphon out as much gunk as possible. Then you'll need to add new saltwater back immediately...

I stirred up the sand once the water got to this level because syphoning was starting to get hard because of the level. Next thing I know I find that huge fire worm (posted in above messages)

Assuming you remove the remaining water, if you can find a piece of clean plastic that you can lay over the sand so you can pour in water without disturbing the sand further, that would be ideal. Otherwise, you may cause a mini cycle...

That is a good idea, I may do that or use the bowl in tank method?

 

[Miami Reef]

So I have syphoned the sand bed and stirred it up. The remaining water is real milky, should I just remove the rest of the water? I have my fish in 15g of my original tank water.
Kind of at a stand still, not sure what to do..

That’s normal. It’s just sand particles, detritus, and maybe even calcium carbonate.

If you want to be ultra thorough, you can remove the entire sand bed and wash it with tap/RO water.

I would just fill it back up without rinsing and allow your filtration to remove it. The white cloud will be in every tank with sand. It’s normal.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Next thing I know I find that huge fire worm (posted in above messages)

That's not a fire worm. It's a common bristleworm, very beneficial detritivore.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Once I get tank filled back up, it will be okay to add back my live stock tonight right? I hate to leave my corals & fish in a brute over night.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

I'm also pushing my foundation rocks to the bottom glass which I didn't do when I first set up my tank So far I'm about 6-7 hours into this, taking longer than I thought but I can tell it will be worth it. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Holy moly!!

Pretty sure this is a peanut worm, it's a good guy

 

[crabgrass]

I'm also pushing my foundation rocks to the bottom glass which I didn't do when I first set up my tank So far I'm about 6-7 hours into this, taking longer than I thought but I can tell it will be worth it. Thanks again for all the help!

Good deal. This will set you up to be successful. Assuming rocks didn’t dry out you can re-add livestock right away

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Good deal. This will set you up to be successful. Assuming rocks didn’t dry out you can re-add livestock right away

I have the rocks in a brute can with heater. The rocks I'm slowly building rock scape with, I'm pouring tank water on them every so often. Still at it! I was wanting to syphon sand bed one more time before I put fish back in, but I'm running out of time.

 

[Mikeltee]

Start over and never let it happen again. Get rid of the GFO and whatever you are dosing.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Start over and never let it happen again. Get rid of the GFO and whatever you are dosing.

You talking about the Chemipure? I've never used GFO before, and never dosed anything except for AB+ a few times but that was a year ago.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Added in a few new pieces of base rock. Still have a few rocks left to scrub. But I have put everything back in tank, fish and everything seems happy. Going to change out filter pads and clean sponges. I kind of like this look with fewer rocks in tank.

 

[Patx]

Go the lowest you can on the light... or only blue.
I personally go black for some week, but i know its not always possible.
Great job (cross finger)

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Go the lowest you can on the light... or only blue.
I personally go black for some week, but i know its not always possible.
Great job (cross finger)

Thanks, I’ll just leave it on blue for a few days.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

I completely removed the fluval sponge out of my hob filter, and just added more 2 layer filter pads instead. May do the same in my canister filter in a week or 2.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

So… I was about to finished scrubbing the rest of my rocks and I guess I was so tired last night I forgot to put in a power head. I opened the top and smells horrible, guess I’ll be throwing these out. Lesson learned!

 

[crabgrass]

Added in a few new pieces of base rock. Still have a few rocks left to scrub. But I have put everything back in tank, fish and everything seems happy. Going to change out filter pads and clean sponges. I kind of like this look with fewer rocks in tank.

This looks great. I know it’s a lot of work, but you’ll br happy you did this.

Get a skimmer if i you can and drop the lights. Make sure you have an adequate CUC to help manage the new algae.

Also - expect a lot of die-off in the next two weeks. Filter pads, etc will need to be changed daily.

My tank smelled like low tide immediately after the same process. I put some carbon in to manage the smell.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

This looks great. I know it’s a lot of work, but you’ll br happy you did this.

Get a skimmer if i you can and drop the lights. Make sure you have an adequate CUC to help manage the new algae.

Also - expect a lot of die-off in the next two weeks. Filter pads, etc will need to be changed daily.

My tank smelled like low tide immediately after the same process. I put some carbon in to manage the smell.

The smell I was talking about is coming from the rest of my old live rock I had in brute trash can. I wasn’t able to finish scrubbing all the rock I had in my original tank pic. Thanks for the advice. I’ll be adding an urchin to my CUC and some nassarius snails.