Tank Reboot Help (1 Viewer)

[HouseofStark]

Yesterday put some rock together and worked a bit on scaping. Planning on rebooting my over grown and neglected tank. My major issue is gettting my fully encrusted/grown together rockwork cut or broke up to be able to remove it all from tank NOT LOOKING FOWARD TO THAT. Placing that rock/corals into a stock tank, and then going to round up the fish, and place in pails....possiblly placing with rockwork in stock tank. Starting to think this might be a bad idea to then have to catch them out of that tank, with rock work and coral a second time. Then empty tank of water, removing and replacing the sand bed and installing new rock work.

My main concern is the livelhood of the fish. Coral, at this point not horribly concern about. If it makes it great, if not o well. My concern is with the fish, and restarting/causing the nitogren cycle to reboot, which Im sure it will.

Will a bottle of turbo start protect the fish from high levels of ammonia? I know the instant removal of water, rock and sand is not ideal, but honestly my only option with all the rock work grown together and neglect of the tank.

Looking for some advide and or tips pulling this off without killing my fish

 

[Ben Nicholls]

Can you add some/all of the new rock to the sump before you start? That would get it "live" and it would be able to better handle the fish load. Also save and rinse a few cups of the old sand. That will help kick start the new sand.

While the fish are out of the tank O2 is going to be key. Have a bubbler in each bucket or at least something to move the water.

 

[HouseofStark]

All good thoughts, My plan 6 months ago was to change out little by little rock wise, but with everything grown into one piece, this is no longer an option.

I am thinking of laying a few pieces of the "old" rock in the new tank where space allows..and or maybe keep one new structure out to allow for some old rock in the new setup. Will address after removing rock from tank and maybe a few hammer blows to get some manageable chunks. My plan for O2 was to drop an airline/stone into each pail during switch over.

 

[asifiqbal2]

I like that. Use some old rock with the new rock, maybe a couple cups of sand with the new sand. Once established you can remove the old rock.

 

[Ben Nicholls]

Another option for seeding your new rock. Put the new rock in the stock tank with some tank water and a cup or two of sand. If you are doing a water change you could use that water. It would be full of stuff that would colonize the rock. You could also put in a piece of old rock if you have one you can get out.

The reason I am saying the stock tank or sump is to seed the new rock with out any lights so you don't get new tank algae started on them. Plus old tank water would have the same nutrients as the tank.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Echoing @Ben Nicholls here:
I would just take your new rock and get it in a tote with a couple of pieces of your existing rockwork in there. Add a heater and power head and do weekly or bi-weekly water changes on it for about a month. Use discard water from your tank for the water changes in the tote. You can also just stack a few new pieces into your tank and/or sump. When you are ready just try and make the switch over as quickly as possible. Changing the substrate is going to be the difficult part here if you are only doing some rockwork at a time and trying to leave the fish in the tank.

I would personally get as much of the rock cycled as you can prior to starting the changeover. Drain the tank but saving the water. Remove rockwork, then transfer fish to a stock tank. Change over the substrate, add new rockwork in, then fill with saved water. Then all you need to do is wait for the water temperature to stabilize then you can add the fish back. If you have room for a couple of pieces of old rock just add it in where you can, even it is just temporary.

 

[johnki]

Yesterday put some rock together and worked a bit on scaping. Planning on rebooting my over grown and neglected tank. My major issue is gettting my fully encrusted/grown together rockwork cut or broke up to be able to remove it all from tank NOT LOOKING FOWARD TO THAT. Placing that rock/corals into a stock tank, and then going to round up the fish, and place in pails....possiblly placing with rockwork in stock tank. Starting to think this might be a bad idea to then have to catch them out of that tank, with rock work and coral a second time. Then empty tank of water, removing and replacing the sand bed and installing new rock work.

My main concern is the livelhood of the fish. Coral, at this point not horribly concern about. If it makes it great, if not o well. My concern is with the fish, and restarting/causing the nitogren cycle to reboot, which Im sure it will.

Will a bottle of turbo start protect the fish from high levels of ammonia? I know the instant removal of water, rock and sand is not ideal, but honestly my only option with all the rock work grown together and neglect of the tank.

Looking for some advide and or tips pulling this off without killing my fish

Yes, Fritz TurboStart 900 (or Dr. Tim’s One & Only) will help reduce ammonia spikes, but it will NOT fully protect fish alone during a major teardown. You still must control ammonia with daily testing, Prime/Safe dosing, and strong aeration.


Quick safest plan:

• Hold fish separately from rock/coral during reboot.
• Use heater + strong flow + bio media in holding tank.
• Dose TurboStart 900 on day 1.
• Use Seachem Prime (detox ammonia) daily as needed.
• Small daily water changes to keep ammonia <0.25 ppm.
• Add cycled media if available for extra safety.

 

[HouseofStark]

Did the tnak reboot this weekend. Still grinding, mounting and deciding on corals to bring over.

Wondering if there is anyhting I should be doing or not doing at this time.

I left the lights off for the entire transfer, now today decided to turn them on. Wondering if I should be keeping them off or put them back on and run them on normal schedule? Off for "ugly phase", on for corals?

I did place 5-6 rock pieces from previous setup, back into the DT to try to help with cycle and keep some biome. Sand..... I did end up removing and replacing everything. It was just so black brown once removed, I just felt I didnt want to put any of that back in the tank.

I added some Dr Tims one and only, some BA start xlm, and Microbacter 7 and left skimmer off for 24 hours. Sump was untouched with a fuge that has been running for 2-3 years. Hoping some pods get launched back into the DT for my mandrian pair.

Everything going to plan, have a ton of left over nems and large hammer colonies Im not sure what to do with....Im located way down in SWMN...The colonies are large, Maybe I break them up and sell frags, just not the best timing for trips to MSP.

Any advise at this point would be great.

 

[spsick]

Turning down lights for a while would certainly not be a bad idea. I would do that on a reboot if there isnt Acropora needing tons of light.

 

[HouseofStark]

I have some sps, not a ton coming over to new tank…. green slimer, orange passion, Fox flame, the others I think I’m not going to move over.

Mainly 15-20 hammers and couple torches.