For People with tank losses: And for those willing to help...

[Serra]

Thank you Paul. Please let Leigh Anne know.

[peaceinusa]

Here is my tally on the frags I have ready. I have them on a frag rack I built, so I can keep them for a while if needed.

-1 Medium sized 2 branch hydnophora
-3 Head Neon Green Candy Cane
-2 Encrusted Gargonia (approx 2'x2" each)
-2 Orange Zoas (about 10-12 polyps each)
-3 Branches Common Xenia on 1 piece of live rock
-1 small live rock covered with brown polyps
-1 2"x2" Green Star Polyps (about 30 polyps)
-2 Kenya Trees (providing anoyone wants these!)

[bigScott]

im not goin to the january meeting.. however i got a few frags if someone wants to pick them up..im not rejoing comas this year..but ill still be on the boards..i got zoas an blastos to donate..

scott

[pwhitby]

Everyone:

Can we arrange to have all frags/donations be bought to the February meeting,

Most of the people I spoke with who have tank losses will not be ready to accept frags till then.

Thanks,

Paul.

[ReefShop Girls]

That's fine. Just let us know.

[pwhitby]

Curing live rock and reconditioning a tank.

If you have been unlucky enough to have suffered a tank loss during the recent power outages here are a few suggestions to get you back in order before restocking your tank.

The amount of action you need to take depends very much on your losses and whether it was a whole tank, or partial tank loss.

At the very least it is important to monitor the current nitrate/ nitrite and ammonia levels. If the tank was healthy before the loss it is likely that the bacterial population will be sufficient to have removed ammonia and nitrite from the water, leaving elevated nitrate. If this is the case, you are already in good stead and the action you need to take is a major clean up rather than a huge recure.

If Ammonia or nitrate is present then it is likely the bacterial count is insufficient to cope with the losses and action needs to be taken. This is a worse case scenario, and Ill come to that at the end.

If nitrate is your only issue and everything looks clean, a complete water change and rock scrub should help. The best way to do this is make the water up fresh, let it circulate (powerhead) and aerate for 24 hrs. Drain the water from the tank to a barrel of some sort and then remove the rock and place in the water. Gently scoop a little of the sand up and observe how cloudy it makes the remainder of the water. If it is dirty brown, or smells like rotten eggs, the sand will need cleaning- or replacing- as well.

The best way to clean sand is to remove it all to a container and cover with old tank water. Take two 5g buckets and ¾ fill with the old tank water. Take a net, scoop up ½ net full of sand and let the water drain from it. Lower the net into the first 5g bucket and swirl the sand. Lift it and let it drain. Then repeat with the second bucket. - If the sand is filthy, a 3rd bucket will help, though I would recommend that you replace the sand if it is really that bad. Let all the water drain and add to a clean container, with no water in it.
Repeat till all the sand is washed and change the water in the barrels frequently. (This method works great for washing pulverized limestone as well).

Once the tank is rinsed, ad the washed sand, or fresh sand back.

The rock now requires cleaning. If nitrates are the only issue, and the rock smells good a simple blasting with a powerhead should suffice. With the rock underwater, take a decent powered powerhead and blast water into all the holes. You will be surprised at the gunk this blows out. Also take a scrubbing bush to any algae or dead tissue that may remain on the rock. As each piece is cleaned, rinse well.

Once cleaned, the rock can be added back to the tank and the tank filled.

If you have a sump with refugium, wash the sand the same way and request some fresh Chaetomorpha or other macroalgae to get you started.
Until you are ready to add livestock, run the tank as normal but with the lights off and skim wet to remove any other particles or decaying flesh. The tank should not recycle, but it is always possible that dead flesh may remain on some rocks causing a mini cycle. Run the lights over the refugium to assist in nutrient export through the algae.
A side benefit of this is that the pod population will explode inside a few weeks.

If you had nitrates or ammonia it is likely that a simple clean will not work, though I would recommended performing this as a first step. The rock should be removed and washed in old tank water as described, then added to fresh saltwater in a barrel or bucket and kept in the dark for several weeks- performing periodic checks on ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. If at all possible, the skimmer should be run on the barrel to assist the rock curing.

While washing the sand may help, it is advisable to replace most, if not all. Having said that if the sand can be thoroughly washed and added back to the tank, with circulation, it may recover just fine and save you money.

After a few weeks in the dark, perform a water change on the rock and a few days later check for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. If all is well....it is ready to go. Replace back in the tank and get all the filtration running again.

These steps can be tedious, but will help prevent bad algal outbreak from happening later down the line due to trapped and excess nutrients leading to pollution.

If there is livestock in the tank, only the rock can be safely removed for cleaning (it must be placed back in the tank ) and partial water changes are recommended. This will help prevent further shocks from pH and Salinity changes.

There are other ways to recondition a tank, but thats how I would do it....
As always...if you have questions, please feel free to ask.

Regards,

Paul.

[papagimp]

I'd like to add one little tid-bit here, after a call from my mother last night (one of those unfortunate people who suffered a full tank crash) now would be a decent time to rid the tank of the pesky aptasias that are so prone to showing up with all that death and dissolved organic and particulate matter in high abundance. Getting rid of em later with a stocked tank may be a little more difficult, especially if ya got em in hard to reach spots.

just a thought