My 150 Gal tank leaked and I had severe water damage... HELP!!!

[GenWhoop]

Tank Crashed, Need Help!!!

OK, here is what happened. I purchased a Top Fin tank from Petsmart about September 2003 48 x 24 x 30. Since then I have added about $700 worth of corals and fish.
I also have about 180 lbs of rock and a 2 inch sand bed.
MH lights, Chiller, and Eheim Canister filter.
This tank has been doing great up until I woke up early one Saturday 7/23/05 and heard water running in my den. :mad2: Apparently the seal at the bottom rear corner had failed and water was leaking in my den. I figure about 25-30 gallons had already leaked when I discovered the problem. I immediately unplugged all outlets and then started to panic. :confused: This was about 6:15 AM so I called a fellow reefer and asked him what to do? (Josh at the Coral Reef, El Paso, Tx.) Basically I was instructed to save the corals and fish in buckets, bins, or whatever I had available.
I had a few storage bins in the closet so I used them to house the Corals (Mostly softies) and livestock in the tank. So far I just lost a Bannerfish :( .
I then went to my local Feed store and purchased a 100 gal Rubbermaid horse troff and transferred all of the rock into it and proceeded to fill it with the water I had managed to save.
I then attached the skimmer, filter and rigged a platform for the light strip and transferred all the corals and fish to their new temporary home. I removed all of the sand and filled two and a half 5 Gal buckets and put lids on them. Whew! man, that was ALOT of work.

The next day I went to Petsmart for a replacement tank ( Lifetime Warranty) and now I have to re-do my tank and I need help as far as the manor of setting up the replacement tank.
Basically I need help in the way to re-establish my new tank. Do I dump all of the sand and rock in and wait, or can I just put everything in all at once? (I Probably already know the answer to that one)
I have a few days to plan this out because the new carpet will be installed in about 7-10 working days. We already re-painted the den so all I am waiting for is the carpet.

Please help. I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks

The Gen.

[kevin gu3]

Dunno about the sand, if you filled and covered buckets it may have gone anaerobic. You might want new sand. Everything else you did sounds great and you don't need to rush.

I'm gonna assume there isn't enough water in the stock tank to fill the tank.

Plumb the tank, smoke test with fresh, then mix salt water so when you add the stock tank contents it will be full. Aerate and get the tank temp and salinity to match the stock tank. You may need to buy a heater to do this.

Then add your live rock all at once and arrange it.

Then transfer as much water from the stock tank to the tank as possible.

Then add the fish and corals using the same process as adding new inhabitants purchase from your LFS.

Then add the remaining water.

Restore the plumbing and add the lights last.

[reefdood]

...and pray that your original tank was a fluke and NOT a sign of the quality of that manufacturers tanks. I only use petsmart for buckets of salt.

[springerhd]

I would suggest you add the sand and rock, and wait a few days / week or whatever is required while testing the water for it to cycle all over again. I bet you saved most of your bacteria / critters but due to getting mixed up out of their normal conditions and being stored in buckets, I'm sure there is some die-off.

You may look into borrowing a second skimmer for all this.

[GenWhoop]

kevin gu3

A few questions

What will happen if I use the sand that I already have in buckets? Do I really have to purchase new sand? $$$ is tight because my Home owners insurance policy didnt cover a penny.
Do I have to wait for the tank to cycle all over again during this process?
How long can I leave my rock and fish in the stock tank and since there is no sand bed in the stock tank, do I have to do more water changes or less water changes to maintain stock tank?

Thanks

[kevin gu3]

Whether or not you should reuse the sand depends on how full of crud it is. If its real new and pristine don't worry about it but yours sounds old. How did it smell when you pulled it?

If you have lots of LR I wouldn't worry about cycling. When I moved my tank I tossed the sand but used the LR and a lot of the water. Didn't cycle, no problems. AFAIK nobody else cycles in those circumstances either. There's going to be minor die-off but your rock has a lot of reserve capacity.

[kevin gu3]

Forgot to answer your last one; if you have lots of LR you can leave everything in your stock tank forever.

[Danger731]

I would just use the old sand and LR. You should be fine. How long was the LR in the air ? When I converted to my Jebo My LR was out on my kitchen table for a few hours, no problem. I did not let then dry out though. I used my old sand as well but did buy another 10 pounds to help fill the bottom of the new tank. My guess is you'll be fine and lucky you woke up !

[raskal311]

I'd put the sand and rocks in along with as much old water as you can and let the tank sit for a day or two before putting in the corals and fish. But if you have too I'd say putting evertying in at once shouldn't be too big of a deal. Your sand and rocks should pretty much as alive as it was before the leak.

[GenWhoop]

Question,

The new carpet in the Den won't be installed until Tuesday Aug 2nd (7 or 8 days from now) so I can't install anything until then.
Should I put the sand in a bin with a pwr head or something like that until my Den is ready? I happen to have an old Excaliber Skimmer and a 48 Gal octagon tank I'm not using right now.

Sorry for the dumb questions.