salt water tank re - do?

Question
Hi Bill,
so I set up this tank 5 years ago, have had various fish and things, and have kind of given up, my tank sits right now with water in it, live rock, sand and probably various diseases, all of my fish died about 3 months ago, even my peacock puffer who i had since day 1, all the testing i do comes back great, not sure what to do to get back up and running, drain the tank? get new sand? get rid of my live rock? start fresh with new water, new salt and things, i think maybe there may be disease in the rock and the sand.... any help will be appreciated as i love my fish tank but am just frustrated with my fish not surviving.
thanks
'Heather

Answer
hey heather,

Well, it's hard to suggest what to do as it depends on your level of acceptable risk..

If you are going to setup a tank and put in lots of nice fish and corals, and dont want to risk some mysterious problems, then i suggest scrapping almost everything you have...

If you are comfortable in knwing that most 'diseases' and parasites will die off without living hosts, and feel your tank has been devoid of live for a while then you might want to salvage certain things.. like the sand and rocks...

I guess iwould have to suggest trying to use what you can, and start off slower and see if things progress well, or stagnate or die off...

If after a while you see things doing ok, then to expand and get more fish and corals stuff...


I guess i would suggest removing 80% or so of the water, and using new water... and jsut prior to syphoning the water, to give the sand a little stir to kick up and syphon out the junk that may have settled...

IT might be good to remove the rocks and swish them around in some used salt water if you ahve some, or just use fresh salt water... and reove whatever is settled in them as well


Then replace everything, fire it back up and start testing...

I would imagine you will get osme ammonia after all the stirring up and what not, but it should settle back down relatively quickly.. (days)


please keep me posted as to what you do and how things work out..

You may join my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com and post blogs andupdates there... there are a few more members there that will be glad to offer some support and suggestions and they might actually have experienced something more similar to you then i have... and offer more specific information..


best of luck,


bill