Re-start Up Advice

[Myka]

If it were mine, I would toss the sand, then mix up some new saltwater and scrub the rocks with a scubber brush. Then I would "cook" the rock (link to directions in my signature). Once there is no more ammonia in the cooking rock (probably 2-3 weeks) I would add a small "fresh" uncured piece of live rock from the LFS to seed the old rock with some new life. Once the rock has been cooked, which will take probably 6-12 weeks total you can put it back in the tank with new saltwater, powerheads, whatever you want for equipment, then after a week add some brand new sand (rinsed well). The live rock will make the sand into live sand after a short while. Let the sand settle for a week, and add your first fish/coral.

In the future, if you drain the tank and store the live rock in a bin with saltwater, a powerhead, and a heater you can keep it indefinitely if you feed the rock a piece of shrimp once a week or so. The size of shrimp would vary according to the amount of live rock. I would say one of those tiny cocktail shrimp per 40-50 lbs of rock. This will keep it alive.

[gobytron]

Washing sand well is no easy task.

Unless you're really on a tight budget, I also agree you should toss the old sand and start with fresh stuff.

And just an IE as far as keeping live rock goes...
shrimp isn't the only thing live rock bacteria eats...lol

I find even throwing some pellets or some frozen fish food does the same thing.

[toytech]

Ive washed my sand for a couple of tanks now , i just put a few inches in a 10 gal pail and rinse with my hose on full blast . When no more crud or dust comes out of the sand its clean and then its just a matter of rinse and repeat.

[reef684]

Send me a pm. I can give you a scoop of sand from my tank, it will cycle much faster. There are no pests and the lady I got it from shut down her tank so the sand is like 10 years old.

[ScubaSteve]

I've done it both ways now. Just couple of weeks ago I used old sand that I washed the bejeezus out of. Super hot water in a buck 1/3 full of sand. Mix and wash it until the water coming out of the bucket is clear. Rinse and repeat.

That being said... After my swap I had a way bigger cycle than expected and it took down most of my nice big show piece colonies. @*%$. The rock stayed wet and warm during the swap, so the only thing that comes to mind is possibly the sand.

In hind sight, I think I'll just buy new sand from now on.

[cdhollan]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

I've done it both ways now. Just couple of weeks ago I used old sand that I washed the bejeezus out of. Super hot water in a buck 1/3 full of sand. Mix and wash it until the water coming out of the bucket is clear. Rinse and repeat.

That being said... After my swap I had a way bigger cycle than expected and it took down most of my nice big show piece colonies. @*%$. The rock stayed wet and warm during the swap, so the only thing that comes to mind is possibly the sand.

In hind sight, I think I'll just buy new sand from now on.

thanks to all that posted... i ended up just buying new sand, and am re-cycling the tank again.. thanks for the advice guys