Re-cycling my system!

[Bry17nyc]

I'm going to have to make some changes and modifications to my 90 gallon... One of then is the location of the tank, im going to transfer it to my room now... So I decided to start from scratch; since I had a minor ich infestation in my tank about a month ago I'm going to do a 100% water change with RO/DI water since my tank was running with Tap water.

I got adviced to take all the liverock out and let them dry up , samething with the livesand so if there's any ich in them( which I'm guessing there is since ich don't die that easily >\ ) it would finally die.....

All my fishes are going to go in a 20L tank which I'm going to make it a quarantine tank and even though they are not showing any sing of ich nomore ill treat them there just to prevent until the cycle is done

BUT
I have some questions regarding everthing I'm planning to do
First of all....
When should I add my DRY rocks and sand back into the tank with the new water?

Should I buy a bag of livesand at a LFS to speed-up the cycle?*

My only big concern is that i don't know what to do with my zoas and anemonies
Where should I put them?


Anything else you guys think I should do please lmk
thanks

 

[Brando457]

Are you putting the rock and sand to dry out to kill ich? If so you can simply leave it in the 90 for 8-10 weeks and it will kill the parasite.

My advice would be to setup the QT tank and get the biofilter going on that, then acclimate your fish to the new tank. (How many fish we talking?)

Once you do that then I would follow this and this is just my opinion.

1. Siphon the water out of your 90 in to a rubbermaid container or trash can to store it. Place your rock in it with a heater and powerhead.

2. Siphon more water out in to a bucket or something and place your anemone with a small powerhead and heater.

3. Any remaining water siphon out and place your sand in a container to hold it.

4. Move the tank to its new location and refill it with either RO water or the water you siphoned out.

5. Place the live rock in the tank in its new location.

6. SLOWLY READD the sand around the rock, the water will be cloudy, but use a funnel and a large pipe of pvc to help reduce it a bit.

7. Add the heater and get all equipment running and check to ensure everything is proper.

8. Test ammonia, nitrates, nitrite etc. to make sure parameters are good.

9. add anemone and relax for a bit

- Leave the display fallow for 8-10 weeks and in the meantime watch your fish in the QT. You can either hypo treat them or copper treat them if you are sure they have ich.

 

[Brando457]

If those are the amount of fish you plan on putting in the 20g tank I'm sorry to say, but that is too much. You might be better off either selling them/giving them away or trying to find a bigger QT or multiple tanks...

 

[Bry17nyc]

Right now the ammonia it's a little high that's why I wanted to change all the water
idk another way to lower it to 0 :/

and about the fishes.. Out of all those you see there only my Tangs, clowns,rabbitface, and that little cardinal it's going to be To make it to the new location
the others I'll trade them or something

 

[Brando457]

How long did you leave your tank cycle for before adding the fish?

I'd setup 2 or 3 20g tanks for those fish to QT.

Follow what I said and you should be fine. it is important that once you make the move you regularly test your water and feed the tank to build the biofilter.


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[Bry17nyc]

It's because I made the big mistake of doing a water change with tap water... Since I font have a RODI filter

But at first my water was fine
I'll try to buy another tank

I'm trying to make a semi-reef so what should I test my water exactly for?

 

[Brando457]

Tap would add nasty elements, but should not cause an ammonia spike...

You need to be testing for nitries and ammonia on your QT tanks, once those are 0 then add your fish, but you don't want to add all those to a 20G it'll be a HUGE bioload.

Then just resetup the tank in your room or wherever and in the 8-10 weeks it takes for your fish to be QT'd your tank will be cycled. I'd add some food to the tank when its empty and test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate every few days.

 

[solo]

If you're going to put your fish in a seperate rig, can't you just get an adjustable heater and raise the temperature to kill any ich? Instead of going through the extreme measure of drying everything out?

 

[Brando457]

If you're going to put your fish in a seperate rig, can't you just get an adjustable heater and raise the temperature to kill any ich? Instead of going through the extreme measure of drying everything out?

Temperature increases the rate of the parasite cycle, but does not kill the parasite.

He can do that in his main display while fallow, but in his QT tanks it would be fruitless.

 

[solo]

Temperature increases the rate of the parasite cycle, but does not kill the parasite.

He can do that in his main display while fallow, but in his QT tanks it would be fruitless.

That's what I meant. Since he's moving the fish over why not just speed up the cycle to kill of the parasite in the DT and then move the livestock back. Does that not work?

 

[Brando457]

Can, but I'd still wait the 8-10 weeks. In that time he can ensure that when he does transfer the livestock over he has them going in a palace instead of a house .

 

[Bry17nyc]

Thanks for the advices
now about dosing
what do exactly have to dose at first to maintain the water healthy ?Vitamines?
Water changes? How often? How many gallons?

 

[Brando457]

Who mentioned anything about dosing?


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[Bry17nyc]

I'm just asking
what exactly should I dose

I'm trying to do everthing right this time

 

[Brando457]

First worry about quaranting the fish and moving your tank to the location you want.

Dosing you won't have to do too much until you get some corals in there, but you still have a good 2-3 months until that happens.

I dose two part from Bulk Reef Supply recipe 1 though and marine snow.

 

[basiab]

If you want to do everything right this time then stop and figure it out before you take any action. That means read a lot and figure out what you have and where you need to go and how to get there. Asking for opinions is just a start. You really need to learn about this hoby and it will save you a lot of headaches. Jumping to the first advice you get may not be the right solution.

 

[Bry17nyc]

Very true

I mean Ive read alot, I've made mistake and I have learn alot from them .. I just want someone to guide me and help me get me started then I can take it from there

 

[NYreefNoob]

no need to take the sand out, drain tank down and move tank and stand to new location. or just get regular sand, no need for live sand, when re-startting the new tank run it at a low salinity to help kill off any parisite's, wait 8 weeks after tank has been moved then start to raise salinity back up then re-add fish, do qt them in mean time and personally my method for any new fish i add is, i dump fish and store water into container, add pro-cure to water, add airstone, let sit for atleast half hour, then tank over to tank and start drip acclimating, if where your buying fish from has a cichald tank ask for a bag of that water and do a fw dip before starting the previous method i stated. just make sure after you have acclimated the fish that you dont get any water from it into tank if you scoop with net make sure net doesnt go into tank water

 

[Bry17nyc]

That sounds good also
I'm also adding a refugium so
What type of sand should I put in it
I've heard I can use those playgrounds sands
true?