help needed with tank

Ginger

Ginger

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greetings :)
i have a few questions... im not to clued up on this marine stuff yet, but im learning in the process, so please advice me in any way you can.

i have a marine tank that was running for 2 years and because of moving away it has been drained and just sat there for the past 6 months. The live rock and sand was left in the tank with no water.

my question is, since im close to the beach, im going to full the tank back up with sea water (yes i know this isnt as good as making your own and not as clean , but im a student and cannot afford that at the moment )
should i do anything to the live rock before filling the tank back up? or should i fill it and monitor it ? im not sure if leaving it out of the water for 6 months would cause any problems or destroy it ?

Thanks :)
 
That must have left some stench in your house.lol! You could fill it up with seawater again and cycle the tank. This might take awhile longer than a normal cycle as there has to be a fair amount of dead stuff in the rock and sand. Alternatively you could get new sand and rock, add some bacteria and shorten the cycle period.
 
On a budget I would just wash the gravel thoroughly in normal tap water. Yes normal tap water. Don't let any one give you baloney about using RO water. Tap water is fine for washing and no TDS will enter the gravel. Then dry the gravel under the sun by placing on newspaper.

The rock I would also wash first under normal tap water then let it soak is some pool acid for a few hours. After that just rinse again thoroughly under tap water and let it soak for a few days changing the tap water regularly.

You are then good to go.
 
make sure you use pool acid and not chlorine tho.. :)
 
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