Power loss recovery scenario

[PDX Reefer]

Hello,

I recently lost power for 4 days, and my tank crashed, as the water movement stopped, and the temp got down to 42 degrees. I am relatively new to the hobby, and my tank admittedly had some minor algae issues due to lack of water changes, filter sock cleaning, etc, but fish, lps, and sps corals have always been healthy, as my water chemistry has always been acceptable. The tank is a 25 gallon, and initial tests showed around 2ppm ammonia, with nitrate at an acceptable level. 

I cleared all of the dead livestock and corals, but I wasn’t able to find one fish. I did a 25% water change, and the plan is to bring ammonia down through large changes over the next few days. I also vacuumed the sand bed, and will get a CUC in there soon. I have been reading some threads about rip cleaning, cleaning/replacing sand beds, etc. I have also seen where people cook their rock in a dark container to get rid of the algae.

My question is this : if I run the tank without lights for a week or so to lessen the algae on the rocks, and get the water chemistry in line, should I be ok to start restocking with fish and corals? In a perfect world, I would thoroughly rip clean, etc, but I just don’t feel like I realistically have the time for that with work and two small kids, etc. 

Thanks for any insight you can give

[Naekuh]

you may need to black out the tank with black brute trashbags.  

I do not think just running the tank with lights off will do much.

 

Then you will get the algae which is dying decaying in your tank adding to ammonia.  

 

If  your tank is that bad, i would just restart it since you have nothing in there, and speed cycle

You can just take a cleaning brush to your live rock and try to brush off as much algae as possible, and still use it as a seed.

 

If you rinse the sand, and power wash / bake the live rock, first make sure you have no Zoa's on the rock, as i heard many horror stories about people who did that.  

Second you will need to restart your cycle all over again, so i don't really recommend it.  

 

If there is nothing in the tank, you could also nuke it with something like Vibrant, but after your algae is gone, make sure you do a large water change, and run carbon for a couple of weeks after.  

[mcarroll]

If possible I think I would do a 100% water change along with a good cleaning of the rocks and sand.  Remove any significant green algae growth by hand.

 

If your corals didn't make it then there's no reason (for now) to be running the lights – certainly not if there are still signs of algae growth.

 

I wouldn't recommend doing anything extreme, but the tank will basically be a Day 0 reboot.  Whatever you decide to do, give yourself and the tank the best restart you can.  Remember to take your time.  👍

[geekreef_05]

Dude, 

 

Sorry about the losses. 

 

Im just rebooting my aquarium after a automation failure as well. I feel ya.

 

That said, its important to reflect and mitigate future problems. 4 days is a long time without power. I wouldn't have been able to keep heat and flow going for that long with my battery back up, but it may have lasted 2 days ..maybe 3. 

 

Will run into blackouts again in the future? 

 

Do you have an electrical battery supply, generator or other alternative to power, when blackouts occur? 

 

That's where i would start. Fix your problems first. Then when the box of water is stable add inhabitants. 

 

I agree with other advice here, that if you have no inhabits, a 100% water change is the way to start. 

 

Clean off all the rock with a tooth brush prior to the water change.

 

And then, couple days after a water change, check your parameters. If you have high ammonia stuff is decaying in your tank. If not.. you can start to restock. Slowly. 

 

Hope that helps dude.