# Help needed for my pico!!!



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

I have kept a pico reef for about 2 months and it looked amazing with a few coral frags and some hermit crabs.

I left the country for 3 weeks.

But upon my return I've discovered that my friend forgot to plug the filter back in after relocating it, so the tank was left unfiltered for a whole 7 days. The tank is now full of algae and foul water and little critters crawling around. ALL MY CORALS DIED
What should I do? restart the tank all over again and re-cycle the liverock (which now I assume is dead)?
or should i discard the rock and start with a new piece.
the sand bed is full of algae as well. It's so sad I can't even look at it.

DESPERATELY IN NEED OF ADVICE!!Thanks to everyone who replies to this thread and offers a piece of advice.


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## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

First off your LR is prob not dead. It goes through alot more in transport to are country,then LFS then your house.Turn filter off.(make shure you have good clean saltwater before you start.) First Off I would take the rock out and give it a good rinse in some clean saltwater. Let it sit in the saltwater while you clean the tank. If the crabs are alive place them in their with a power head and heater. Then Go nuts on the glass. Scrub it clean & clear
I would then Get your gravel cleaner and go to town on the sand bed. It looked like Crushed coral in the pic so even better. Suck all that crap out of it. Just keep cleaning it. If it is that bad you might want to take it out and rinse it. 
Once the glass and sand are clean I would then drain all the water out and do a 100% water change or a close too that as you can. Then shake your LR off and place back into the tank. Monitor your water parameters for then next week or two , too see if you have any ammonia spike (small cycle.) If not your good to go. 
OH Dont forget to turn the Filter back on.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

KeMo said:


> First off your LR is prob not dead. It goes through alot more in transport to are country,then LFS then your house.Turn filter off.(make shure you have good clean saltwater before you start.) First Off I would take the rock out and give it a good rinse in some clean saltwater. Let it sit in the saltwater while you clean the tank. If the crabs are alive place them in their with a power head and heater. Then Go nuts on the glass. Scrub it clean & clear
> I would then Get your gravel cleaner and go to town on the sand bed. It looked like Crushed coral in the pic so even better. Suck all that crap out of it. Just keep cleaning it. If it is that bad you might want to take it out and rinse it.
> Once the glass and sand are clean I would then drain all the water out and do a 100% water change or a close too that as you can. Then shake your LR off and place back into the tank. Monitor your water parameters for then next week or two , too see if you have any ammonia spike (small cycle.) If not your good to go.
> OH Dont forget to turn the Filter back on.


Good advice! however, my tank is less than 3 gallons..so it's a little hard to do so much cleaning within such a small amount of space  nonetheless, it's a good start! Thanks VERY MUCH!


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## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

Ok then do what i said the the LR. Then dump all the water out. Rinse the gavel until its clean. Then clean the tank. You must be able to wipe it down. Then just follow what i said. Your LR is still good. You might get abit of a cycle. Hey thats my two thoughts. For the 12 or so people who looked No one spoke but me.
Just trying to help.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

I'm so sorry about your tank - it was looking great.
although, i'm sure it won't take you long to get it back up and running.
if you're worried about the rock, i can give you some fresh stuff. i have tons of it cycling in the basement!


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

KeMo said:


> Ok then do what i said the the LR. Then dump all the water out. Rinse the gavel until its clean. Then clean the tank. You must be able to wipe it down. Then just follow what i said. Your LR is still good. You might get abit of a cycle. Hey thats my two thoughts. For the 12 or so people who looked No one spoke but me.
> Just trying to help.


Already working on it


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

teemee said:


> I'm so sorry about your tank - it was looking great.
> although, i'm sure it won't take you long to get it back up and running.
> if you're worried about the rock, i can give you some fresh stuff. i have tons of it cycling in the basement!


Thank you Margaret!!!!
I'll most likely need some assistance from you and your amazing saltwater collection 
Our whole plan of going to SUM for sexy shrimps is on hold for now...lol


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

My pico is once again up and running.
Will probably take a while to re-cycle, but nonetheless, it looks alright.
Thanks to KEMO for the tips as I'm am very inexperienced with this.
Also very pleased with rock because it was indeed not "dead"


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

awee wow I am sorry about the deaths  Looking great now! No more vacations for you :3


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> awee wow I am sorry about the deaths  Looking great now! No more vacations for you :3


Yeah, not till I have corals again LOL!!


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

hey leon,
i'll give you some zoos - just let me know when you're ready!


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## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

looking great. 
If you need some new corals just drop me a line. I can frag some of mine for you.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

KeMo said:


> looking great.
> If you need some new corals just drop me a line. I can frag some of mine for you.





teemee said:


> hey leon,
> i'll give you some zoos - just let me know when you're ready!


It's people like you who make GTAA a place full of happiness and enjoyment. Can't stress how grateful I am to have you guys share a part of your reef with me.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Hey Kemo, you think I'm able to keep a feather duster in this 2.5 g? are they particularly picky about params?


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## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

Cant see why not. I Like feather dusters i got 3 in my tank. Great Filter feeders&water polisher's
What i found they like best is placed them the tube on the sand bedd and they will dig them self under the sand so that only 1 inch of the tube sticks out.
You can also help them with this as the last one i got a dug a hole in the sand bed and placed most of him under the sand and only left about 1.5 inchs upove.
As long as you dont get ammonia / Nitrites you should be good. Well you will need to keep the ph some what stable. As long as it does not do major jumps. Like ph will change during the day thats normal. So as long as you can keep it around 8.0-8.4 you should be ok. Get something like Kent buffer if you have a hard time keeping it some what stable. 
~~~~~Heres some Info for All on Feather Dusters~~~~

This Annelid worms body is housed in a protective tube anchored to rock work or the sand bed. The feathery tentacles projecting from the top of the tube collect floating food particles. Feathduster worms occur in a wide range of colors. Keeping them in groups will encourage breeding. Worms shed their feeding tentacles to prevent them from taking their own larvae. The tentacles will start to regrow about two weeks later.Don't mistake this for Poor Water Quality. As they will also shed their crow do to poor water .


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Yeah that sounds fair! Was a little concerned about feeding them cuz I don't dose anything in this tank and hoped that the salt mix had enough nutrients for it. The other concern was them outgrowing the tank...they do get to quite a large size after a while. Don't know if they are limited by tank size.


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## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

The salt mix will not have the food that it needs. If there is nothing in the tank you might want to get something like phyto or cyclops to feed them. With such a small tank their you might have a problem with water if you feed alot. 
What you could is spot feed him. just go really really slow and down current from him. I dont think he will starve as long as you add abit of something to eat. When you get corals in the tank I would think you will be feeding the tank some what so it should be cool.
As all coral need to be fed. Even if they get almost everything from the light.


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