Iphis
01/03/2014, 03:12 PM
So I had a large tank with a very deep sand bed, a few years ago my AC died and boiled my tanks in the middle of a phoenix summer while I was on vacation.
I didn't think anything could still be alive in the tank and I just let it sit with equipment running and nothing in it since it seemingly killed everything. I haven't seen movement out of it in years. (Tank was up around 120 degrees for four days, ammonia levels went crazy as everything died off, etc)
I finally got the heart to fix this tank. I ripped out all of the rock, started cleaning the equipment and replacing pieces, cleaning built up junk on the walls. Nothing is in the tank currently except the dirty junk from the walls, the water that has been in there for years, and the sand bed.
My thoughts were that I was going to remove the sand bed and start over, just junk it. I figured it would be filled with poisonous who knows what. It has been in this state for three days. Today I went downstairs and the bottom of the tank was -swarmed- with worms. While this grossed out my better half, I only see them as living things.
What in the world can I do? I have no interest in killing these guys that are obviously still alive and somehow thriving in this environment. Is there some kind of method I can use to clean the sand bed of the toxins while letting these guys live?
I also don't want to introduce new life to a potential time bomb.
I was thinking of possibly doing water changes, running the skimmer, the GFO, and stirring up the bed, aim power heads down at the bed, churn it every so often, get stuff out of there, do that and watch ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate levels.
Anyone have any experience cleaning a sand bed while the tank is running?
Thanks for your any advice anyone might have!
I didn't think anything could still be alive in the tank and I just let it sit with equipment running and nothing in it since it seemingly killed everything. I haven't seen movement out of it in years. (Tank was up around 120 degrees for four days, ammonia levels went crazy as everything died off, etc)
I finally got the heart to fix this tank. I ripped out all of the rock, started cleaning the equipment and replacing pieces, cleaning built up junk on the walls. Nothing is in the tank currently except the dirty junk from the walls, the water that has been in there for years, and the sand bed.
My thoughts were that I was going to remove the sand bed and start over, just junk it. I figured it would be filled with poisonous who knows what. It has been in this state for three days. Today I went downstairs and the bottom of the tank was -swarmed- with worms. While this grossed out my better half, I only see them as living things.
What in the world can I do? I have no interest in killing these guys that are obviously still alive and somehow thriving in this environment. Is there some kind of method I can use to clean the sand bed of the toxins while letting these guys live?
I also don't want to introduce new life to a potential time bomb.
I was thinking of possibly doing water changes, running the skimmer, the GFO, and stirring up the bed, aim power heads down at the bed, churn it every so often, get stuff out of there, do that and watch ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate levels.
Anyone have any experience cleaning a sand bed while the tank is running?
Thanks for your any advice anyone might have!