Took LR out b/c of hair algae

[nikolaki]

I am in desperate need for some advice regarding what to do next. Had a pristine reef tank for almost 3 years, then I neglected after my skimmer pooped out, (studying didnt help either) and Hair algae took over and all the corals bit the dust. I have taken out almost all my live rock (50 lbs) from my 50 gallon tank. I also scrubbed the $&#( akgae off of the entire tank. Its a trickle filter tank. Years ago, I took out the bio balls, and put LR (5 lbs of med size rubble) in the back instead.

Live rock has been sitting outside in order to kill everything inside. Now comes the tricky part. Do I need to get rid of the sand bead?? its only 2-3 inches deep. Or Do I clean it. Do I leave it alone??

Also regarding the rock. I was thinking about curing it in a plastic tub with a heater, and some water flow for 2 weeks before returning it back to the tank. Is this enough time to avoid creating a new cycle?

Parameters are back to normal in the tank, and I installed a Coralife super skimmer which is wet skimming as i type. Please let me know what you would do in my situation considering that I am about to state the Curing of the live rock soon. Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

[RichConley]

YOu didnt need to do all that. What you need to do is get teh skimmer up and running, get it wet skimming, and give it time. If you've already killed the rock, you need to cure it again, and then it can go back in.

[nikolaki]

what about the sand bed?? Remove it, Clean it out, or just leave it be??

[deansreef]

ditch the sand bed completely, it is a storehouse for all kinds of bad things.

[waterfaller1]

Are there fish/inverts in this tank?:confused:

[Wombat_101]

What type of skimmer do you have, you say it pooped out on you. Are you going to replace the skimmer or fix the broken one. I've noticed that with a deeper sand bed a larger skimmer is needed. Also if you like the look of the sand, I would replace about 50% and get a bigger skimmer.

Recently I was battling a hair algae problem. I had a 4" DSB and a crappy skimmer. Replace 50% of sand and got a H&S skimmer rated at 225 gallons for my 90 gallon tank and my hair algae is gone.

HTH,
Greg