Interesting question

Hi, as some of you know, I have started my 150g reef all over again, after 4 wonderful years, the tank got away from me due to work schedules, etc. I bleached the whole system, while it was still running for a week, totally dis-assembled every little piece. Bleached everything again, and let everything dry for 2 weeks. This includes the rocks and sand. After everything was bone dry and clean. I re-started my tank. So far everything is going great. Diatoms have come and gone, rocks are starting to color up, and live stock is doing well. I have recently added a small clean up crew. My question is this. I have not seen ANYTHING different, compared to when I started the tank 4 years ago, with EXPENSIVE Live rock, and LIVE sand. I assure you, NOTHING lived through that bleaching, as I said, I let the bleach run through a running system....Pumps, Chiller, etc. Makes you wonder, is the "Live Rock, Live Sand a scam??" I will continue to update this thread, to see if I experience any noticeable difference. BTW...I have not added anything that would bring in hitchhikers, and only use RO/DI water. More to come. Here is the process of my re-start.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/total-tank-re-start-after-4-years-142680.html

 

Hmmm....no hits on this. Anybody wondering about not starting with Live rock and sand? What could the outcome be? want to hear from the old hands at this. I consider myself pretty good after 4 years, but by no means an expert. Any thoughts?

 

Well?

 

To be honest, I don't think many people really use much LR and LS, they just borrow a few cups of sand and a small piece of LR. And/or use products like Dr. Tims or microbacter7.

 

I'm interested and will keep an eye on this but more because I did something similar than that I think you'll find any odd or amazing results.

 

I don't know about that...in a good many cases you may be right...however, a lot of new reefers spend an outrageous amount of money on Live rock and sand because they are told to do so. My re-start is a test to see how necessary it really is. Thanks for the input!!

 

I started my tank with Carib Sea dry rock and some Smart Start. I ordered some Pods+ from Reefcleaners when I ordered my CUC to "seed" the pod population. I've added two or three sets of that since then to maintain good diversity. I've also ordered some macro algaes and that has had various pod hitchhikers as well.

 

Good luck on your restart, I think you'll find, its 100% unnecessary to use LR or LS. Dry rock is the much preferred method these days, IMO.

 

I am adding NOTHING that has life, other than clean up crew, coral and fish. Just wanna see what happens. Thanks for the input. Sometimes I think that a lot of this is a scam to make you pay a lot for something you don't need. I could be totally wrong. I just need to prove it for myself.

 

Most bacteria just seems to appear but many beneficial items need to be added such as pods. Although, I wonder how much "stuff" might hitch hike on a fish even...