Wanting to restart my 30ga tank

[jtaylor]

I have a saltwater aquarium that's been dry for about 3 years now. At the time I had sand and live rock. Overall, i had succuss with the tank the first 2 years i had it going but then the tank started to suffer after i had a short time of not being able to take care of the tank then I was in the process of moving so decided at that time to rehome what i had left and drain the tank. My question is: I want to restart the tank and i plan to clean the tank, filters etc. well, My question is: can i use the rock i had? if so, do I clean the rock in a special way? Also thoughts on non-live substates. Its only a 30 ga tank and really want it to do well. Any suggestions welcome

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Welcome!

If it was me I'd ditch the old rock and get some live rock to start things off with. It'll help avoid the ugly stage. (but not always)

 

[Spare time]

I have a saltwater aquarium that's been dry for about 3 years now. At the time I had sand and live rock. Overall, i had succuss with the tank the first 2 years i had it going but then the tank started to suffer after i had a short time of not being able to take care of the tank then I was in the process of moving so decided at that time to rehome what i had left and drain the tank. My question is: I want to restart the tank and i plan to clean the tank, filters etc. well, My question is: can i use the rock i had? if so, do I clean the rock in a special way? Also thoughts on non-live substates. Its only a 30 ga tank and really want it to do well. Any suggestions welcome

You can put the rock in a bin with saltwater, a little filter with gfo+carbon (an internal filter with room for a bag of gfo would be perfect), and some bacteria to help "cure" it so all the organic matter breaks down. As for live vs dry sand, it doesn't matter. A pinch of real live ocean sand would be nice.