Help, complicated tank crash

[sleepy]

(sorry for the long post, help would be appreciated though)
Hi All,
As you might know, I'm a student at UMass Amherst. I just got back to Amherst on the 27 to find my 30 Gal cube in ruins. The thing it, I took the majority of the contents of my reef with my back to Brookline. There I set up a temp. 10 gallon for my two clowns, anemone and various coral (some LR, no sand). What I left in my 30 gallon cube was :~20 Gallons SW ~25 Lbs LR, Live sand, and all of the little critters associated (pods, vermitid snails, some limpets etc... Oh and two mats of GSP (don't care for it much ) I left the tank with a power head and a heater- no light or filtration other than the flow and the LR. I was not surprised to find things a mess when I got back, I was unable to transport the whole tank because my car is small.
Basically I have my 10 gallon back here now, the 2 hour transport when very well with no losses. My 30 Gal is currently filled half way with water. The temp when I came was ~55 degrees (I guess the heater busted), The surface of the water is littered with small white specks (my best guess is dead coralin or calcium specks) and the mats of GSP are surrounded by a layer of white squishy film. It is clear that basically everything in the tank is dead (with the exception of a pest anemone or two )
Now- I know why all of this happened, yes it sucks... But I was sort of expecting something like this to happen, and I did all that I could in my given situation. Like I said all of my "real" livestock is doing just fine.
What I need for you experienced reefers out there:
What is the proper procedure to get this tank back in action?
Shall I drain all the water? Replace it with fresh SW? Do I replace the sandbed? It is clear that there has been substantial die off within the LR Shall I dry It completely and then re cycle it? Shall I heat up this existing water and let it recycle from this point? I would like to get my livestock back into their larger home. I realize that I might have to completely re cycle all of my LR and re-establish everything that has crashed. I realize that this can take months. What I would like to know is: What is the Correct procedure to get things back up and running.

Thanks to all who have endured this long thread and my terrible writing.

 

[wrassefan]

I would take out all the "dead matter" and scrub the rock in fresh salt water. I don't know if I would reuse the old water but would def run carbon either way.

 

[JayM]

Safest bet is to re-cycle your 30 and keep your livestock in the 10 until you can verify water conditions. The LR in the 30 might not be as dead as you think. Rinse it in some new salt water, drain your 30, add new water and see where your parameters are in a day or so go from there. Add carbon like Andrew suggested above

My 2c

 

[sleepy]

I apreciate the advice very much, I thank you both. What do you guys think about the sand bed?

 

[Aquaman_68]

It couldn't hurt to buy some live sand & take the top layer out of the tank. & replace it with the LS...the tank is small so it shouldn't cost that much...Other than that I would do a serious water change. (more than half & also run a little carbon) Launch the GSP rocks before you start...After a week change 30% of the water & wait a week & check ammonia levels...(that is what will be high from the dieoff....) once ammonia levels subside you may not even see levels of nitrite peak if there is still live in the rock.....Once the nitrite levels are good you can start to put the stuff back in....Do it slowly over a week or two.....
HTH,
& sorry to hear about ur misfortune...B

 

[sleepy]

Thanks Aquaman_68. (I'm happy to report the Orange cap, Tyree orange, green and German blue digi are all doing pretty well. The German blue has encrusted very very well but doesn't seem to want to gain any height. The other two bad boys are finally staring to take off a bit. I would still like to grab that confusia if we ever meet again =P.) Again thanks for the advice all. Now I'm on the hunt for a new heater.

 

[Aquaman_68]

NP S.... On the GBD....they grow quite slow for me too!! JLMK when ur ready....I think there is a meeting in bridgewater this Feb...I'll have to go check the updated schedule....
B