Nuking my tank on purpose

Capt_krill

Capt_krill

Membership Expired
Repost from Club Forum to open to get more ideas.

I have had it with fighting an uphill battle for the better part of two years with majanos, vermetid worms and a red carpet-like algae that ntohing seems to eat. I have added hundreds of dollars in clean up crews, tried different types of algae eating fish and inverts, majano wand, joe's juice, homemade stuff, super glue + pliers, sun-baking the rocks, limiting light and food to every other day, an algae scrubber that never worked etc. [smilie=angry.gif] Specs in signature.

So, my next option is to completely nuke my tank with vinegar and rodi and start with new man made rock and clean sand and fresh plugs of only the pick of the crop of my SPS and corals I want to keep.

I realize that this is a mighty drastic step but I have lost interest in my tank because of this I bought a new tank last year and loved it, still love the TANK but cant stand to look at the contents. I am quite literally to the point of just selling off everything and exiting the hobby, yes it is that bad. I lost my melenarus unexpectedly and thats when it hit me to just say screw it and craigslist everything. But as my wife put it, if you sell it you will never get another tank...
[smilie=dull.gif]
This is the last ditch effort to save the tank and could use any and all recommendations to help sell/trade/rehome what I have -coral-wise after the fragging- and making temporary homes for the few critters I have.

I have the following (not all is coming with me)

<pre><code> Md. Foxface
2x blue damsels
3x pajama cardinals
Md. ocellaris
2x conchs
Various chalices (purple, orange/pink, alieneye)
softball galaxy
10 head kryp
1 head torch
~10 head hammer
2x 10-12" stalk of sinularia/nepthea
2x softball devil's hands
Lots of mint choco mushrooms, red hairy mushrooms, red mushrooms
Massive green slimer colony
large jedi mind trick
tiny efflo frag that has halted any growth thanks to algae and vemetids
ponape birdsnest frag
red branching monti plug
massive green plating monti
md pagoda cup
meat coral (my only coral from my first tank 7 years ago)
and some weird green sps coral</code></pre>



At any rate, most of this wont be coming back to me when the tank is clean and cycled. So I would like to sell off most of it and find a temp home for the coral and fish I do want to keep.

I haven't been in the aquarium scene in a while since my son was born and now that he is a little less dependent on me and my wife I feel now I can really concentrate on my tank again and keep it beautiful.
 
If you decide to take it all down I would take the foxface and slimer and efflo. If you decide to start a new one I'm sure we could work something out to hold on to your frags and fish.

But to get rid of cyano the red slime algae you need to kill the bacteria. Add recommended amount of red slime remover. Then do water changes. It may take a couple treatments to kill it all. Then cut back on the amount of food you feed and feed high quality foods. Try and stay away from flakes and pellets. I prefer no sand to keep tank cleaner and makes it easier to suck out poop off the bottom.


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
I probably have all those, but in small quantities each. I just run a tank of xenia, kenya trees, and a few frogspawn so it doesn't bother me....
 
Its not red slime. Actually have no red slime except in zero flow areas behind rock with full light.

The best way I can describe it is a red turf algae. A very course, thick and short red hair-ish algae that nothing seems to eat. Chitons, lawnmowers blenny, emerald crabs, nudibranchs, turbo snails etc. Nothing ate it and manual removal is near impossible.

I want to start from fresh with the fish and frags and new rock and sand. Whatever is left over from the fragging is what will be sold to offset the new rock and sand cost.
 
I had a similar problem with you with my old tank with bubble algae and calupera.
I nuked all the rocks with clorine and the acid bath and reused.
You could take a few rocks out at a time and try that, that would kill the red carpet algae on it anyway....
 
Look at this link and post back which pic is close or exact match. https://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
Green turf, but red. Huh, guess I had the right name just didnt know it, if that is what it is of course.

I am thinking the best route would be to sell all coral but the few pieces I want to keep (rehouse them temporarily), bleach and (after a lot of rinses - no chlorine gas for me thanks -) acid bath the rocks a couple times, vinegar bathe the tank for a week and start over with a new cycle, sand and rock. Then add back in my frags and fish.
 
@Eckolancer wrote:
Can you upload a pic Sent from pay phone in the airport. said:
Of course!

Here is the closest rock with the red turf algae on it. This rock was put in my tank about 3 months ago. Already has a damn vermetid on it.

http://imgur.com/TuzMiDS

and another pic http://imgur.com/Xs1qrhZ and some in between coral spaces http://imgur.com/YtC9T9K
Click to expand...
 
Here are some pics of the corals.


http://imgur.com/FDuncXE - nepthea/sinularia and devils hand (one of each for sale)
http://imgur.com/jE9GqqA - pagoda and red hairy shrooms
http://imgur.com/ELaeu1u - orange/pink/purple chalice (definitely for sale/trade)
http://imgur.com/8dOD43U - purple chalice (FS/FT) and alien eye chalice and part of galaxy
http://imgur.com/9rUNE8u - main show piece slimer, jedi and pieces of tricolor valida, efflo and the weird green coral in the back
http://imgur.com/eDfSJHV - green plating monti - I'd like to keep a sizable piece to start over, but it is for sale
http://imgur.com/rQsRrjg - FTS for size (60x24)

Does anyone have any knowledge in just cutting the rock up vs breaking the coral off and potentially killing it?
 
It will be tough getting a saw in there to cut with out breaking. For example,
@Capt_krill wrote:
http://imgur.com/9rUNE8u - main show piece slimer said:
you would be better off cutting the slimer at the base and remounting it. The reason I say this, I would be interested in the Jedi, lol
Click to expand...
 
I'm keeping a piece of the Jedi to regrow but you are more than welcome to buy whatever is left over on the rock and the rock if you can replace it.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00A using Tapatalk
 
We have used peroxide to beat that red algae it has a nine day death phase after an external treatment

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-request-red-plants-and-spikey-plant.205051/page-2#post-2358589
If you can score higher percentage peroxide, less retreats

This will be handy to know to save any tanks the algae may hitchhike into, need to spot kill fast.
 
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