Cleanup Crew on aisle 75gal

jay0705

Well-Known Member
So dumb question, is it live rock growing after 2 weeks or algae?
As when do I need to order a CUC? Only have 3 hermits now.
Most of the water has been in for 4 weeks. Added 20 gallons more last Friday.
It alage on the rock yes, but thats part of it becoming live
 

Weatherboy

Member
Looks like I had diatoms. They all but went away today. I see that is a good thing? Next hair algae will grow and then time for a good CUC?
So much info out there. Gets confusing.
 

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Sounds like your tank is entering the uglies. They all go through it and it is a good sign that things are progressing.
 

Weatherboy

Member
Okay...so when I first bought live rock, I had a creature on it. LFS was like "cool, you get a tube work, perhaps a duster". I bit and took it.
Now as they spread, I went online to the scary world and online says they might be Majano Anemone.
And how they are bad bad bad and need juice and equipment to kill and may always have problems.
Is that what this is?
Since I can only see 5, shall I get em now? I see they kill coral, but what about FO?
Thoughts?
 

Attachments

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
That would be my guess as well best to remove while you only have a couple. Super glue on their mouths I've heard works.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah those are classic majano anemones. In most circles they are considered pests because they can proliferate rather quickly, killing corals and can sting fish.

Certain species are kind of nice looking so some people actually like them and even dedicate tanks to them. Personally, I would get rid of them while you can.

Lime juice, aiptasia X, kalkwasser, or boiling water works too. When I had an aipstasia outbreak i had to take a multi pronged approach to get rid of them. Chemicals in combination with peppermint shrimp to help keep them from coming back. In the end I ended up nuking my rocks because it was just too bad.
 

Weatherboy

Member
Thanks. I see peppermint shrimp kill them too? I may look into that.

So in the last 2 days the tank has been a tad cloudy. Just not clear like last week. Nothing has changed in it.

Small .25-.50 ammonia
0 nitrites
0 nitrates.

Still running two filters, marine land 350 and the big canister filter.
No algea forming, diatoms went away. No other visible growth on rocks.

All seems okay, nothing dead. But being a little cloudy concerned me.
 

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I've seen cloudy associated with ammonia. It could also be a bacterial bloom. Even though you don't have a sump you can use a filter sock on the output from the canister. I buy 200 micron drawstring socks from BRS. When I set up my new tank in March I had some cloudy water (mine was from the sand) and added a filter sock to the return line. Cleared up in a couple days.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
In regards to the peppermint shrimp yes I've had luck with them helping to control aiptasia. But once the aiptasia is a certain size they won't touch them.

I would first target them with one of the other options above and then use the shrimp or scarlet hermits crabs to consume any small ones that have yet to manifest themselves.
 

one-fish

Active Member
CUC are for general janitorial services and not intended for major issues. Best is to solve the issue at hand and not rely on CUC once it's food source is deminished it will also perish. I like the nassarius snails but have an assortment of snails hermit and an urchin seem do do well at clean-up
 

Weatherboy

Member
Thanks. Went to LFS, dude was like a couple shrimp are pointless. Said I needed 10. For $120, I walked out.
I'll try juice, maybe a couple shrimp.

I have maybe 5 aipatsia right now. Don't think they look "big" but not sure how big they get.

Do I really need 10 shrimp to make a difference?
 

one-fish

Active Member
Not much on giving advise but I would tackle the issue while it's still only 5 using a mehod above I personally have no experience on this but would trust those here that do......just my .02
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
I had one shrimp in my old 55g that virtually eliminated close to 2 dozen aiptasia within a handful of weeks. You don't need 10, just 1.

But if they are over 1" tall it's questionable whether they will eat them or not. Some of the bigger ones I just had to nuke them.

I ultimately moved that tank and lost the peppermint shrimp in the process. After a few months I started seeing a few again. So I figured I would try something different and made my own aiptasia zapper (which was a bad idea).
 

one-fish

Active Member
Aiptasia Zapper curious on what that entailed said you nuked em what next napom Lol. Thought the super glue trick was out there but hanging around here for less than a year nothing seems to surprise me anymore. Believe me I too am fond of experpentation lots of good things have come from it. Seeing posts where LR hitch hikers have become an issue, read that during my inital research and decided to add only 6lbs to my 55gal but at a price took 4-5 months before I was comfortable with it's cycle to add fish [fw molly] even with only 6lbs have sponges,feather dusters and snails just to emerge from it. So how do you know even after cleaning all visible growth you still don't really know for sure What to expect.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Aiptasia Zapper curious on what that entailed said you nuked em what next napom Lol. Thought the super glue trick was out there but hanging around here for less than a year nothing seems to surprise me anymore. Believe me I too am fond of experpentation lots of good things have come from it. Seeing posts where LR hitch hikers have become an issue, read that during my inital research and decided to add only 6lbs to my 55gal but at a price took 4-5 months before I was comfortable with it's cycle to add fish [fw molly] even with only 6lbs have sponges,feather dusters and snails just to emerge from it. So how do you know even after cleaning all visible growth you still don't really know for sure What to expect.
It consisted of me and a low voltage electrocution device vs the aiptasia. It worked great for melting them into mush. The problem is they proliferate by merely releasing cells into the water. So in the end it caused them to spread even faster.
I nuked some with chems (aiptasia x).

I have two peppermint shrimps in my 120g now. One in the tank and one in the five. They're still the best prevention IMO.
 
Top