islandkoa
Member
Although my 5 peppermint shrimp are eating aptasia in my 110 gallon tank, they can't reduce the aptasia numbers which are reproducing at a faster rate. Unsuccessfully using chemicals (lemon juice, Joe's Juice, etc) I then tried to assist by removing a portion of the live rock and power washing them in order to give my shrimp a fighting chance. Initially this seems to have worked pretty well but after a week or so I saw new sprouts in my sand/crushed coral base as well as eventual aptasia growth on the recently cleaned rocks.
Frustrated, my plan is to completely overhaul the tank this saturday by removing and powerwashing all of the live rock. Drain about 75% of the water to a container and place the fish and cleaner crew into it (with the heater and a power head). Clean the sides then stir up and vacuum the sand/crushed coral base, hoping to disrupt the sprouts in it and then shift it to one side. I would place my newly washed live rock in the tank then cover them with 25 lbs of good live rock from my 20 gallon bedroom tank. I would then reshift the sand coral base to cover the bottom. I would cover the base with about an inch of dry/clean crushed coral and the live crushed coral (copepod rich) from my 20 gallon tank hoping to prevent resprouting.
I want to do this to maintain at least some of the biological filter properties of the base as well as enabling enough pods for the mandarin to survive.
I would then transfer the water and livestock back into the tank and turn the pumps/filters back on.
I also considered just removing all of the base sand/coral and putting new stuff down but I don't think that the small amt of live rock and base from my 20 gallon would be enough to offset the loss of the live rock and base bio-filtering properties in my current system.
Should I just put the livestock in my 20 gallon and ensure that this new setup is safe for reacclimation?
Does anyone have any suggestions????
I have a xp3 filstar, protein skimmer, and a emperor 400 biowheel filter which maintain all parameters (nitrate, phosphate, pH, and Ca) at ideal levels. Running for over a year and a half, the tank has a copious amount of copepods to keep my mandarin fat and happy in addition to my other livestock (maroon clown, percula clown, damsel, lawnmower blenny, 20+ snails, shrimp, 30+ crabs, brittle starfish, mushroom coral).
Frustrated, my plan is to completely overhaul the tank this saturday by removing and powerwashing all of the live rock. Drain about 75% of the water to a container and place the fish and cleaner crew into it (with the heater and a power head). Clean the sides then stir up and vacuum the sand/crushed coral base, hoping to disrupt the sprouts in it and then shift it to one side. I would place my newly washed live rock in the tank then cover them with 25 lbs of good live rock from my 20 gallon bedroom tank. I would then reshift the sand coral base to cover the bottom. I would cover the base with about an inch of dry/clean crushed coral and the live crushed coral (copepod rich) from my 20 gallon tank hoping to prevent resprouting.
I want to do this to maintain at least some of the biological filter properties of the base as well as enabling enough pods for the mandarin to survive.
I would then transfer the water and livestock back into the tank and turn the pumps/filters back on.
I also considered just removing all of the base sand/coral and putting new stuff down but I don't think that the small amt of live rock and base from my 20 gallon would be enough to offset the loss of the live rock and base bio-filtering properties in my current system.
Should I just put the livestock in my 20 gallon and ensure that this new setup is safe for reacclimation?
Does anyone have any suggestions????
I have a xp3 filstar, protein skimmer, and a emperor 400 biowheel filter which maintain all parameters (nitrate, phosphate, pH, and Ca) at ideal levels. Running for over a year and a half, the tank has a copious amount of copepods to keep my mandarin fat and happy in addition to my other livestock (maroon clown, percula clown, damsel, lawnmower blenny, 20+ snails, shrimp, 30+ crabs, brittle starfish, mushroom coral).
