virginia reef
Member
I have 90 lbs of cured LR in a 55g “holding” tank. Also have a handful of snails and a few hermits. The LR has nice coralline and some macroalgae. I also have the following corals: 2 Tubipora (pipe-organ/clove), green and orange Zoanthid colonies, Florida Ricordia, green hairy mushrooms, and a cluster of xenia. The Tubipora are about 5” in diameter and are nice round shapes. The others are mostly on small pieces of rock.
I have a heavy infestation of flatworms. Here are my questions: 1) is it fairly safe to do a freshwater dip (as recommended in Delbeek and Sprung) of all of the rock without coral? 2) Will the macroalgae be affected? 3) Will the freshwater dip affect the biological filtration capacity of the LR? 4) Can some or all of the coral be dipped? Delbeek and Sprung suggest that hard corals and leathers do best in the freshwater dip but never really say anything about the coral species that I have. 5) Are there other remedies that I should consider? Chemical? 6) What about any of the following natural predators: mandarins, arrow crabs, six-line (or other) wrasse, shrimp, nudibranch, or others?
I am ready to put the LR and/or coral in my 90g tank with a 4” sandbed. This tank is currently “sterile”-just set it up. Plumbing works and cloudiness has settled. I have the following on this tank: 2x175 watt MH 10,000k, 2x65 watt PC actinic 7,100k, seaclone in-sump skimmer (yes, it works), and 2 powerheads. Salinity is 1.025, calcium is 450. ph is 8.2, ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates are 10, temp is 80.
Many thanks for your thoughts.
I have a heavy infestation of flatworms. Here are my questions: 1) is it fairly safe to do a freshwater dip (as recommended in Delbeek and Sprung) of all of the rock without coral? 2) Will the macroalgae be affected? 3) Will the freshwater dip affect the biological filtration capacity of the LR? 4) Can some or all of the coral be dipped? Delbeek and Sprung suggest that hard corals and leathers do best in the freshwater dip but never really say anything about the coral species that I have. 5) Are there other remedies that I should consider? Chemical? 6) What about any of the following natural predators: mandarins, arrow crabs, six-line (or other) wrasse, shrimp, nudibranch, or others?
I am ready to put the LR and/or coral in my 90g tank with a 4” sandbed. This tank is currently “sterile”-just set it up. Plumbing works and cloudiness has settled. I have the following on this tank: 2x175 watt MH 10,000k, 2x65 watt PC actinic 7,100k, seaclone in-sump skimmer (yes, it works), and 2 powerheads. Salinity is 1.025, calcium is 450. ph is 8.2, ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates are 10, temp is 80.
Many thanks for your thoughts.