Thinking of restarting.

[FWC]

So my tank has fallen into a state of sadness. All fish have been moved into copper treatment and tank is fallow ,however its in a rather sad state. My LSP and softies are fine (not growing really ,but not dying either) however my SPS is suffering. However I now have a healthy bristleworm population, which I am not very fond of. There is the one big mother (probably the queen/mother to all the other little worms) that likes to lay out in the front of the tank in the sand bed. It is not nice.

Also my tank has been taken over by bubble algae. Past the point of no return. Literally 65% of my rock is covered in it ,if not more. Its overtaking my coral ,its so bad.


I'm thinking I might just restart it all. Take a sampling of pods off of the glass and keep a little culture of them going so I can seed the tank once its up again ,but other then those ,my fire shrimp ,and perhaps the snails and hermits ,all invert life will be gone. Give the rock a nice day long soak in fresh water to kill all the worms and such living in it ,and then boil it or pressure wash it to destroy all of the bubble aglae. Quite possibly a combonation of both.

During this "cleansing" of my rock ,the tank/sand/filter will be dryed and washed with fresh water. In the case of the filter I will run vinegar through it to be extra safe.

After the tank ,sand ,filtration ,and rock has been cleaned and dryed ,I'll re-set up my tank again. New water ,a whole new start.

Once the tank is ready again ,extreme measures shall be taken to ensure nothing enters my tank without me knowing it. The bristles are gross ,but the bubble algae is what is really making me want to do this. Its that bad.


Also questions. I know fresh water kills the wormies pretty quick ,but do I have to worry about eggs or something surviving the fresh water ?? Also what about the bubble aglae ?? How can I make sure it is 100% gone ??

Also once things are set back up again ,what can I use for dips to make sure anything on my coral is killed ??

[Aquattro]

When I transferred tanks, my rock had tons of bubble algae. I removed it manually one piece at a time as the rock moved over. The new tank was clean enough that the algae never regrew once there. i imagine doing the same but in the same tank would work.
As for FW killing the worms, i think you'll then have a bunch of rock with dead worms in it, which will really contribute to further algae problems. Again, moving to a new system without food for the worms will slowly see them decrease as they starve themselves out. No spikes that way.

[toytech]

curious about your filter , what does it consist of ? If its a wet /dry with bio balls or a canister filter it could be contributing to your issues . I bleached all my rock and am in the process of resurecting it , but even after the bleach eating all the organic material there is alot of phosphates coming off the rocks and its going to take a while for it to be useable .

[HaZRaTTy]

I would be happy to take some Bristle worms if You're going to kill them all.

[Nano]

Sounds like nutrients may be the issue. Ever look into prodibio?

[FWC]

Canister Filter.

Also if you want some ,feel free to come over and get some. They are very sneaky and tough to catch though.

Also I wouldn't be suprised if nutrients had something to do with it. I was feeding my goniopora rather heavily and I'm sure that wans't helping ,but the tank has been fallow for over four weeks now ,without a speck of food.

Also no ,I have not looked into prodibio. I think I shall though.

[toytech]

I ran a canister for years and once i took it off the tank i noticed an immediate improvment , no matter how much i cleaned it nutrients where always an issue.