Seek&Reef
Active Member
I have had my tank running for roughly 10 months. Started with 90lbs dry rock and 25lbs KP Aquatics rock. I've beaten bryopsis & small-cell amphidinium dinos. Well, I now have large-cell amphidinium and worst of all coral-eating amphipods. I am over trying to "control" the amphipods and not looking for a debate on if they eat healthy coral. They have eaten zoas, montipora, stylophora, gonipora, duncans, blastos, even an acropora that was encrusting and doing fine for months. I have had 3 wrasses for 6 months now. Tried peroxide dosing at 1ml/g, prazipro, interceptor, a black barred convict goby, feeding less, mitigating detritus, and even flushing rocks with a pump, all to no avail.
So main concerns for the reboot. 1. Kill amphipods 2. kill large cell dinos 3. Save as much bacteria "biome" as possible. I have already pulled 90% of all coral and put them on plugs and racks. The Coral QT tank is up and running. I will pull the rock, catch the fish, remove the sand, and sterilize all of the tank, sump, pipes, and equipment. The question is how to kill the amphipods inside the rocks. I have a few options I have been considering. 1st is a potassium chloride dip at 1lb/50gallons for 30 min. 2nd is multiple dips between hyposalinity water and hypersalinity water causing osmotic shock. 3rd is storing rock in a bin of tank water and injecting co2 through a wooden airstone for a day or two. 4th is dosing ammonia to a concentration of 4ppm. All of these options will be with rock alone in a storage bin. Sand will be rip-cleaned with tap water and bleach and then rinsed in RO several times. Corals will be bayer dipped or KCL dipped before going to qt for observation.
Please help me with this. I am at my wits end with these pods.
So main concerns for the reboot. 1. Kill amphipods 2. kill large cell dinos 3. Save as much bacteria "biome" as possible. I have already pulled 90% of all coral and put them on plugs and racks. The Coral QT tank is up and running. I will pull the rock, catch the fish, remove the sand, and sterilize all of the tank, sump, pipes, and equipment. The question is how to kill the amphipods inside the rocks. I have a few options I have been considering. 1st is a potassium chloride dip at 1lb/50gallons for 30 min. 2nd is multiple dips between hyposalinity water and hypersalinity water causing osmotic shock. 3rd is storing rock in a bin of tank water and injecting co2 through a wooden airstone for a day or two. 4th is dosing ammonia to a concentration of 4ppm. All of these options will be with rock alone in a storage bin. Sand will be rip-cleaned with tap water and bleach and then rinsed in RO several times. Corals will be bayer dipped or KCL dipped before going to qt for observation.
Please help me with this. I am at my wits end with these pods.
