240 gallon complete tear down and rebuild. [emoji51]

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Our tank has been up and running for a little over 2 years, but for the past 7-8 months it has just totally went down hill. [emoji53] First we brought in some new rock from the LFS and it had aptasia on it... so we've tried everything but still have tons of it. Secondly we got some astrina stars in the tank and at first thought they were neat. Quickly a few turned into thousands... and wouldnt you know they eat every single Zoa in the tank. We were complete newbs when we set up the tank "our first" so we've learned a lot and decided to just completely take it apart and start over. Wish us luck.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

A little example of how many stars come out after lights out.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

I built some saw horses to hold up our current lights and the fish and what little coral is left has been transplanted to a 300 gallon horse trough. Everyone seems to be liking the upgrade in size. lol

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Another shot of the temporary home.

 

[Newb73]

I would have used aptisia x and picked the stars out.

Aptisia is almost impossible to keep out...so can those astrias...

Nontheless....zoas are fine.

Good luck!

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

I would have used aptisia x and picked the stars out.

Aptisia is almost impossible to keep out...so can those astrias...

Nontheless....zoas...

Been there tried that. Aptasia X, lemon juice, majano wand. With a tank that size and with that much rock you just can't even come close to eliminating it. As far as the stars they must breed like rabbits. I've literally picked out 500 but yet you see what still remains. There's even a Harlequin shrimp in the tank. Trust me it wasn't easy to decide to start over but it's the only route at this point.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Picked in one sitting. Lol

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

170 pounds of dry Pukani rock from BRS! [emoji51]

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

180 pounds of dry sand!

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Gonna be giving all the new rock an acid bath and seeding with a little of our current rock

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

2, 32" wifi ramping lights from SB Reeflights.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Hydor ATO will be plumbed to a separate 20 gallon aquarium.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

New bulb for the 40 watt UV sterilizer

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

As you can see in this picture, the sump that came with the tank didn't have a place for a filter of any sort. The water returned thru the two lines to the far right. I've since cut the top off this section and ordered 2, 4"X14" filter sock holders and filter socks for here.

 

[ryan316]

Need to watch this

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

Since the stand is 36" tall and the tank is 24" tall and the canopy plus another 20 or so inches on top of that it made it impossible to reach in and place coral, especially in the sand bed, I made this 12" tall canopy that will be bolted directly to the wall hovering a foot or so above the tank.

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

And since we're going this far with the rebuild we figured we might as well give the whole tank a facelift while we are at it. Going back with white.

 

[NanoDJS]

very cool ! sorry to hear of your issues , harlequin shrimp will nuke those stars FAST , and filefish will de pop your aptasia in no time

 

[His & Hers. 240 Reef]

very cool ! sorry to hear of your issues , harlequin shrimp will nuke those stars FAST , and filefish will de pop your aptasia in no time

Harley definitely gets his belly full but he just can't keep up. I would need like a dozen. lol. It's just gotten that bad.

 

[MT. Reefer]

If you are going to seed the tank with the "old" live rock, aren't you afraid that there will be aptasia and stars hitchhiking right back into the new set up?? I have been battling aptasia myself and took out my live rock and soaked it in R/O fresh water for about 4 hours, put it back in a separate tank in new salt water and it appears that it took care of most of it. I have been watching it for any sign of new aptasia growth and throw it back in Fresh Water for a couple hours if I spot any. Not sure if this has killed off all of the good bacteria, but the coralline algea appears to be alive.
Good Luck. I appreciate what you're going through.