Bpb
2500 Club Member
Hello folks! Posting this in the sps forum because what it all boils down to is getting acros going again after a move. I have other goals as well I’ll outline
My wife and I are planning on moving into a “forever” home this year or early next year. We aren’t even pre-approved yet, but our goal is to build a custom home. New forever home means new forever tank. I intend this tank to run for 10 years at least so reliability is top priority. I don’t want to have to replace it after a couple years and I ESPECIALLY don’t want to damage brand new floors and walls with a busted tank.
My tank is a 90 gallon sps dominant that has been running for just shy of 4 years. It’s really hit it’s stride and stuff is growing great. Very happy with it and a little disappointed I have to break it down. It’s an old aqueon standard glass tank id estimate it 8-10 years old. It’s reaching the end of its life. Especially the stand. Needless to say, the tank will not convey.
Healthy fish stock is so hard to come by and I have a truly disease free tank, with 3 of my fish being over 10 years old. I don’t want to get rid of them. Healthy live rock is also hard to come by. Truly live rock that is very mature. It’s costly. Not only is mail order live rock for the most part out of my budget, but the nearest airport I could pick up freight at is 2+ hours a way and in some brutal traffic. With my schedule it’s not a trip I’d likely be able to make. I want to keep my rock and keep it alive.
Problem is. It’s fairly well infested with aiptasia and discosoma shrooms. Am I fighting a losing battle here? I don’t want to live the rest of my tank life constantly killing aiptasia and shrooms every week. It gets so old. Should I just bite the bullet and nuke the rock and re-cure it all to ensure none of the bad stuff makes it back over. It’ll be a couple years before it’s able to support acros again I imagine. I was hoping to avoid that
Is there any way I can keep the rock alive and diverse, but somehow kill the shrooms and aiptasia entirely? My wrasses basically make nudis and peppermints impossible. And my tangs would beat a butterfly to death in such close confines.
So...in the coming weeks/months I intend to sell off all the lps, Zoas and M/B/S/P. I’ll have some local friends hold my favorite acropora for me for a while until the new tank is fully set up.
I don’t have a new tank yet and I’m not certain what size I will do. I don’t want another 90, But I’m unsure if I’ll be able to afford an upgrade. I may be in a “house-poor” situation for a few years till the vehicles are paid off. I’m honestly not opposed to a downsize. I know the sentiment is always go as big as you can. But a smaller tank for me just means pickier with corals. The new tank will be 99% acropora exclusively. I may add a non acro if it’s a real nice one (like a chalice I can’t refuse for example)
I followed @FarmerTy’s move and he did it the best way I can imagine. Set up the new tank rocks and all and let it run for a while and moved his stuff over all at once to an already mature tank. I will not have that luxury.
I’m not so much worried about logistics of moving everything. I can fill a cooler and put saltwater and fish in it. I can divy up rocks among buckets ect. I’ve done it before.
TL;DR:
My biggest issues with moving are:
Keep rocks alive if I can, but eliminate pests
Keep all fish
MINIMIZE downtime without acros.
I’ve killed acros en mass before by trying to put mature acros in a freshly cycled dry rock tank too soon. Wasn’t until almost 2 years that they stopped STN/RTN every time I tried. And that seems to be a common occurrence.
Any ideas that may be helpful?
My wife and I are planning on moving into a “forever” home this year or early next year. We aren’t even pre-approved yet, but our goal is to build a custom home. New forever home means new forever tank. I intend this tank to run for 10 years at least so reliability is top priority. I don’t want to have to replace it after a couple years and I ESPECIALLY don’t want to damage brand new floors and walls with a busted tank.
My tank is a 90 gallon sps dominant that has been running for just shy of 4 years. It’s really hit it’s stride and stuff is growing great. Very happy with it and a little disappointed I have to break it down. It’s an old aqueon standard glass tank id estimate it 8-10 years old. It’s reaching the end of its life. Especially the stand. Needless to say, the tank will not convey.
Healthy fish stock is so hard to come by and I have a truly disease free tank, with 3 of my fish being over 10 years old. I don’t want to get rid of them. Healthy live rock is also hard to come by. Truly live rock that is very mature. It’s costly. Not only is mail order live rock for the most part out of my budget, but the nearest airport I could pick up freight at is 2+ hours a way and in some brutal traffic. With my schedule it’s not a trip I’d likely be able to make. I want to keep my rock and keep it alive.
Problem is. It’s fairly well infested with aiptasia and discosoma shrooms. Am I fighting a losing battle here? I don’t want to live the rest of my tank life constantly killing aiptasia and shrooms every week. It gets so old. Should I just bite the bullet and nuke the rock and re-cure it all to ensure none of the bad stuff makes it back over. It’ll be a couple years before it’s able to support acros again I imagine. I was hoping to avoid that
Is there any way I can keep the rock alive and diverse, but somehow kill the shrooms and aiptasia entirely? My wrasses basically make nudis and peppermints impossible. And my tangs would beat a butterfly to death in such close confines.
So...in the coming weeks/months I intend to sell off all the lps, Zoas and M/B/S/P. I’ll have some local friends hold my favorite acropora for me for a while until the new tank is fully set up.
I don’t have a new tank yet and I’m not certain what size I will do. I don’t want another 90, But I’m unsure if I’ll be able to afford an upgrade. I may be in a “house-poor” situation for a few years till the vehicles are paid off. I’m honestly not opposed to a downsize. I know the sentiment is always go as big as you can. But a smaller tank for me just means pickier with corals. The new tank will be 99% acropora exclusively. I may add a non acro if it’s a real nice one (like a chalice I can’t refuse for example)
I followed @FarmerTy’s move and he did it the best way I can imagine. Set up the new tank rocks and all and let it run for a while and moved his stuff over all at once to an already mature tank. I will not have that luxury.
I’m not so much worried about logistics of moving everything. I can fill a cooler and put saltwater and fish in it. I can divy up rocks among buckets ect. I’ve done it before.
TL;DR:
My biggest issues with moving are:
Keep rocks alive if I can, but eliminate pests
Keep all fish
MINIMIZE downtime without acros.
I’ve killed acros en mass before by trying to put mature acros in a freshly cycled dry rock tank too soon. Wasn’t until almost 2 years that they stopped STN/RTN every time I tried. And that seems to be a common occurrence.
Any ideas that may be helpful?
