Helppppp please!!!!

[jonesjohnm]

Three months ago I had purchased a 120 gal tank with two over flows and I had the local saltwater fish store install my whole setup. I am 100% happy with my lighting and circulation pumps however I was having issues with the refugium they installed and didn't have enough 02 in my tank which caused my pH to stay around 7.9 constantly. The owner finally came to my house to see what was going on and he determined that my refugium/ sump system (which they made and installed) was the issue and that I needed a state of the art wet dry trickle filter. At this point concerned for my fish I told them to do what they needed to do. They charged me $350 for a new proclear wet dry and mentioned that for an extra 50 dollars they would fill it with live rock instead of bio balls. I opted for the bio balls because they said it would be better for my tank. The install went great and they were friendly, however last night I was looking and showing my wife the new filter system I noticed several large aptasia growths on the live rock and bristle worms crawling around on them as well. I am freaking out, I've never had aptasia outbreaks thus far. Is this cause for concern? Is it okay because the worms and aptasia are only in the wet dry filter? Please if you are experienced give me some advice because I am seriously concerned!!!!

 

[jonesjohnm]

Sorry guys in the post I said "I opted for bio balls" I meant I opted for live rock instead of bio balls because the LFS owner told me that it would be better.

 

[droblack]

Bristle worms are usually good for the reef. As far as aptasia, I would take the rocks out and nuke them with something before returning to the sump. You could also throw in some peppermints, but do not put them in your display if you plan on keeping softies or lps.

 

[beaslbob]

Three months ago I had purchased a 120 gal tank with two over flows and I had the local saltwater fish store install my whole setup. I am 100% happy with my lighting and circulation pumps however I was having issues with the refugium they installed and didn't have enough 02 in my tank which caused my pH to stay around 7.9 constantly. The owner finally came to my house to see what was going on and he determined that my refugium/ sump system (which they made and installed) was the issue and that I needed a state of the art wet dry trickle filter. At this point concerned for my fish I told them to do what they needed to do. They charged me $350 for a new proclear wet dry and mentioned that for an extra 50 dollars they would fill it with live rock instead of bio balls. I opted for the bio balls because they said it would be better for my tank. The install went great and they were friendly, however last night I was looking and showing my wife the new filter system I noticed several large aptasia growths on the live rock and bristle worms crawling around on them as well. I am freaking out, I've never had aptasia outbreaks thus far. Is this cause for concern? Is it okay because the worms and aptasia are only in the wet dry filter? Please if you are experienced give me some advice because I am seriously concerned!!!!

If I understand correctly you are concerned about o2 levels because pH is 7.9.

Here's my take. Plants in aqauriums (including macro alges in refugiums and corraline algae in rocks) consume co2 and return o2 such that (with sufficient algae) the tank becomes a net consumer of co2 and producer of o2 every 24 hour period. As co2 lowers the ph rises so the high pH may just be a sign the tank has low co2 and possibly high o2.

First, always check pH just before lights out.

Then make sure alk is at least 5-6 degrees (or more). (can be increased with baking soda from the grocery store but use small amounts.

Then stop worring.

I have high pH (8.4-8.8 api high range test kit) even in my FW planted and fish that "require" low pH live for years.

It makes no sense to add things, chase parameters, and so on when all the is "wrong" is low carbon dioxide.


my .02

 

[jonesjohnm]

the bristle worms are only in the sump as far as i know, is there anyway they could spread from the wet dry to the display tank? Does the aptasia spread through spores? if i had a UV sterilizer in the sump would that neautralize the Aptasia spores?

 

[jonesjohnm]

according to the LFS guy i didnt have enough oxygen entering the water, all my supply and returns were underwater therefore there was no oxygen exchange happening and that i didnt have enough 02 entering the water. he said the high CO2 was causing the pH to drop.

 

[islandreef]

I think they took advantage of you. From reading I do not believe you needed to spend that additional $400.

 

[ebushrow]

I think they scammed you too! After all they installed the whole setup they obviously did it wrong and a wet/dry filter requires maintenance. The aptasia depending on the species will either stay in the filter or if they are the swimming ones( as I call them) they will get disturbed, detach, then possible end up in your display... Maybe. I would call the store back and make them replace the rock at their expense with pest free rock, then get another LFS.

 

[Pkunk35]

I think you should attempt to manually eradicate the aiptasia in the sump using joe's juice or Kalk wasser slurry. If you google there are plenty of threads/examples. Keep up with the manual eradication, but don't stress too much about it. If the problem gets out of hand you can always use berghia to get it under control if it has to come to that.

I think you should leave the bristleworms alone, the vast majority do nothing but good things for the tank and trying to eliminate them would be ridiculously hard. Next time you overfeed you can thank them for cleaning up.

GL with the tank!

 

[impur]

I also think they scammed you a bit, but all is not lost. You can still have a very successful system. As stated, if the aiptasia are on pieces of the live rock rubber, just remove those rocks and run them under some hot water then leave them out for a week or so to dry. If not, kalk em. That should get rid of the aiptasia. Keep the bristle worms they are good guys, just don't touch em!

As far as pH is concerned, do you have a skimmer? The skimmer drives air into the water. So if your house is an energy star type, then you most likely have higher levels of CO2 in the house compared to outdoors. I have this exact same scenario. For awhile I just ran the airline for my skimmer to a window to draw in fresh O2. This raised my pH about .3-.4. After a year of having 25 feet of tubing running across my house, I decided to install a CO2 scrubber. So as the skimmer pulls in air, it goes thru the scrubber with absorbs CO2.

Good luck I think you are on the right track just keep it up and ask all the questions you can!

 

[STL]

Bristle worms are good, but nuke that aiptasia from orbit... or risk chasing those things down one at a time for the rest of your tank's life.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Let me suggest when you post a question, you put the subject in the title. Many many of us will be glad to help but we don't have time no the inclination to open every "Help" or "please help" thread posted. It helps to know what it is about so we know whether we can offer help or not. Just a suggestion that gets posted often but not often enough.

 

[zemuss]

Baking Soda raises ALK? That I didn't know.

 

[cdness]

OK so here's the quick and dirty...

1. Your tank has been up for 3 months. It is nowhere near stable yet and you will see all sorts of algae blooms and different biological cycles in the tank. Slow down and just let things run for a bit... Remember the saying in the hobby "Nothing good happens fast". This is the first lesson to learn in the hobby so keep that in mind and slow down.

2. While I wouldn't say you were scammed, I'd say that the store saw a nice wide opening into selling you something new and jumpped on the income withpout troubleshooting the whole issue. The O2 issue is something that can be fixed by aiming a powerhead toward the surface of the water. This will create air exchange which in turn aerates the water, reducing or eliminating the CO2 issue...

3. The jury is mixed when it comes to bristle worms. I personally feel they are beneficial until they reach 4 - 6" in length. At that point they can cause pain if you run into them when working in the tank so I tend to toss out the larger ones. Aiptasia on the other hand is a pest and always will be a pest that needs to be destroyed to the best of your ability ASAP. Unfortunately if it is on some of the rubble in the wet dry, it is probably on all of it. Your best bet is to nuke the rocks and let them die off, then put back in when they are sterile. Use a strong vinegar solution in a bucket to melt away the aiptasia then soak in fresh water to remove the vinegar. Add slowly back to the wet dry to prevent another cycle.

By the way, what do you have for livestock in the tank at the moment?