How to treat old LR?

[Steve1500]

I am breaking down my 75G and would like to save the LR for a future build in the next 6 months or so. The LR had some bad critters (Aiptasia and vermatid snails) so I want to eradicate the bad stuff but try to keep the good critters if possible. What do you folks recommend I do. I did treat the LR in a large bin with Hydrogen peroxide and SW (48 hrs) and that killed a lot of the bad stuff and probably the good stuff too.

For the 6 month period, I will put the LR in a large SW (no peroxide) bin with aeration. Should I add anything else?

 

[loui]

Not sure there is really any thing else to do I would keep the bin covered and smell the water every now again to make sure it doesn't turn into a sewer and it should be fine. You can add some bacteria a month or 2 before using and you should be good to go. I would keep it as dark as possible that should take care of the bad critters.

 

[Cment]

Go with a 50/50 bath of bleach and regular water for 24-48 hours. Empty then soak in regular water for a few days, you can add seachem prime, let rock air dry for a week or so. Then add rock to a bin with rodi water saltmix heater pump and add some bacteria in a bottle.

 

[azbigjohn]

I second the keeping it as dark as possible.

I have to admit, I had a severe aptasia problem several years ago to the point I took all of my rock out, bleached it, then acid-washed it, and finally re-cured it all.

It was a bunch of work, and possibly too drastic, but I had been fighting the aptasia fight for too long...

 

[brandon429]

I would have not treated the rocks in peroxide as done above in first post. a 6 mo build is fast upcoming, when you input bone new rocks you risk dinos ninefold. the reason the current live rock had some hitchhikers was due to no hand guiding at all, even during takedown. it didnt require a chemical burn, that wont fix anchored invaders. interestingly, it wont kill your biofilter either these rocks still have testable/provable ammonia control ability depending on what you do further.

the rocks should have been taken out, and had the anchored items rasped off with a metal knife, accurately, leaving 98% that isn't invaded untouched. you can put peroxide on the appropriate offenders after rasping (it doesnt work for many other types of items we want to cure back off rocks before reuse)

that rock had a life system built in that made your tank ninefold less likely to get dinos in the new build, peroxide isn't actually all that wrecking. if you want to etch it dry and fully restart then no new pics needed, it'll turn out just like marco rocks or any other type.

if you want to preserve the right life on them as best as possible, post current pics and keep them in clean, open topped saltwater container.

the next setup should have maintenance access built into the design, where you prevent ever having to redo live rock for the next 30 years. the new tank needs to have the willingness and plan to lift out live rocks if needed/access however is needed/and rasp off directly the invaders we'd usually allow to compound into a do over or a work thread where a given invasion challenges the tank for months and months. that direct access pre planning guarantees you cannot ever lose the new tank to any invader. we only lose tanks to invasion where refusal to access in one way or another occurs

your rocks do not need to be fed to keep bacteria alive while you wait. that adds more phosphate issues to a chain of loss that will already begin to upset the living portions of the rock, all that rock needs is no chemical burning, metal to rock removal surgery in specific places where needed, removal of any rock dieoff created by the burn so it wont rot in the holding tank, and clean running aerated water

the next six mos lets you assess what growth potentials are selected for and against, its better than a totally dry start. it will take years to earn the balance back from a full dry burn start

 

[Todd Kellley]

I would have not treated the rocks in peroxide as done above in first post. a 6 mo build is fast upcoming, when you input bone new rocks you risk dinos ninefold. the reason the current live rock had some hitchhikers was due to no hand guiding at all, even during takedown. it didnt require a chemical burn, that wont fix anchored invaders. interestingly, it wont kill your biofilter either these rocks still have testable/provable ammonia control ability depending on what you do further.

the rocks should have been taken out, and had the anchored items rasped off with a metal knife, accurately, leaving 98% that isn't invaded untouched. you can put peroxide on the appropriate offenders after rasping (it doesnt work for many other types of items we want to cure back off rocks before reuse)

that rock had a life system built in that made your tank ninefold less likely to get dinos in the new build, peroxide isn't actually all that wrecking. if you want to etch it dry and fully restart then no new pics needed, it'll turn out just like marco rocks or any other type.

if you want to preserve the right life on them as best as possible, post current pics and keep them in clean, open topped saltwater container.

the next setup should have maintenance access built into the design, where you prevent ever having to redo live rock for the next 30 years. the new tank needs to have the willingness and plan to lift out live rocks if needed/access however is needed/and rasp off directly the invaders we'd usually allow to compound into a do over or a work thread where a given invasion challenges the tank for months and months. that direct access pre planning guarantees you cannot ever lose the new tank to any invader. we only lose tanks to invasion where refusal to access in one way or another occurs

your rocks do not need to be fed to keep bacteria alive while you wait. that adds more phosphate issues to a chain of loss that will already begin to upset the living portions of the rock, all that rock needs is no chemical burning, metal to rock removal surgery in specific places where needed, removal of any rock dieoff created by the burn so it wont rot in the holding tank, and clean running aerated water

the next six mos lets you assess what growth potentials are selected for and against, its better than a totally dry start. it will take years to earn the balance back from a full dry burn start

Hi Brandon, if I could pick your brain? I have a few small pieces of live rock that have become coated with aptasia. They are rocks I can easily access and remove without disturbing much. Honestly there are just too many on each for me to inject them all and kill them before they spread. The small ones that come off the rock are being eaten by a green filefish and pistol shrimp. However they will not eat the larger ones infesting these rocks and multiplying. So is my best bet to remove them, scrape and scrub the aptasia off and then replace them back in the tank as to not kill the purple algae and good bacteria? I was going to do as has been done above (H2O2 and rinse) from reading your response it sounds like that may not do what I need it to and cause more harm in the process. Any advice is greatly appreciated! The two rocks i are the size of a softball and baseball if that helps? Its a 90 gallon tank so I do not want them moving to the larger rocks I have in there that would really disrupt things to move.

 

[brandon429]

Hey if you would document this work I have a few threads we can use it in

Aips/long standing headache in our hobby it would be neat to scrutinize this method compared to the others, it’s got to be chipped out. A flat head screwdriver and hammer tap, or very sturdy hunting knife and taps on bottom handle to really dig it under

I’ve done it in my tank before it’s one pass one kill nothing fragments off. Injection methods can leave cell groupings to re fragment around, but not this way. The pock marks will fill in with coralline over time and not look like chips and you can be surgical and accurate with it, they won’t look horrible after. You can also consider the digs a small window into the lower areas of live rock/ handy to notice if it’s porous or rock hard or very soft etc. we could really use before and after pics, there’s not a chemical aspect I use for aiptasia it’s directly dental surgery but on the removed live rock

 

[Todd Kellley]

Hey if you would document this work I have a few threads we can use it in

Aips/long standing headache in our hobby it would be neat to scrutinize this method compared to the others, it’s got to be chipped out. A flat head screwdriver and hammer tap, or very sturdy hunting knife and taps on bottom handle to really dig it under

I’ve done it in my tank before it’s one pass one kill nothing fragments off. Injection methods can leave cell groupings to re fragment around, but not this way. The pock marks will fill in with coralline over time and not look like chips and you can be surgical and accurate with it, they won’t look horrible after. You can also consider the digs a small window into the lower areas of live rock/ handy to notice if it’s porous or rock hard or very soft etc. we could really use before and after pics, there’s not a chemical aspect I use for aiptasia it’s directly dental surgery but on the removed live rock

Thank you! I will certainly take pics as I go and get them and with updates along the way. I forget the name, but I am seeing those little tube snails as well so pulling them out for "surgery" is my best bet I think. I can not believe how fast these things spread. All from one live rock from Petco. I can with 100% accuracy trace it back to that. My fault for not checking it better before I placed it in the tank and let it explode. Chemical treatments have always been my last resort in any aquarium situation so I am looking forward to the extra work to not have to dose or inject anything.

Can you send me a link to the threads you would like pics and status on?

 

[brandon429]

Ironically it’s our peroxide thread

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

What you are really in for: Hand cleaning, hard work siphon and rasp-removing of accumulations and invasions outside the tank and doing massive water changes is 90% of this thread, peroxide is 10%. We almost never dose peroxide into the tank water, this is a you-work-physically-hard as catch-up...

www.reef2reef.com

The rationale we want to feature even with these invasive anemones is rasping, that’s the action that helps us more than peroxide does in the thread for green hair algae (everyone used brushes to pre treat for gha but we think that fragments and pestles fragments down into the rock)

Rasping is using metal tools on reef rock. It’s dislodging the anchor point as the goal, a chip of rock thrown out; the target coming off with it is incidental

No peroxide is needed for your job but we didn’t open the thread with peroxide as the chief tool anyway, it was about personal resolve and anyone who is ready to rid rocks of aips externally without kid glove injection trials is just what we like to see. It’s my opinion that reef tank invasions by anchored invaders are a matter of allowance by the keeper and no other cause. 98% of gha or aiptasia sit there and watch it spread from one rock or another, frozen from action by either doubt or fear of bacterial upset of the greater system. Reasons always converge to allow X to take over, we like examples of that not being permitted

Reasons we encounter for why people will sit there and watch a reef self destruct:
- my bacteria will die.
-my rocks are glued into place
-my tank is too large that’s impractical
-that’s not taking care of the cause (yes, it is, we talk about full tank cleaning on page one / complete actions/how algae self feeds from attached detritus)
-it will upset the tank if I do big water changes or put live rock in air
-not one reefing book or article written by reef masters mention direct access, you sound crazy.

I specifically have one post in here of me chopping off aiptasia from the side of my reef rock and that’s the last aiptasia I saw in my tank perhaps five years ago not sure I’d have to recheck dates. It was anchored to a little nub off the side of my main live rock stack. I used wire cutters to snip off the nub and the aip for a total removal in one pass.