Zombie tank, can it be saved

[thedon986]

Amazing improvement. Glad you didn’t drop an atom bomb on it and rip everything and wash it with freshwater. It will be fun watching something hunt down all those aiptasia.

 

[Sticker shock]

Also, thanks to all for reading along and offering up options, opinions, or even the well wishes. All the interaction here has helped me to keep my focus on working through this.

 

[Sticker shock]

Params have been stable for a couple days. Getting a bunch of the red slime off the zoas has them opening a bit more today than I’ve seen since I started this project.

Rock flowers don’t seem to care about anything I’m doing. They seem bulletproof.

I added a few snails and two peppermints to see how they do.

Clowns are now super aggressive. They never used to bite me, but now they’re kind of ridiculous.

I rescaped the rock work, but I think I placed it too far back so cleaning will still be tough.

I’ve gotten rid of so many aiptasia, and I bet I still have a worse outbreak than any of you here posting in the aiptasia threads.

 

[Biochembob]

Looks a lot better @Sticker shock . A bit more time and work and it will be looking really good.

 

[Biochembob]

Definitely give that sand bed a thorough cleaning before you move more rocks around. I would not rip clean because you have years of other bacteria built up you want to keep. Just take it slow with cleaning. Remember it got that way over years, trying to correct it in a day could actually be what crashes the tank.

The whole point of rip cleaning is preserving bacteria.

We remove all the detritus, algae, aptaisa, etc from the rocks very carefully making sure to keep the bacteria in the rocks alive. This is where 80%+ of our good bacteria live.

We sacrifice the small amount (<20%) in the sand bed in order to not deal with the detritus there.

Rip Cleaning gives you clean glass, clean sand,clean water, and rocks with much less algae or other baddies.

In my case I never saw ammonia and my Nitrite was never more than 0.1ppm.

I upgraded tanks and for the month after my tank never looked better. Since I've had a few strands of GHA but it is being dealt with by bumping up my CUC (needed after the upgrade anyways)

In summary rip cleaning is getting rid of as much detritus and bad stuff while saving as much bacteria as possible leaving you with a clean but cycled tank.

 

[rennjidk]

Here is a video of where I started:

So THAT'S where my ebay corals came from

Awesome job btw!

 

[thedon986]

The whole point of rip cleaning is preserving bacteria.

We remove all the detritus, algae, aptaisa, etc from the rocks very carefully making sure to keep the bacteria in the rocks alive. This is where 80%+ of our good bacteria live.

We sacrifice the small amount (<20%) in the sand bed in order to not deal with the detritus there.

Rip Cleaning gives you clean glass, clean sand,clean water, and rocks with much less algae or other baddies.

In my case I never saw ammonia and my Nitrite was never more than 0.1ppm.

I upgraded tanks and for the month after my tank never looked better. Since I've had a few strands of GHA but it is being dealt with by bumping up my CUC (needed after the upgrade anyways)

In summary rip cleaning is getting rid of as much detritus and bad stuff while saving as much bacteria as possible leaving you with a clean but cycled tank.

What scientific source do you have to show that <20% of the overall biome in the tank is in the sand? Would love to read through that.

 

[anabechara]

So first, is good to know your daughter is doing better.
Now... about your tank... scrub scrub scrub... siphon siphon siphon... test the water... water change weekly... get a bunch of peppermint shrimps... and give your tank and yourself some grace. If it took you a year to get to that point, the change should be slow and steady...
Good luck! You got this!

 

[Sticker shock]

Ok got my skimmer hooked up again. Another small success that comes with downside. I’m running it wide open and it’s producing foam like crazy. Right now I’m draining it directly back into the system through a filter sock. I was thinking it might need another break in but it absolutely the opposite.

So this is where you all tell me it’s normal and it should calm down after a couple hours/days or something.

 

[Sticker shock]

Or maybe this is what it did upon the first time I set it up. I can’t remember anymore if it overflowed or took forever to produce.

 

[Sticker shock]

This clown loves the Duncan, not sure the coral feels the same in return

 

[themcnertney]

This is quite the turn around. I'm glad you stuck with it instead of nuking the whole tank.

Just dial down the skimmer, dont run it wide open. Less is more here at the moment I think.

Consider purchasing a Berghia maybe?

Medium Berghia [Medium Berghia] - $16.99 : ReefTown, Berghia Nudibranchs for saltwater aquariums | Eliminate and kill Aiptasia Anemones naturally

ReefTown Medium Berghia [Medium Berghia] - Mature egglaying adults that range from 1/2 to just under 3/4 in length. This is the recommended size because they offer the best balance in both Berghia reproduction and Aiptasia eating capabilities. Why we recommend Medium Berghia: The Medium Berghia...

reeftown.com

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Params have been stable for a couple days. Getting a bunch of the red slime off the zoas has them opening a bit more today than I’ve seen since I started this project.

Rock flowers don’t seem to care about anything I’m doing. They seem bulletproof.

I added a few snails and two peppermints to see how they do.

Clowns are now super aggressive. They never used to bite me, but now they’re kind of ridiculous.

I rescaped the rock work, but I think I placed it too far back so cleaning will still be tough.

I’ve gotten rid of so many aiptasia, and I bet I still have a worse outbreak than any of you here posting in the aiptasia threads.

Keep it up!

 

[Sticker shock]

Manually removed thousands of aiptasia.

Skimmer is producing a very wet but dark skimmate.

Shot of Jack o lantern lepto. Color is still faded, but hoping it can come back fully.

 

[Skay]

keep it up very invested in this thread

 

[Sticker shock]

So this was neat…saw my rock flower acting weird so I took a picture:

And then a video of a spawning

 

[reveriesh]

So this was neat…saw my rock flower acting weird so I took a picture:

And then a video of a spawning

Incredibly cool! I’m fascinated by this thread and cheering you on!

A lot of responses have recommended that you get a berghia. That certainly seems like a terrific idea. Are you considering it?

 

[Sticker shock]

Incredibly cool! I’m fascinated by this thread and cheering you on!

A lot of responses have recommended that you get a berghia. That certainly seems like a terrific idea. Are you considering it?

I have a leopard wrasse and now a couple peppermint shrimp. I feel berghia would be an expensive snack. Not going to lie though, I have been looking at prices and availability. Really, I just don’t want to add much of anything until I’m certain the tank is healthy. Hopefully that gives the shrimp a chance to do some damage

 

[Sticker shock]

I have the aiptasia on the run. They still have numbers, but I hold the high ground.

 

[Superd513]

I just bought a sea hair today. He is in the tank chowing down on the hair algae right now. I’m just hoping that this dang clown fish leaves him alone. He keeps trying to bite him and . He’s gonna tick him off and making ink up my tank this clown fish is a jerk. I got a 20 gallon tank I’m gonna set up and I’m gonna put him and the bta in it And they can be friends by themselves