Starting over with old items from infested old tank

[mling]

My two 50 G tanks are infested with aiptasia and other pest anemomes like mahanos.
I am starting over with a new 156G. I have bought 160lbs of new life rock and also about 200lbs of aragonite.

What can I reuse from the old tanks inorder not to introduce aiptasia and mahanos to the new tank ?

I am thinking of reusing alot of the old aragonite to help seed the new tank. Can this transfer pest too ?

Can I safely transfer corals to the new tank ?

I plan to put the infested LR in a tank and slowly clean them. Than put the clean rocks in another tank (like a QT) to ensure they are no longer infested before introducing them to the 156.
How long should I leave the "cleaned" LR in the QT before safely using them ?
I really don't want to trash about 100lbs of LR if I can help it.

Thanks in advance for any advise.

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Eww sorry to hear about that man. I have aiptasia but im going to get som berghia to control it as all my perrermints do is eat worms. For starters I woulnt put ANY of the old live rock in yet. Set it aside for now. Take all of your equipment that you will be using (some of which will need to be upgraded with your newer larger system) and give them a good freahwater cleaning then let them dry for a few days. This will ensure any aiptasia are dead. Calcium reactors and filters need to have their calcium and carbon changed. Remember aiptasia reproduce by breaking off arms. Any one of these arms could start it all over again. That is why cleaning the live rock will be so tedious. The live sand you can inspect the surface of as you gravel vac it and set it into a standby tank. Then observe this tank for a few days, if any aiptasia traveled through the sand they will climb the walls or be attached to the bottom and reaching high to get light. Now for the live rock. If its beautiful live rock that you cant do with out (attached plants, coralline, corals, sponges) then you will have to get creative. You could try taking them out of the water and spot treating them with kalkweiser. If its junk rock which Im guessing its not you could just let it air dry. One last resort is putting the live rock in a bucket with no airation and letting it all crash and rot. Once its crashed pull the rock out and immediately scrub it clean and get it back under good conditions. If this is performed quickly enough it will save the coralline and halimeda but kill everything else. I had to do this once and it sucked but was last resort.

Just remember aiptasia proliferate in high nutrient systems. So the initial problem could have been overfeeding or not using rodi water. Always be sure filtration is top notch. Unfortunately these guys have few predaters. Like rabbits in australia in the 90's lol

 

[SnowManSnow]

dont THROW AWAY the old rock.. just set it on the drive way.. rinse it relly good with a washer (NO SOAP) and let is sun dry for a week or so. Then throw it in a few 5 gallon buckets for later use You never know when you'll need some good base rock for something

B

 

[Anonymous]

I'd probably pass on reusing the sand unless you can freshwater wash it really well.

Rock will even lose the vast majority of its smell if you leave it in a bucket inside an outdoor storage closet for a full year.

Your storage neighbors might not appreciate it too much at first tho..

 

[Anonymous]

I'd probably pass on reusing the sand unless you can freshwater wash it really well.

Hate to throw away perfectly good sand, and have done the following with good results but... it is a PITA! I'd harvest any living critters out of the sand then go for a nuclear cure for any baddies. Take the sandbed in sections, filling a 5 gallon bucket up halfway with sand, then add freshwater with bleach mixed in. Stir it with a stick every now and then to mix it, let it sit for 15mins or so, add declorinator, stir thoughly and rinse.

This should (literally!) bleach the crap out of anything living in the sand. Rinse really well though! The easy way is to do it outside and just let the hose run in the bucket and stir so the solids float up and out the bucket. Then put the newly cleaned sand into a storage container and transfer it to the new tank.

Good luck!

 

[mling]

I think the Sun dry for a week idea is what I will do. I assume that this imply that the rock will have to be re cured.

Is it correct to say then that LR can never die ?

 

[Anonymous]

Your LR will be dead if you wash with fresh water and allow to totally dry out.

That being said - a short time in a tank w/ something to seed the rock - and it will soon be resurrected.

 

[Anonymous]

Your LR will be dead if you wash with fresh water and allow to totally dry out.

That being said - a short time in a tank w/ something to seed the rock - and it will soon be resurrected.

I used mostly dry rock and a few pounds of good quality live to start my latest tank. It works, jsut a bit slower than starting with all live.