Lee
Member
My tank is around 5-6 years old, (90g reef) and after its final move, I lost about half of my fish; all my favorites. A couple beloved Tang's that had been with me for years, and a few other favorites. I'm left now with my damn biting clown fish, a couple chromis, and a Coral Beauty. The loss of fish had me pretty discouraged from reefkeeping for a while, and needless to say, I've gotten pretty lazy with the tank. Things have really gotten out of control because of this.
Anyway, I always had a handful of Apstasia popping up that I would kill with Joe's Juice. Well about a year ago, I ran out of Joe's Juice and within about 6 months, my tank was overrun. And I mean overrun. Think Agent Smith at the end of Matrix Revolutions.
I've tried to keep the Apstasia at bay with injections of lemon juice and Joe's Juice, but the number of Apstasia have completely overwhelmed by ability to eliminate them. And I obviously can't go at them too often, because the pH of the tank will go haywire. There are literally hundreds, and they are on virtually every piece of Liverock. I've also got some nasty green macroalgea (long, fuzzy, hairy stuff) growing at alarming rates lately.
I have caught a second wind lately; I am finishing my basement with plans to move up to a 125 gallon built into a bar. Needless to say, I need to gain control of this situation and I don't know what to do. Right now, I'm considering the Nuclear option: boil every piece of liverock and re-cure it until every piece is free of all life. Considering that my tank is 5-6 years old, there's a lot of established bacteria on that live rock, so I would essentially be starting over. I am ok with this.
So I have a few questions:
#1: Does anyone have a better idea than killing off all the live rock? Is there any way my live rock can be saved or does it have to be converted to dead-rock first?
#2: If there is no other option, is boiling them the best way to kill this stuff?
#3: I obviously need to keep some means of biofiltration, so I would most likely do 1/3 of the rock, cure it, then do the next 1/3, cure it, and do the final 1/3, and cure it, so that my tank always has 2/3 of its rock capacity for biofiltration. Does this sound safe enough?
#4: The fuzzy algae has been problematic lately. Are there any good remedies to this? I JUST replaced all 4 of my T5-HO bulbs, and the fuzzy hair algae has run rampant!
Any other thoughts? Any and all advice is welcome. If you think I'm a complete idiot; as long as you have a better suggestion, by all means, tell me
Anyway, I always had a handful of Apstasia popping up that I would kill with Joe's Juice. Well about a year ago, I ran out of Joe's Juice and within about 6 months, my tank was overrun. And I mean overrun. Think Agent Smith at the end of Matrix Revolutions.
I've tried to keep the Apstasia at bay with injections of lemon juice and Joe's Juice, but the number of Apstasia have completely overwhelmed by ability to eliminate them. And I obviously can't go at them too often, because the pH of the tank will go haywire. There are literally hundreds, and they are on virtually every piece of Liverock. I've also got some nasty green macroalgea (long, fuzzy, hairy stuff) growing at alarming rates lately.
I have caught a second wind lately; I am finishing my basement with plans to move up to a 125 gallon built into a bar. Needless to say, I need to gain control of this situation and I don't know what to do. Right now, I'm considering the Nuclear option: boil every piece of liverock and re-cure it until every piece is free of all life. Considering that my tank is 5-6 years old, there's a lot of established bacteria on that live rock, so I would essentially be starting over. I am ok with this.
So I have a few questions:
#1: Does anyone have a better idea than killing off all the live rock? Is there any way my live rock can be saved or does it have to be converted to dead-rock first?
#2: If there is no other option, is boiling them the best way to kill this stuff?
#3: I obviously need to keep some means of biofiltration, so I would most likely do 1/3 of the rock, cure it, then do the next 1/3, cure it, and do the final 1/3, and cure it, so that my tank always has 2/3 of its rock capacity for biofiltration. Does this sound safe enough?
#4: The fuzzy algae has been problematic lately. Are there any good remedies to this? I JUST replaced all 4 of my T5-HO bulbs, and the fuzzy hair algae has run rampant!
Any other thoughts? Any and all advice is welcome. If you think I'm a complete idiot; as long as you have a better suggestion, by all means, tell me