Hyposalinity vs. Live Rock

boilermaker1 · 12/08/2008, 10:20 PM

I have a bit of a dilemma here.... mostly, an ich outbreak in my 180. Ummm I'm in a bit of a jam here, given the size of the fish and the size of the tanks I have other than my 180 that I can use. So far I see spots on my Hippo Tang and Zoster's Butterfly... with a coral beauty, 2 clowns and a starry blenny also in the tank..... Options for QT... I have a 30, and a 29. I'm pretty much SOL... and I dont have the equipment on hand to run 2 very small, heavily bioloaded tanks ( and I'd have to keep the DT running for the inverts)... so I'm looking at doing this in reverse... can anyone tell me if this will be a really bad idea.... at this point, good idea is going to the wind, but I think this will work. Here's the plan.
-Remove MOST of the live rock from the display leaving a skeleton amount for fish hiding/territorial breakup, put live rock in a tub
-Remove the corals (all 5 of them), the shrimp, the crabs and the snails, put them in a smaller tank, with 1 Halide from the 180 over the tank for light.
-keeping the fish in the 180, run an 8 week hyposalinity cycle on the display tank.... effectively turning this into a "reverse QT" operation.

I'm guessing the butterflies are responsible for this, or it was the stress of moving fish between tanks (upgraded about 3 weeks ago)... regardless.... I dont feel comfortable with a 6" hippo in a 29 or 30 gallon tank... I think that would honestly be worse.

I cant see why this wont work, other than probably not doing my sandbed a favor.... if I isolate the rock for 8 weeks it's effectively letting it fallow.... the hypo in the tank kills the ich and the coral lives because its in another tank with the inverts....
BUT... this lets me keep the monster skimmer and large water volume where I need it..... with the heavy crapping fish... which honestly, I think will help to keep the stress level down and maybe help pull them through it.

Does anyone see a real major problem in doing it this way (i.e. Not getting rid of the ich).... nevermind whatever I lose in pods or residual rock organisms.... they'll repopulate once this is done.

12/08/2008, 10:20 PM	#1
boilermaker1 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Chantilly, VA Posts: 784	Hyposalinity vs. Live Rock I have a bit of a dilemma here.... mostly, an ich outbreak in my 180. Ummm I'm in a bit of a jam here, given the size of the fish and the size of the tanks I have other than my 180 that I can use. So far I see spots on my Hippo Tang and Zoster's Butterfly... with a coral beauty, 2 clowns and a starry blenny also in the tank..... Options for QT... I have a 30, and a 29. I'm pretty much SOL... and I dont have the equipment on hand to run 2 very small, heavily bioloaded tanks ( and I'd have to keep the DT running for the inverts)... so I'm looking at doing this in reverse... can anyone tell me if this will be a really bad idea.... at this point, good idea is going to the wind, but I think this will work. Here's the plan. -Remove MOST of the live rock from the display leaving a skeleton amount for fish hiding/territorial breakup, put live rock in a tub -Remove the corals (all 5 of them), the shrimp, the crabs and the snails, put them in a smaller tank, with 1 Halide from the 180 over the tank for light. -keeping the fish in the 180, run an 8 week hyposalinity cycle on the display tank.... effectively turning this into a "reverse QT" operation. I'm guessing the butterflies are responsible for this, or it was the stress of moving fish between tanks (upgraded about 3 weeks ago)... regardless.... I dont feel comfortable with a 6" hippo in a 29 or 30 gallon tank... I think that would honestly be worse. I cant see why this wont work, other than probably not doing my sandbed a favor.... if I isolate the rock for 8 weeks it's effectively letting it fallow.... the hypo in the tank kills the ich and the coral lives because its in another tank with the inverts.... BUT... this lets me keep the monster skimmer and large water volume where I need it..... with the heavy crapping fish... which honestly, I think will help to keep the stress level down and maybe help pull them through it. Does anyone see a real major problem in doing it this way (i.e. Not getting rid of the ich).... nevermind whatever I lose in pods or residual rock organisms.... they'll repopulate once this is done.