The little rascal came back!!

twahl · 07/07/2014, 06:50 PM

I had an outbreak of bryopsis last year in my 120 and treated it with copious amounts of Kent's tech m and spot treating it with hydrogen peroxide. It seemed to work for a while, tho it cost me all of the thousands of little brittle stars and bristle worms in my tank. I also started to run a reactor with gfo at the time to keep my phosphate levels down and under control. My job took me on the road for a while and I was unable to keep up maintenance as I should and now it has come back with a vengeance. Nothing I do will bring it under control now so I'm thinking of nuking my tank and starting over. My questions are these.... 1) I was thinking of boiling my live rock then placing it in large bins dry for a month or so in the dark, will that kill all bryopsis off? 2) I'm planning on placing all of my corals I can remove like my hammers and frogspawn in a q tank after a coral dip for a month or so too, will that kill off the bryopsis? 3) I'm going to replace all of my sand which is about 10 years old with new and add a couple pieces of new live rock to start seeding the tank again, will I have to worry about a cycle again and will those new pieces of rock work to re seed my old rock when I re add it? I'm extremely frustrated at this point and was half tempted to just be done with the hobby but I still quite enjoy it when all is well and my job won't take me away anymore so I'm going to go it again. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

PinkPunisher · 07/07/2014, 09:46 PM

Do NOT boil your live rock, it can kill you, seriously.

Spiffy · 07/07/2014, 10:30 PM

You can try beefing up your clean-up crew with Lettuce Nudis and such. And removing as much of it manually as possible. I have even heard of boosting the PH to about 8.4. And I think it might be time to ditch the rock. The boil idea may be what you have to do instead of nuking the tank. You'll just have to "cook" it in a Rubbermaid with actual live rock from another source to re-seed it.

sirreal63 · 07/07/2014, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkPunisher

Do NOT boil your live rock, it can kill you, seriously.

This! Do not boil your rock, other than being an a risk from a rupture and flying debris it is possible to get sick from it or worse. The term "cooking" has nothing to do with heat or boiling water, save that for pasta. We don't really want to read about anyone in the paper.

twahl · 07/07/2014, 11:09 PM

Wow I didn't know boiling it would be bad. As a firefighter I've come across a lot of things but never a live rock casualty, I'd hate to be the first. I was already the first one ever at our local hospital with a sting from a lion fish and have still not lived it down. So if I seal the rock in Tupperware containers for a few months in darkness will that kill it off? I've tried the nudibranchs and they completely ignored the stuff. The only time anything will touch it is after I put peroxide on it but it's so bad now that's not feasible. Thank you for all of your help.

100%hydrophylic · 07/07/2014, 11:40 PM

Bleach bath followed by vinegar bath.

If you want to basically start from scratch with dry rock then reseed from there, put all your rock in bins, add bleach, let it sit a couple days, empty it, fill it back up again, add vinegar, let it sit a few days, drain it, rinse the rock real good with a hose, let it sit in RO water for a week (let stuff leech out), then cure it and recycle your tank.

Last ditch effort that i have seen online is muriatic acid baths. That stuff is NASTY, and DANGEROUS. you need goggles, gloves, respirator, apron etc. I highly doubt anything would live through that, but it will dissolve your rock a bit, and as i said it would be dangerous.

asudavew · 07/08/2014, 12:19 AM

How about just baking it in the sun?

bfin3 · 07/08/2014, 12:28 AM

the best way I have heard about is to do a bleach bath to kill all organics and then a muriatic acid bath to leach phosphate and reopen the pores in the rocks. You need to be careful and use common sense with the acid but you can buy it at the hardware store usually and if not any pool store would carry it. Be sure to do it outside though and then neutralize the acid afterwards with baking soda. There are several write ups just do a search on rock cleaning and you'll find everything you'd ever want to know and more

Cdogsailr · 07/08/2014, 06:28 AM

If it were me I'd just toss the old rock and buy new LR (understand $ is a factor). In the month or so of trying to recover your old LR (without certainty) you could be well into cycling new LR and sand.

wildman926 · 07/08/2014, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asudavew

How about just baking it in the sun?

X2... Just let it sit in the sun for about a month or so.

d-man · 07/08/2014, 03:42 PM

Muriatic bath for a day.
Then rinse well/soak in ro water

07/07/2014, 06:50 PM	#1
twahl Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Utah Posts: 36	The little rascal came back!! I had an outbreak of bryopsis last year in my 120 and treated it with copious amounts of Kent's tech m and spot treating it with hydrogen peroxide. It seemed to work for a while, tho it cost me all of the thousands of little brittle stars and bristle worms in my tank. I also started to run a reactor with gfo at the time to keep my phosphate levels down and under control. My job took me on the road for a while and I was unable to keep up maintenance as I should and now it has come back with a vengeance. Nothing I do will bring it under control now so I'm thinking of nuking my tank and starting over. My questions are these.... 1) I was thinking of boiling my live rock then placing it in large bins dry for a month or so in the dark, will that kill all bryopsis off? 2) I'm planning on placing all of my corals I can remove like my hammers and frogspawn in a q tank after a coral dip for a month or so too, will that kill off the bryopsis? 3) I'm going to replace all of my sand which is about 10 years old with new and add a couple pieces of new live rock to start seeding the tank again, will I have to worry about a cycle again and will those new pieces of rock work to re seed my old rock when I re add it? I'm extremely frustrated at this point and was half tempted to just be done with the hobby but I still quite enjoy it when all is well and my job won't take me away anymore so I'm going to go it again. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

07/07/2014, 10:30 PM	#3
Spiffy Cheesy Poofs! Join Date: May 2014 Location: Bronx, New York Posts: 357	You can try beefing up your clean-up crew with Lettuce Nudis and such. And removing as much of it manually as possible. I have even heard of boosting the PH to about 8.4. And I think it might be time to ditch the rock. The boil idea may be what you have to do instead of nuking the tank. You'll just have to "cook" it in a Rubbermaid with actual live rock from another source to re-seed it. __________________ Ecotech Radion XR15 Pro Gen3 x2, ReefLink, CPR CS50 Overflow. Reef Octopus NWB 110 Skimmer, Reef Octopus BR-110 Reactor. VorTech MP40 w/ QD Wetside x2, MP10 x1(Sump), 30-Gallon Sump. Current Tank Info: 60 Gallon, Prepping for LPS, 6 Years.

07/07/2014, 11:40 PM	#6
100%hydrophylic Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: GA Posts: 1,636	Bleach bath followed by vinegar bath. If you want to basically start from scratch with dry rock then reseed from there, put all your rock in bins, add bleach, let it sit a couple days, empty it, fill it back up again, add vinegar, let it sit a few days, drain it, rinse the rock real good with a hose, let it sit in RO water for a week (let stuff leech out), then cure it and recycle your tank. Last ditch effort that i have seen online is muriatic acid baths. That stuff is NASTY, and DANGEROUS. you need goggles, gloves, respirator, apron etc. I highly doubt anything would live through that, but it will dissolve your rock a bit, and as i said it would be dangerous. __________________ :) Current Tank Info: 75g mixed reef, 28g nano SPS

07/08/2014, 12:19 AM	#7
asudavew Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: San Angelo, Texas Posts: 1,010	How about just baking it in the sun? __________________ Be nice. Current Tank Info: 180, 125, 75

07/07/2014, 09:46 PM	#2
PinkPunisher Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: GTA, Ontario Posts: 107	Do NOT boil your live rock, it can kill you, seriously.

07/07/2014, 11:09 PM	#5
twahl Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Utah Posts: 36	Wow I didn't know boiling it would be bad. As a firefighter I've come across a lot of things but never a live rock casualty, I'd hate to be the first. I was already the first one ever at our local hospital with a sting from a lion fish and have still not lived it down. So if I seal the rock in Tupperware containers for a few months in darkness will that kill it off? I've tried the nudibranchs and they completely ignored the stuff. The only time anything will touch it is after I put peroxide on it but it's so bad now that's not feasible. Thank you for all of your help.

07/08/2014, 12:28 AM	#8
bfin3 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Bloomington, IL Posts: 417	the best way I have heard about is to do a bleach bath to kill all organics and then a muriatic acid bath to leach phosphate and reopen the pores in the rocks. You need to be careful and use common sense with the acid but you can buy it at the hardware store usually and if not any pool store would carry it. Be sure to do it outside though and then neutralize the acid afterwards with baking soda. There are several write ups just do a search on rock cleaning and you'll find everything you'd ever want to know and more

07/08/2014, 06:28 AM	#9
Cdogsailr Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Toronto Posts: 172	If it were me I'd just toss the old rock and buy new LR (understand $ is a factor). In the month or so of trying to recover your old LR (without certainty) you could be well into cycling new LR and sand.

07/08/2014, 03:42 PM	#11
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	Muriatic bath for a day. Then rinse well/soak in ro water