Old tank (full of aptasia) how to REALLY clean it and start again

Jorsan · 07/19/2017, 01:15 PM

Hi,
I have a reef tank that is full of aiptasia. My intention is to take all out and start all over again. My only doubt is if after I clean my tank the possibility of a new bloom of aiptasia could happen (maybe can survive to a regular cleaning). What do I need to do to be sure that Im going to start really "clean"?. Im not going to use nothing from my old tank except 3 fishes, couple of snails and 3 or 4 corals (I will take out the rock that they are attached to of course to avoid risks)..
Would like to hear about your experiences
Thanks in advance

Sk8r · 07/19/2017, 01:28 PM

Peroxide 30 second dip should handle it: the core of the rock would stay live, and most pests would not survive. Unfortunately you might lose sponges, worms, etc. Your other option would be to get some pep shrimp and just turn them loose for a while, though they will often 'farm' one big one. They prefer the babies.

Jorsan · 07/19/2017, 02:05 PM

Thanks SK8r. This is new for me, how exactly can I do that with no harm to my fishes and corals (a few but I have some). Thanks again

Mishri · 07/19/2017, 02:11 PM

you remove the rock from the tank and soak it in hydrogen peroxide... and rinse it in saltwater.. and you probably want the rock to sit in a holding bin till the ammonia spike is done from all of the dead stuff..

you can also try a bunch of Berghia Nudibranchs, they eat aiptasia.. i never had luck with peppermint shrimp. then there are copperbands and a few other fish that will eat aiptasia.. depends on the size of your tank.

Gweeds · 07/19/2017, 03:46 PM

+1 on h2o2... Will kill anything / everything at high enough concentration yet used at low concentrations it won't harm fish or corals

Baths for the rock will work as deacribed... however, that won't get rid of any on the glass / sand etc. If you're determined to get rid then I would find all the rock that definitely has no aips, dip this as described and put into a holding tank (QT?), run the tank with flow and skimmer for a week. Then move fish / inverts over to the holding tank. Leave all the sand, rock etc with aips on in the DT. Drain the water, buy the strongest h2o2 you can find (35% food grade is likely the strongest) and pour as much as you can into the DT. Wear gloves and cover your eyes! You can top up with tap water or RODI water, up to you, you're killing everything anyway

Run a powerhead to keep the water moving, it'll fizz like mad for hours, move the rocks about and stir the sand up etc to make sure the h2o2 has gotten everywhere. After at least 48 hours, remove everything and rinse in RODI. H2o2 breaks down into h2o after 48 hours, so you can just rinse the tank to get rid of all the dead stuff and then put it all back together. The rock you saved will jump start the cycle for you, just chuck in a bottle of Dr Tim's or some atm colony and off you go... fish, inverts etc can go straight back in.

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kmbyrnes · 07/20/2017, 06:13 PM

If you are convinced that is the route you need to take, I won't argue. It's a drastic step, but it's your tank.
However, if you're open to one last option, you can try what worked for me.
It's been said Copperband Butterflies eating aiptasia are hit or miss. But my CBB totally cleaned a heavily infested tank in about 3 months.
Prior to adding the CBB, I was doing weekly kalk paste hunting for about 4 months, with limited success. Once I added the CBB, I quit the kalk routine.
And now, around 3 months later my reef is aiptasia free.
YMMV

moondoggy4 · 07/20/2017, 07:10 PM

File fish or Berghia Nudibranchs work really well and you can resell then when they are done. You usually only see them when they run out of food and are starving, so keep a rock with aptasia in a QT tank and catch the Berghia's and put them in the QT tank and put them up for sale. If you have a UV light like the ones they use for finding cat urine they glow in the dark.

When you first put them in, they are tiny and you think you have been had, then in about a month you start thinking your seeing less aptasia and then all of a sudden they are wiped out

OoooDRAGONoooo · 07/21/2017, 12:35 AM

I had a problem once.i added a filefish.aiptasia all gone .havnt seen one since.

Jorsan · 07/21/2017, 07:45 AM

thanks to all for the great ideas.

dieselkeeper · 07/21/2017, 11:52 AM

If you do as Gweeds states. Don't forget to clean out your overflow. They will be in there too.

pfan151 · 07/21/2017, 12:45 PM

I'd just acid dip the rock. Why take a chance of the peroxide leaving a survivor? Also, if the tank was really neglected for a while I assume the rock is holding phosphates.

Gweeds · 07/21/2017, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfan151

I'd just acid dip the rock. Why take a chance of the peroxide leaving a survivor? Also, if the tank was really neglected for a while I assume the rock is holding phosphates.

High strength Peroxide is a far more potent killer than virtually any acid... the unstable oxygen molecule will oxidise any tissue. Dip a human in 100% h2o2 for 10 mins and they'll die, do the same in any sort of acid and they'll just be horribly burned. H2o2 also has the bonus that it'll leave the rock itself unharmed and turns into pure h2o within 48 hours, meaning if you really wanted to you could add salt and put fish into it... as long as all the o2 molecules have oxidised of course

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Jorsan · 07/22/2017, 01:43 PM

Understood and .. right about phosphates . Thanks

johnike · 07/22/2017, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmbyrnes

If you are convinced that is the route you need to take, I won't argue. It's a drastic step, but it's your tank.
However, if you're open to one last option, you can try what worked for me.
It's been said Copperband Butterflies eating aiptasia are hit or miss. But my CBB totally cleaned a heavily infested tank in about 3 months.
Prior to adding the CBB, I was doing weekly kalk paste hunting for about 4 months, with limited success. Once I added the CBB, I quit the kalk routine.
And now, around 3 months later my reef is aiptasia free.
YMMV

I had the same results with a Raccoon Butterfly and a Double Saddle Butterfly.

Hornet · 09/17/2017, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorsan

thanks to all for the great ideas.

Jorsan, what did you end up doing? How did it work?

I've been fighting an Aiptaisia problem for quite awhile. It is in my sump, overflow, and in sand. Therefore I've decided to just clean the entire system. I'm thinking of pulling all rock cleaning it in a bin letting it cycle, etc... While the rock is in the bin I want to run H202 through the system. I just need to figure out the correct concentration.

DaReefTank · 09/17/2017, 07:56 AM

Copperband butterfly worked for me

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jda · 09/17/2017, 09:03 AM

Have a plan for control. You will get it again on some frag plug, or some spore somewhere. There is surely some minuscule one on one of the rock that has corals on it. This is almost inevitable. Lots of Peppermints from the Florida Keys work for me along with some butterflies.

If you want to clean the whole tank, Muratic Acid is probably cheaper and easier one all of the livestock and rock/sand is out. You can get H2O2 up to 40% if you find a local chemical supply company that sells to the public - I use it in my hot tub. However, it does not take much water do dilute it back down to the percentage that you get at the grocery store.

Hornet · 09/17/2017, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jda

Have a plan for control. You will get it again on some frag plug, or some spore somewhere. There is surely some minuscule one on one of the rock that has corals on it. This is almost inevitable. Lots of Peppermints from the Florida Keys work for me along with some butterflies.

If you want to clean the whole tank, Muratic Acid is probably cheaper and easier one all of the livestock and rock/sand is out. You can get H2O2 up to 40% if you find a local chemical supply company that sells to the public - I use it in my hot tub. However, it does not take much water do dilute it back down to the percentage that you get at the grocery store.

My initial infestation came from some cheap live rock that I purchased from craigslist. The guy told me he had a problem with it but I was stupid and eager to get my new tank going. Pepermints nudis and copperband work but it is a constant fight once it spread to the sump. I have a couple of other issues due to me working to much and bad husbandry. Currently no fish or corals so I just want a clean start.

I see food grade H202 on Amazon, as you allude to it is on the expensive side. I'm not in a rush so I was hoping I could identify a dosage amount that I could pour in the tank and let run for several weeks and kill everything.

07/19/2017, 01:15 PM	#1
Jorsan Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 427	Old tank (full of aptasia) how to REALLY clean it and start again Hi, I have a reef tank that is full of aiptasia. My intention is to take all out and start all over again. My only doubt is if after I clean my tank the possibility of a new bloom of aiptasia could happen (maybe can survive to a regular cleaning). What do I need to do to be sure that Im going to start really "clean"?. Im not going to use nothing from my old tank except 3 fishes, couple of snails and 3 or 4 corals (I will take out the rock that they are attached to of course to avoid risks).. Would like to hear about your experiences Thanks in advance

07/19/2017, 01:28 PM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Peroxide 30 second dip should handle it: the core of the rock would stay live, and most pests would not survive. Unfortunately you might lose sponges, worms, etc. Your other option would be to get some pep shrimp and just turn them loose for a while, though they will often 'farm' one big one. They prefer the babies. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

07/19/2017, 02:11 PM	#4
Mishri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Great Falls, MT Posts: 1,404	you remove the rock from the tank and soak it in hydrogen peroxide... and rinse it in saltwater.. and you probably want the rock to sit in a holding bin till the ammonia spike is done from all of the dead stuff.. you can also try a bunch of Berghia Nudibranchs, they eat aiptasia.. i never had luck with peppermint shrimp. then there are copperbands and a few other fish that will eat aiptasia.. depends on the size of your tank. __________________ 300 gallon 8ft long, 2x xf250 gyre, reef octopus 250-int - work in progress Aquarist since 1986

07/20/2017, 06:13 PM	#6
kmbyrnes Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Mesa AZ Posts: 2,055	If you are convinced that is the route you need to take, I won't argue. It's a drastic step, but it's your tank. However, if you're open to one last option, you can try what worked for me. It's been said Copperband Butterflies eating aiptasia are hit or miss. But my CBB totally cleaned a heavily infested tank in about 3 months. Prior to adding the CBB, I was doing weekly kalk paste hunting for about 4 months, with limited success. Once I added the CBB, I quit the kalk routine. And now, around 3 months later my reef is aiptasia free. YMMV __________________ 125g Mixed Reef 5/26/2015; 350 Butterfly Dominated FOWLR 11/26/2015 - 11/17/20217 & 07/31/18 to ??? ; 100g Mixed Reef 11/16/2013 to 06/16/2017 Current Tank Info: Too small

07/21/2017, 12:35 AM	#8
OoooDRAGONoooo Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Slovakia Posts: 300	Aiptasia I had a problem once.i added a filefish.aiptasia all gone .havnt seen one since.

07/19/2017, 02:05 PM	#3
Jorsan Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 427	Thanks SK8r. This is new for me, how exactly can I do that with no harm to my fishes and corals (a few but I have some). Thanks again

07/19/2017, 03:46 PM	#5
Gweeds Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 178	+1 on h2o2... Will kill anything / everything at high enough concentration yet used at low concentrations it won't harm fish or corals Baths for the rock will work as deacribed... however, that won't get rid of any on the glass / sand etc. If you're determined to get rid then I would find all the rock that definitely has no aips, dip this as described and put into a holding tank (QT?), run the tank with flow and skimmer for a week. Then move fish / inverts over to the holding tank. Leave all the sand, rock etc with aips on in the DT. Drain the water, buy the strongest h2o2 you can find (35% food grade is likely the strongest) and pour as much as you can into the DT. Wear gloves and cover your eyes! You can top up with tap water or RODI water, up to you, you're killing everything anyway Run a powerhead to keep the water moving, it'll fizz like mad for hours, move the rocks about and stir the sand up etc to make sure the h2o2 has gotten everywhere. After at least 48 hours, remove everything and rinse in RODI. H2o2 breaks down into h2o after 48 hours, so you can just rinse the tank to get rid of all the dead stuff and then put it all back together. The rock you saved will jump start the cycle for you, just chuck in a bottle of Dr Tim's or some atm colony and off you go... fish, inverts etc can go straight back in. Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

07/20/2017, 07:10 PM	#7
moondoggy4 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: menifee So cal Posts: 11,042	File fish or Berghia Nudibranchs work really well and you can resell then when they are done. You usually only see them when they run out of food and are starving, so keep a rock with aptasia in a QT tank and catch the Berghia's and put them in the QT tank and put them up for sale. If you have a UV light like the ones they use for finding cat urine they glow in the dark. When you first put them in, they are tiny and you think you have been had, then in about a month you start thinking your seeing less aptasia and then all of a sudden they are wiped out

07/21/2017, 07:45 AM	#9
Jorsan Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 427	thanks to all for the great ideas.

07/21/2017, 11:52 AM	#10
dieselkeeper Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Down south Posts: 198	If you do as Gweeds states. Don't forget to clean out your overflow. They will be in there too. __________________ 210 gallon, 75 gal sump/refugium, 3 Tunze 6105 on 7096 controller, AT I Sunpower 8 bulb T5 lighting, Apex controller. 40 gal breeder/20 gal sump frag tank

07/21/2017, 12:45 PM	#11
pfan151 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: FL Posts: 1,897	I'd just acid dip the rock. Why take a chance of the peroxide leaving a survivor? Also, if the tank was really neglected for a while I assume the rock is holding phosphates.

07/22/2017, 01:43 PM	#13
Jorsan Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 427	Understood and .. right about phosphates . Thanks

09/17/2017, 07:56 AM	#16
DaReefTank Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 68	Copperband butterfly worked for me Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

09/17/2017, 09:03 AM	#17
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	Have a plan for control. You will get it again on some frag plug, or some spore somewhere. There is surely some minuscule one on one of the rock that has corals on it. This is almost inevitable. Lots of Peppermints from the Florida Keys work for me along with some butterflies. If you want to clean the whole tank, Muratic Acid is probably cheaper and easier one all of the livestock and rock/sand is out. You can get H2O2 up to 40% if you find a local chemical supply company that sells to the public - I use it in my hot tub. However, it does not take much water do dilute it back down to the percentage that you get at the grocery store.