I'm buying an Aptasia farm! My new 11 year old turn key 125 gal. Softy-LPS Tank

[reefez]

So I'm getting an established 125 gal. reef tank this weekend. It's been up and running for 11 years according to the previous owner. Their is a Red Sea Sailfin Tang that probably weighs 1/2 a pound or better. Some really nice soft corals too. Long story short I was looking in the 75 gal. fuge tonight and could not count all of the aptasia growing on the rubble, sand, and macro. Then I panicked and looked closer at the display. Not one aptasia to be found anywhere in the display tank! So I looked at the stomach on the Copperband and noticed he is quite fat and sassy.
The previous owner said he has not had a single aptasia in the display in 11 years since the tank has been up and running. He has had the Copperband for 11 years too he said. So I was wondering if when I get it home and settled in maybe I should put 3-4 Peppermint shrimp in the fuge to wipe them out. Or I can just count on the Copperband to keep them out of the display. And the tank looks great! Well the fish do. The corals, and entire system as a whole is on the neglected side. He has never run carbon, but uses R/O water for his topoff and monthly water changes. The system has the giant Sailfin, a yellow tang, a purple tang, copperband, coral beauty angle, 1 large perc clown, 2 pajima cardinals, and a Marine Betta. So what do you all think? Nuke the Aptasia with peppermint shrimp in the fuge? Or utilize that very well established fuge as a excellent source of nutrient export? I'm leaning towards the latter. I'll post some pics of the system when I get it home this Saturday and it settles in. I can't wait! Pic of the system as it is as of now are in the link I posted. Take a look and tell me what you all think. Thankshttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/ranran/mickeys%20stuff/Mickeysstuff006.jpg
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[reefez]

Hard to tell from the attached pics, but the Sailfin is almost the size of a dinner plate when the top and bottom dorsal fin are extended.

[cook]

Leave them in the sump. They remove a lot of waste. Or start breeding nudis.

[reefez]

They must remove a lot because this guy says he feeds the fish 4 cubes of brine and and formula 1 a day, plus Nori on a clip every day! That is a whole lot of food going into a system with under 200 gallons and only 8 fish. Eight very fat fish. Man that fuge is cool looking on the inside. You can't tell from the pic but their is a lot of cool critters liveing in their. And get a load of that Turbofloater Multi hang on skimmer cup full of mud! I think my first upgrade will be a bigger skimmer.

[reefez]

And get a load of those Purple Yumas all over the place! One of the rocks is plastered with them to the point that they jumped off the rock onto the back of the tank It is going to be a off the hook softy-Lps tank when I'm done with it.

[reefez]

So I'm open on any sudgestions on the safest fastest way to move it. I am more worried about the big old fish. I want to stress them as little as possible. My plan is to siphon out 30 gal. of water from their tank. Remove rocks and coral. Net the fish and put them into their 30 gal. temporary holding tank. Move them to my place. Like 5 miles. Hook them up with a power head and a air stone untill I get the tank stand and canopy and sump moved and set up. Better part of the day they will be in a 30 gal. cube tank with their own water a power head, and a air stone. Will they be good for a day in these conditions? Any tips or hints are very helpful.

[Dubbin1]

I would be more afraid of moving an 11 year old tank then the Aptasia in the sump.

[reefez]

Why would you be afraid? It is not as difficult as a lot of people think. Just kind of stressful on the fish. But I'm not putting them in a bag and shipping them through the mail. The'll be ok.

[reefez]

I'll give a try opening some of the picture links so you all can see what I'm moveing this Saturday.

[reefez]

This is going to be one sweet softy-LPS Reef when I get it settled in and give it the TLC It needs.

[Sepeku]

I'd leave it alone. Don't ruin a good thing.

Seriously, apitasia does eat and clean the water of nutrients. I imagine that when they eventually crawl out into the display tank, the copper band is eating it. As you imply anyway. It would make for a pretty nifty natural filter.

I wouldn't bother until the apiatsia is in the main tank and is establishing a foot hold against the copperband.

Be wary on the effectiveness of peppermints as well, they don't always go after the stuff.

[techigirl78]

I'd recommend getting some new sand or going bare bottom if you haven't already considered it. If you keep some sand, I'd only use a cup or so when you move it. I don't even want to know what is in it after 11 years.

I also don't like using nets for my fish. I usually will use a clear container and possibly a net to steer the fish into the container. It will help in keeping their body's intact and doesn't swim to be as stressful.

Good luck!

[reefez]

Well the Aptasia have not got a foot hold in the last however many years so I'm just going to leave it alone. I am thinging of transfering most of the sand into a bigger 100 gal. sump-fuge and adding some new sand. I mean this thing has been up and running for a lot of years so a revamp on the fuge area is probably in order. That will give me around 250 gallons of total water in the system with the frag tank..

[reefez]

The display is going to have a very thin layer crushed coral substrate. The sand in the display is going to be trashed. As for the fuge I'm going to revamp it as well. I'll keep more then a cup of it's sand though. I plan on straining out as much dirt as I can with clean salt water. The system is without a doubt going to be shocked. But I'm confident it will bounce back in no time.

[msman825]

good luck

[old salty]

There is a video floating around somewhere, and the guy who is in it is giving advice on setting up a sump. He purposefully cultivates aptasia to remove particles from the water; an interesting idea. I'm thinking of doing something similar, only using Anthelia coral; it grows ridiculously fast though I really don't know what they consume.

[lgoins]

I second the use of anthelia. I threw a bunch of it in my 12 gallon algea ridden tank, and since then the algea grows much much slower and the anthelia is taking off. Actually doesn't look to bad.

[Dubbin1]

Originally posted by reefez
Why would you be afraid? It is not as difficult as a lot of people think. Just kind of stressful on the fish. But I'm not putting them in a bag and shipping them through the mail. The'll be ok.

I'm talking about the stress it will put on the tank itself.

[sven]

I've found it a lot easier and less stressful to move the individual elements of the tank and then move the tank and re-establish it slowly rather than try a quick move. With a tank as old as that, the biological system is going to be in for a real shock when you make such a radical change as a move.

good luck.

[Indermark]

on www.reefvideos.com there is a video on the duplex sump concept about purposefully cultivating aptasia to remove particles from the water.

Ryan

[rekn]

leave the aptasia, if anything its suplimenting the cbb's diet

[reefez]

[QUOTE]leave the aptasia, if anything its suplimenting the cbb's diet

I agree that the Aptasia are a nice snack for the Copperband. He might be missing a staple that he has had for awhike if I take it away.

[kappaknight]

You can probably hire professional aquarium moving companies if you're worried about stressing the fish. Also, I wouldn't trade sand for crushed corals.

[rodd1rj]

Im sure you already know this but you must be very careful when moving the copperband as they are very sensative fish and as of now it is your only aptisia killer if you know what I mean.

[reefez]

Can you elaborate on how to go about moveing the fish? Obviously the fish are my main priority. Here is my plan. I have 60 gal. of new salt water mixing right now. Tomorrow I am moveing the fish and corals into a 100 gal. that I have the new salt water in. So it is 1/2 full of new water, and will be the rest of the way full of the water that the fish are in right now. And they will have all of their LR in with them. So it is basically like doing a 50% water change. Do you think this will be ok? The sump-fuge won't be moved untill saturday.