1500 gal tank choked with algae and aipasia

[barrysalt]

Local store called me in to help with tank. It's covered heavily with both aiptasia and green algae. Short of removing hundreds of lbs of rock and bathing them in muriatic acid to sterilize them, any suggestions? Very few fish, virtually no corals. I'll know what to do once tank is stabilized, but how do I help with problem now to get tank healthy again? Thanks...

 

[ca1ore]

Mechanical removal of GHA followed by an army of herbivores. Biological control for aptasia - Asfur Angel worked for me.

 

[barrysalt]

Thanks--mechanical removal impossible! Close to 1,000 lbs of rock, completely covered, and thousands of aptaisia--why not remove it all, let everything die off, start over??

 

[dave.m]

why not remove it all, let everything die off, start over??

Because the intruders you are dealing with are not ON the rock, they are IN the rock. Starting over will mean repeating the acid baths again and lots of soaking.

The whole system sounds like it needs to be thoroughly cleaned out.

If the owner whines about this you can point out that they should never have let it go on this long before taking action. As it is I doubt even biological controls will be able to get much of a handle on the problem.

Dave.M

 

[barrysalt]

If all the rocks which are infected are pulled, and they are immersed in an acid bath, won't that kill aptaisia, algae and everything living on or in the rocks?? Owner willing to do this, and even remove all the sand and just start over with everything sterile, and alot more care with preventative maintenance. Thanks for the input so far...

 

[screamingibis]

While it would be fun to try and attack it with an army of file fish and peppermints and even a 2 watt laser, the algae with tangs and get a bad A algae turf scrubber running, the easiest would be to nuke it with acid. Whatever you do, I would leave them with a scrubber running when you're done.

 

[dave.m]

We seem to be at cross-purposes, here. You said "mechanical removal" of the rock was not possible. I took this to mean that removal of the rock from the tank for acid treatment was not possible because there was so much rock.

Yes, remove all the rock from the system and give it an acid bath. Thoroughly clean all the components of the system before restarting.

Dave.M

 

[EnderG60]

You can cover the tank and starve it of light and food and wait a few months.

Or accept you have to remove all the live rock and sterilize it, suck it up and do it.

If its a store, by best advice is to simply start over. Remove all the rock and put it in some bins to starve the algea and aptasia off it. Get new rock and just start over. When the rock is cured, sell it.

I had a similar problem with my 300g when I was out of town for 2 months and my care taker fed the tank by the handful 3x a day while I was gone. Ended up removing every rock for a scrub and peroxide dip, then a month of darkness. After all that I added a monster clean up crew and turned the lights back on.

 

[MorganAtlanta]

Would it be easier to take the fish out and treat the rock in place? I'd replace the sand too.

 

[bluewateruk]

why not use a copper band and a group of peppermint shrimps for aips and rabbit fish

 

[barrysalt]

To be clear, I meant that trying to scrub off all the algae and aptaisia on all that rock would be harder, by far, than just pulling it and acid-washing everything. Not to mention that if I tried to scrub things off, and missed some spots, I'd be s.o.l. when I put rocks back into tank. Once things have re-cycled and settled down, I'll have them put in the fish and inverts that should keep future problems under control Again, thanks for the input!

 

[sfsuphysics]

Not to mention that if I tried to scrub things off, and missed some spots, I'd be s.o.l. when I put rocks back into tank.

Not necessarily true, if you took down say 95% of it, and the 5% you missed goes back in the tank, the biological controls you introduce (fish, invertebrates) could probably keep it under control. This way you don't need to add a ton of fish to try and deal with this problem because presumably the tank already has quite a few fish.

For me, on the algae side, tangs (both bristletooth and zebrasoma) and a foxface rabbit have been my algae cleanup crew of choice. with those 3 fish if I get an algae covered rock in another tank, I put it in the tank with them, and before the next day that rock is completely bare of algae.

 

[Psirex]

Pull the rock, acid bath and be done with it.....

 

[barrysalt]

A huge project

A huge project

Easy to say, pull everything and be done with it. Yes, one option. But this option is very tough, that's a lot of rock to drag out of a 5 foot high tank, acid wash (messy and stinky) and then move it all back in. Then, have to wait at least 4-6 weeks to let everything cycle and start to regenerate.
If I go for the "natural" course with livestock that eats algae and aptaisia, at least the tank stays reasonably viable, it will cost a lot less (I think) and if this in time doesn't work, can always go with your suggestion after a period of time.

 

[dave.m]

That would be a mistake. The "natural" method you speak of will take months to accomplish, and the clean-up crew will only ever be able to eat what they can reach. They will never really eliminate the aptaisia or algae, and if anything reduces your clean-up crew the problems will return with a vengeance.

Dave.M

 

[Psirex]

Why try other options that MIGHT work then you end up doing the method that WILL.... Basically doubling your work efforts and allowing the issue to propagate even further......

 

[Breadman03]

First, I don't have that kind of experience to draw from.

My thoughts-black out the tank and use lanthanum chloride to strip the phosphates from the water as the algae dies off. Use filter socks and heavy skimming to pull the stuff out before it breaks down. Once that's purged, use proper maintenance to keep up with nutrients.

For the aiptasia, I'd look into nudibranches. I'm under the impression that they will reproduce while consuming the aiptasia, then just die off once it's all gone. Perhaps someone with experience will know how reliable this method is, as well as be able to suggest a reputable vendor.

 

[OoNickoC]

If you nuke the rock you may as well just take a hit and spend afew hundred on nice dry rock. The store can get dry fiji dirt cheap. With the internal die off of worms and micro critters int he rock work it generally takes months for the rock to comeback around, and in many cases will leach organics from decaying matter for a long time.
Ive had to handle more than a couple huge tanks with massive infestations. Julian's thing and kalk paste combined with laser or majano wand and you can take out thousands in a shift.

 

[Psirex]

Bergheria Nudibranchs cleared my DT in about 6 weeks, I started with 5 and at peak I count 15+ between my DT and sump......

 

[Bilk]

Drain the water and remove and substrate. Then fill it with RO and let it sit for a few days with powerheads running. Vacuum and mechanically remove anything that you can during the process. It may take a few fills and drains to accomplish the full eradication of the pest algae and aptasia. Some chlorine might help too. Obviously the tank will need to develop new biology no matter what direction you go.