45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!

Dude, your way with words have me with tears in my eyes as I write this... I wouldn't pull anything out for RBs. I've dealt with them several times over the years and inteceptor does the trick! Now I treat as a "pfofilactic" measure every six months or so just to keep them out. Shrimps and crabs won't be happy, but someone has to take it for the team unless you can get them out and in to a separate holding container while you treat...
 
chrishayes said:
Which layout do you like best?

M1080014.jpg
Click to expand...

I like this one better...gives depth :)
 
Thanks jbanks. Dont cry, dry your eye, here comes your siste with those two little guys! LOL Its such a setback. Things were looking better than ive ever seen with my reef tanks. Im like you, Ive been doing this a long time but took a break for reefs for several years earlier in the 00's. Id never heard of all these pests. Planaria and aiptasia were the enemy back then, now its like the only girls available are at the VD clinic. I mean, they arent there cause of an ear infection...

So in your experience, how did your inverts handle the treatment? And did you measure the doses accurately? Ive been treating the QT with "ish" measurements and I didnt have any losses that I could attribute to the meds. I have a emeral crab in there for bubble control and theres still pods in there...Im just hoping to not destroy my fuge. Ive worked hard to build that thing up right to have a variety of fauna and I just dont want to kill them all. I refuse to put anything else in this tank. Not worth the risk. Ill stick with what I have and enjoy growing them. SO its not likely that ill reintroduce fauna after the treatments. I guess I could get the booster kits that ive seen for sale. Its pricey but probably less risk of bringing pests in. So did you treat the tank for 12 hours, 3 times, 1 week apart? Thats whay I see in all the threads. But some do 6 hours and say that 3 treatments isnt neccesary...ive got a cleaner that shouldnt be too hard to get out but I also have a pom pom crab, emerald, pistol and squat lobster along with a handful of hermits and snails. Is it true that snails are unaffected?

I just cant believe how hard it is to keep a healthy tank these days. Ive taken HUGE steps to keep my tank pest free and ONE lazy decision and bamn, all that work down the drain. A nice zoa and mushroom tank sounds more and more apealing...
 
Reef_Noob said:
I like this one better...gives depth :)
Click to expand...

Thanks noob, I like that way better too. I have it the other way right now but ill switch it back. Well see if these new algaes can compete for space with the steroid infused caulerpa...I just cant tell you how awesome these macros are. They are so healthy they look fake!
 
chrishayes said:
Moral of the story, dipping is certainly not enough to keep pests out of the tank, dipping and QT isnt enought to keep pests out of the tank, so the only way to keep them out is to profilactically treat EVERYTHING that goes in the tank. ANd that treatment should be for the full lenght of time that youre supposed to do it. No shortcuts.

Long story short, im looking for a gram scale so I can treat my system and QT. I will certainly lose some valuable members of my tank cause theres no way I can get them all out. Ill try as hard as I can but im not confident. Tearing the corals from the tank isnt an option either since I dont have time. Im leaving for a trip to Colorado on the 22nd and then surgery on the 28th. Ill have to treat the tank. ANyone have advice for me here?
Click to expand...

Just scary bro...just scary.....
Cant believe it.....
Remove the shrimps from the tank before ya treat the tank....
Is there ne way you can keep the refugium running on its own when ya doing the treat...i dont know if thats viable...but your refugium has so much critters and life in it....wouldnt the treatment affect it?

Now i know that luck is also a big part of this hobby....
What about melafix from AP...will it work against RB? Is that a safe option to treat in tank?

And you have to travel too...dont get stressed out on this stuff....coz you need to take care of ya health...
 
Reef_Noob said:
Just scary bro...just scary.....
Cant believe it.....
Remove the shrimps from the tank before ya treat the tank....
Is there ne way you can keep the refugium running on its own when ya doing the treat...i dont know if thats viable...but your refugium has so much critters and life in it....wouldnt the treatment affect it?

Now i know that luck is also a big part of this hobby....
What about melafix from AP...will it work against RB? Is that a safe option to treat in tank?

And you have to travel too...dont get stressed out on this stuff....coz you need to take care of ya health...
Click to expand...

The fuge is what im most worried about. Itd be a shame to see all the critters go. Its more fun to watch than the tank I have to say! As to the shrimps coming out, its not likely ill be able to get them. Ill try my hardest but the tank would have to be destroyed to get them all out. If I do that it would make more sense to take the corals out and treat them in QT but like I said I dont have time. Plus I know these bugs came in on lps so they could and likely are, everywhere in my tank. I have to treat the fuge too or the risk isnt worth the reward. Id tear the tank down if I go through this treatment and lose all my inverts then still see red bugs...it do me in I think. Then id have to move forums to the mantis section. I dont want to do that! In a way im glad its red bugs, at least they can be treated.

ANother question I have is how does this treatment affect the carbon dosing? Should I continue dosing through the treatment period? I would think itd be wise since theres gonna be mass dieoff of critters so the bacteria will help control the nurient spikes im sure to have. Do I need to change anything in my maintenece routine? I know to remove carbon and air from the skimmer but do I need to adjust cal/alk levels at all?
 
Ahhh.. A fan of Hip Hop.. I'm liking you more by the day good Sir. LOL... Your fauna in the fuge will definitely take a hit from the treatment, but it will certainly rebound without you doing anything... I remember ordering those fauna packs from ipsf.com... wonder if they're still around... Anyhow.. the pod population will recover, crabs are pretty much toast and shrimp make it sometime and other times they don't... That's the skinny.. I never did exact measurements. I cut the pill as close to what I guesstimate the needed amount should be based on my water volume and it never really seemed to make a difference if I was a little off... Your PO4 will spike a bit, but quickly recover due to the carbon dosing, with no ill affect on your SPS or LPS..
 
Parameter update

Cal 395(having trouble keeping it up above this due to the IO salt)

ALk 8.3(rock steady for months)

NO3 <0 >5 (api) waiting til its solid yellow to call it 0 and cut carbon dose in half

PO4 .02 (hasnt risen or dropped since starting carbon dose, have removed GFO) not bad considering how much I feed

Mg 1490 (finally coming down from initial tech m when the tank was started)

PH <7.95 night 8.1 day (has risen since starting carbon dose)

My skimmer is just foul. Thats all I can say about it. Stinks somethin feirce and is dark brown in color. Also, its not being knocked down when feeding frozen since starting carbon dosing. Strange.

Ill be starting the interceptor treatments as soon as I can get a gram scale. If its not this weekend ill wing it. I gotta get this started or I wont be here for the 3rd treatment time due to vacation. Im going to treat the QT tank today to see what effect a full dosing schedule does to the emerald crab in there. Also I have to have somewhere to put the shrimp and crabs that are in the display. So I may actually wait on the treatment of the display tank until I get a feel for it in the QT at full dose and duration. Wish me luck.
 
Hey ive got a question for you guys. Ive been trying all day to catch my shrimp and crabs to no avail. I did manage to get my emerald out of the QT and have started treating that tank. However, I need to know if the meds stun them enough to catch and remove them or does it just kill them quickly or even if removed to a tank without meds, do they still die? Im hoping it will stun them enough to be removed.
 
And we have our first casualty...I started the treatment with the emerald crab in the QT then pulled him a few seconds later to another tank. Gues that was too long. I now expect mass dieoff of all critters.
 
Sorry for the late response....def, crabs, maybe shrimp, some pods, snails will be fine.
 
Man sorry to hear you have to go through this hassle. No way to isolate your fuge? Years ago when I had to treat my tank I was able to isolate mine. I just put on a HOB filter and its own heater. I put as many shrimps as I could catch in my fuge along with all the crabs I could find. Treated my tank 3 times just to be sure, a few day apart. Reconnected my fuge 3 weeks later. All the pods from my fuge repopulated my main tank pretty fast. Haven't had RBs since.
I had one fire shrimp that made it through all three treatments. Two others didn't make it.:(

It all just makes you better, more paranoid, more careful with your QTs in the future.

Hope it goes well for you.:)

You've been on such a roll too.
 
You can definately isolate your refugium and treat your DT Chris.
Continue the carbon dosing.
The shrimps are better off removed before treatment. Coz they are prone to the med.
Phosphates should be on check.
Nitrates too.
Just makes me realize what a challenging and sometimes stressful our hobby is right?
All our wishes are with ya and ul beat those red beasts bro
 
I didnt think about isolating it longterm...duh. Sorry, just a little less than with it since finding these things, been pretty jaded honestly. I will for sure isolate it now that my head is out of my you know what. Thanks for pullin it out guys.
 
Please tell me if the video is choppy and low quality please. I recorded in 1080i at the lowest bitrate to keep the upload possible with my internet connection. I think I may have to open a youtube account to upload hd videos to. Can anyone tell me if its possible to do HD in photobucket?
 
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