best way to turn a (aiptasia infested) 58 gallon softie reef into a nano

[loyalty]

so i've got this 58 under T5s, once upon a time mostly zoa and cap tank. it was good!

then 2 jobs happened, then graduation happened, then engagement happened. long story short, i've got a very neglected aiptasia tank now

in a nutshell, i want to save a part of this reef in a nano (namely, one fiji rock, all my largish surviving corals, and one mega coral banded shrimp

can something like this be done?

 

[fallinapart]

There should be no reason you could not do that, BUT, you would need to make sure you don't transfer any aptasia to the nano. I have not done this, Yet but I would start by cooking the rock I want in the nano, and start with fresh saltwater and sand and cycle the nano first, than add the corals you need to, but dip them first in Lugols or some type of coral dip, and then add the shrimp. Hopefully by taking these precautions you should have a real clean start. hopefully some one who have lived through this ordeal will chime in and make sure I have given you the full story, and how they were able to accomplish this.

 

[omreardon]

I haven't been through this but I do have a question for you. What kind/number of T5s are you running over this set up?

Olivia

 

[cczarnik]

Cook the rocks that have aips and no desirable life on them, for any rocks with stuff you want to keep, nuke the aips with joe's juice or kalk paste. Then get a peppermint shrimp or two that will keep the babies from growing up. I had a few aips in my tank, had a copperband for a while that got the big ones, that the peps wouldn't touch, but they have kept things in control for a good 6 mo without a single aiptasia appearing. Peps and coral banded may or may not get along- I've had some luck in the past, but if your CBS is big, he might have grown an attitude and/or be too confined with another shrimp in a nano.

 

[loyalty]

omreardon, i'm running a aquatinics 5x39w fixture

cooking the rocks is just not an option, i don't have the space or time to do it. i've noticed that the rock my shrimp hangs out on is relatively aiptasia free..could he be eating them?

 

[loyalty]

actually i'm thinking that there is no saving this tank
here's what the bulk of my rockwork looks like

 

[SWINGRRRR]

I have no real advice to add, but good luck. Thats alot of Aptasia.



Anyway you could trade + cash to a local reefer? Someone with the time and space to cook your rocks in trade for good rocks.

 

[james3370]

just get ya a trash can & put the rocks that are infested in it in a 5:1 solution of ro/di water:vinegar & leave it w/ a small pump for a week & it'll kill everything on the rocks. then you can re-seed it w/ some live rock &/or live sand

i recently did ~120lbs of rock in 30 gallons of water & 6 gallons of vinegar....can't even describe the look i got from the walmart cashier at 2am when all i bought was 6 gallon jugs of vinegar LOL