Hi all. As per title I have had to deep clean my frag system after an extreme outbreak of what I am 95% certain was lyngbya (I can post separately why I think it was that and not some hair algae / dinos and what I tried to eradicate separately if anyone is interested). The outbreak is only in my 120l / 32 gallon frag system with nothing in the rest of my system which is all interconnected (DT is 1000l / 225g, sump 175l / 37g, refugium 175l, separate water change cube 175l). I have isolated the frag tank from the rest of the system, removed the frag fish and CUC (sailfin, foxface, 6 line wrasse, aiptasia eating file fish and a rogue chromis) to my separate QT system and all the SPS and LPS colonies and frags are in 2 separate vats with adequate flow. I'm keeping the vats dark for 2-3 days to try to kill off any lingering lyngbya then will put spare old LEDs over them for a while. I have manually siphoned out most of the gunk from the frag tank and nuked with bleach overnight and will then clean with fresh water / dechlorinator. My question is how best to reestablish a decent population of beneficial bacteria to have the best chance of stopping the lyngbya reestablishing. I think it arrived as my nitrates went too low - although that would be the topic for another thread as I have no idea how they could have bottomed out given my fish load in the system. So to reseed I could (1) use one or two of the big mature live rocks in my refugium that are teeming with life - caulerpa prolifera grows on them and there are thousands of pods and other inverts there as there are no predators in the refugium, and/or I could use a bottled bacteria (Dr Tim's or whatever) as if it was a new tank even though it will be reconnected to my mature system. In either case, how long would you suggest for bacteria to reestablish before adding back the corals and fish from their temporary homes? What order would you add back - fish first? Corals and CUC first? All together? Thanks in advance for any suggestions and happy to provide any extra info (including horror pic of the overgrown frag tank). Rich
Reseeding beneficial bacteria to sterilized tank - best approach?
- Thread starter rallibon
- Start date
Using the rock would likely be the best. If you’re not using sand in the frag tank, I would imagine you could add everything almost right away, especially linked up to the full system. I would be sure to give the tank enough time before filling with the new saltwater (24 hours or so) for the bleach to burn off fully.
It's a bare bottom frag tank. I agree with you - this evening I'm going to add in a large flat live rock from my refugium and reconnect the frag to main 1,500 litre system for 24 hours or so to let water circulate then add back in fish / CUC tomorrow and then the coral colonies / frags in stages over the following 24-48 hours. Thanks for everyone's input let's hope the lyngbya is history!
