Considering total system reset...
 

Guys I need someone to talk me through this.

Ever since my coral disaster, I have just not been able to get things where I want them. The corals are all growing like mad again, but while that whole mess was happening I developed MAJOR cyano issues and aiptasia has simply taken over. I've probably got 100,000 individual nems in there. I had success with Berghia once in 2012, but they missed a single anemone and two years later here I am. I've put Berghia in there twice again, once in January, and once about a month ago, and nothing. Something's changed in my system apparently and they're not able to breed like they did the first time.

This cyano cycle is really starting to wear me down as well. It seems like the only way to treat it is to dose the tank with unknown chemicals or play around with hydrogen peroxide every day and neither of those is really all that appealing. I take a week off from sticking my hands in there every day and it's back, all over everything. I've reduced my fish population by three large fish, and am trying to reduce it further, and everyone's on a diet, but I just can't get ahead of it.

The notion of shutting the whole thing down, draining it, cleaning it, and dipping all my rocks in acid keeps running through my mind. I'd have to re-home all my fish, and I'm not sure what I'd do with my corals (probably sell most and give someone big chunks for free on the condition that I can have frags back or something), but looking at this thing is really starting to bum me out, which is insane considering how well the corals are doing again.

Ugh. Am I crazy for just wanting to re-set and start fresh?

I'm sorry to hear about the current string of issues you've been having. I saw your build thread and your tank looks/looked really nice! I am extremely jealous of your cowfish too. I saw a baby one in a LFS a while ago and it was sooo hard not to bring him home.

albeit my tank is smaller and newer than yours, and didn't have too much coral in it when I had cyano so I'm not sure I can compare my cyano issues/remedies to yours... But I was also weary of putting chemicals (even chemiclean) into my tank.

I ended up going the blackout/more flow/less food route. I would suck up as much as I could during a water change, and I blacked out my tank for probably three days (no sunlight or anything). I also made sure my filters and junk in my RODI unit were working properly. After the blackout period I did another change, and I would slowly ramp up the amount of time my lights were on, starting with as short as 4 hours a day. I still spoil my fish with food, but it seems my nutrients are being exported sufficiently now.

I read that some people with really bad cyano outbreaks would do the blackout, then dose the chemiclean while the cyano is down. Others said that tiger conches can eat it too.

How many Berghia did you add the last two times you tried? As far as cyano goes , it's such a huge pain to deal with. It smothers everything and just stresses me out looking at it , not to mention all the time spent syphoning it. I've always been to afraid to use chemi clean because after all it is a chemical. A few weeks ago I decided to give it a shot and wow did it work well. Very easy to use , I just followed the instructions waited 48 hours did a 25% water change and changed the carbon. I used the trick that some member on here mentioned (sorry cant remember who it was ) and put the skimmer cup on at an angle so most of the water would pour back out but the skimmer would still be able to skim a little. To my amazement my skimmer was running normally with the lid seated properly within 45 minutes after doing the water change.

Yah that's the thing with this stuff, I've done all of that. I've done black out, I've done black out plus chemi-clean, I've done just chemi-clean (multiple times), I've done spot treatments with hydrogen peroxide, I've done whole system dosing with peroxide, I've changed flow patterns (I have this stuff growing on the screen plate of my vortech's at times, it's not a flow issue), I've done massive sand vacuuming, I've done manual removal (my tank requires a ladder to work in, not my favourite thing to do let me tell you), I've turkey bastered my rocks every day, I've starved my fish, I've wet skim, dry skim, and I'm presently spending an insane amount of money on Rowa-phos and changing it out every week.

The best I can get is a 2 week reprieve. It always comes back, and it comes back everywhere. It eventually reaches a point where I have to intervene because it damages corals, but it feels like that just sets up the cycle again.

If it was just cyano, I could probably deal with it, but the cyano LOVES the aiptasia. It's like the little aiptasia gardens create the perfect micro conditions for cyano, and you can never get at all of it, around the base of the anemones is the first place it comes back, it's like the two feed each other.

and all the while, many of my corals are looking the best they've ever looked. All the places they had died, I cut them back, and all the places I cut them back have erupted in multiple growth tips, so their colours are more concentrated and vibrant than ever.

As for the berghia, I've heard that some pods, and bristleworms eat them and their eggs (which may account for why yours aren't multiplying?), and that even aiptasia will eat the larvae. Filtration also can harm the larvae and kill them.

Perhaps try breeding them in a small barebottom tank with no predators, and feed the larva small aiptasia until they are big enough to mow down the ones in your tank?

Well if you need my tub again to store your corals while you reset just let me know.

I think 15 in January and another 11 a month ago. The first time I did it I added about 20, and it took three months for them to reach 'critical mass' and steadily take out all the nems. But at the time I added them, the tank had no fish in it and had been fallow for like 4 months or something. My worm and pod population had collapsed in a major way from lack of food, and I had no shrimp or crabs of any kind. This time around I have about 1000 bristle worms per square inch from the amount of food the cowfish eats and thus poops back out, a huge amphipod population, and 3 emerald crabs in there somewhere that I put in to deal with a concurrent problem with bubble algae. Lots more things to either eat them, or their eggs. Since they're not doing anything I'm considering peppermint shrimp, but those guys are hit and miss as well. My Copper band recently died, which in a way might be a blessing as he ate maybe 1 aiptasia a week. If I get another one it might like them better.

And yah I have had temporary success with chemiclean. Usually stays away for 2-3 weeks, then it slowly starts creeping back in. Slowly at first, but the end result is always the same. This stuff is insidious.

Hmmm, that's actually not a half bad idea. I've got the lights, and the powerheads, and the dosing equipment, and if it were just the corals I wouldn't need much by ways of filtration. I'd probably lose some but I could probably live with that. If I was going to go through all the trouble, I might be able to convince Kelly to let me buy a new display tank that doesn't have those awful internal overflows....

This is something to think about for sure.

Come to think of it, I could probably even just do it using my sump and do it in stages. I could put all the corals in the 45 gallon water change chamber in my sump, set the lights up over top, and use one of my spare submersible pumps to move water from the water change chamber back to the skimmer chamber. I'd still have access to my skimmer, dosing, and auto-top off equipment equipment while I cleaned out the display, as well as a fully cycled, rock filled refugium chamber.

Once I was done with the display, I could cycle it, then move all the corals back up there and run it sump less for a couple of weeks while emptied, cleaned, and dried the sump and equipment.... This is doable.

Well if you want a happy, healthy, foot long cowfish, he is aaaaaaaall yours.

Haha, if only I had a big enough tank! He would make mine look like a shoe box.

drat. If this is a real plan that I'm actually going to do, I would need to give up most of my fish. My powder blue, rabbit fish, and cowfish could not all fit in a 45 gallon sump chamber.

Now also now that I'm actually thinking this through, I could probably also cut out one entire overflow and just plug the bulkheads. It's ridiculous that I've got two, they're both massive, and the way they're plumbed together I've never been able to properly run a herbie. That would prevent me from having to rip the tank out of the wall.

Hmmmm. Now I'm getting ideas. I'll have to talk to the guys at concept and see if they think it's possible to modify this tank in place to give it one external overflow...

I think I just figured out that what I want to do it possible. It wouldn't be totally external, but I could install a plastic coast 2 coast overflow on one side of the tank, and drill a couple of holes for a bean animal. I'd get my full 6 foot viewing width, and I wouldn't have to rip the tank out of the wall (it's got a screwed in frame around it on one side, it's removable, but I'd need to re-paint).

Anyone know what diameter of pipe I'd need for a bean animal on a 275 gallon display being powered by a reeflow dart?

If you have that serious of an aiptasia problem then everything else is moot. Shut her down and re boot. Jmo.

Hi,

Have you heard of ChemiClean for eliminating Cynobacteria? I am one who believes in chemicals or anything that will help keep a reef tank clean. And, I have had excellent results with this product.

I am not saying you shouldn't continue with your present plans but maybe trying complimenting them with ChemiClean. I think it is basically Hydrogen Peroxide but I wouldn't definitely not use it instead of CC. The instructions are critical and following them exactly is also critical but not difficult.

I have always had success with Peppermint Shrimp in getting rid of aptasia but I only had a few each time.

He has tried chemi clean many times

Plastic ? Isn't your tank glass ? Not a great idea for bonding
Use glass to glass and silicone that bad boy

Use this calculator Drain/Overflow Size
Pay attention to the last line after you submit your GPH - it gives you the linear measurement for an overflow weir

Adam, I know your tank has been trying to suck the life out of you ... :hug:
I'm going through some similarly taxing issues with mine - I've thought about a reset and have a plan in place if I decide to go that route

I've also gone the Chemiclean route, but it's trying to come back
My issue was overfeeding in an attempt to bring my NO3 up. I read that I needed at least a small amount in conjunction with 0.03 or so PO4 to help my SPS. That didn't go well and now the algae has quite apparently found a foot-hold :sad:

How old is your LR and was it clean when you started this new build ?
With all the problems that you've had this year, I'm wondering if your LR is in need of a total clean as a thought came to mind that maybe it's leaching PO4
You've had some significantly large poopers in your tank and I'm suspecting that your rock is plugged up

I know my rock is plugged as I haven't turkey-basted it enough over the last 2 years - I'm going through a GHA issue and blah blah blah I'll deal with it

Good luck with your's bud :mrgreen:

I too am thinking of resetting my tank.sps are dying not sure why when all the parameters are ok,but quitting is not an option!

I started a thread

Glass overflows would probably be easier to source, I'd need a custom size plastic one anyway. I may be stuck with one internal overflow though, for a true bean animal it looks like I'd need 1.5" bulkheads based on the amount of water the full siphon can handle/the size of my return pump, and that will require 3, 2.5"ish holes in my glass depending on what brand of bulkhead I get. a) that freaks me out as I'd need to drill them on a vertical surface and b) my tank is in a wall, with only a few mm clearance from the 2x4 wall joists on either side of it. Thus I'd need to run the overflow plumbing down the joist spaces, and on both sides there's other things in them, such as the plumbing stack for one of the upstairs bathrooms. If I could rotate my sump 180 degrees it would be easier as there's more room on one side (inconveniently the farthest point from my filter socks/skimmer chamber), but that sump isn't moving without completely ripping out many Gs in custom millwork. I'm not sure I have space for 3 1.5" pipes on either side either way.

And my rock is 50% marco, 50% walt smith rock that Red Coral got for me direct from Walt Smith (my tank was the first water it went in after leaving the ocean). It's as "old" as the tank, so 2.25 years. The cyano blankets both kinds, so whatever is feeding it is not specific to either. I'd be dipping both in hydrochloric acid and starting over completely with both of them. I had this romantic notion that ultra premium live rock direct from the ocean would give me all sorts of wonderful and exotic creatures, but all it really did was import two different kinds of weedy montipora/porites that are ugly and have kind of taken over in places. Everything else, from the micro-fauna to the macro-algae to the sponge colonies looks no different than a million other tanks at the two year mark. Whether you get live rock from the ocean, or start with dead gravel, I don't think you could keep any of the unintentional critters like pods and worms out if you tried, and the more exotic stuff never seems to persist (if it could, everyone would have them and they wouldn't be exotic).

Starting fresh would give me a bunch of opportunities to get my aquascaping right too. I plan on getting a couple of the maxspect riptides when they come out, so I'd want to do some sort of a suspended scape where most of the sand was exposed to help the laminar gyre move along the bottom.

Of course I'm saying all of this about a tank that's built in to a house that's been for sale for a year. We've been duking it out with our builder over a major problem with our floor that has rendered the house unsellable, but it looks like they are finally going to fix it. Once it's fixed we need to make a decision about what to do with the listing (drop the price/change agent/de-list and stay), so I'm not gonna get started just yet...

The question is not, "why?" But rather, "why not?" :-)

Sounds like a lot of work just to move soon :smile: