Gator Ben's 28g nano cube

[GatorBen]

this is my project tank

Here it is. Fresh from Craigslist
28g JBJ nano cube. 60-70lb of live rock, 50lb of live sand, 1 clown, 1 hippo tang, 2small groups of zoos.

This tank is extremely overrun with aptasia, manjos, and bristle worms.

Gotta like this stuff

They think they are zoos.

More aptasia

Before anyone assumes I'm an idiot i'll explain. Then if you think I'm an idiot, at least you'll have the facts.

I am fairly new to SW aquariums, the details are in my 75g reef tank thread.
I do a lot of research but everyone has different ideas on things. So I want to, with lots of pics, tackle a huge problem in the SW world and be able to confront it when it shows up again. Aptasia was the main focus but it seems like manjos and bristles are going to come up as well. I learn from well documented experiences much better than someone just saying "no you can't do that" or " just kill the rock, it's over". I believe that we as a society give up so quickly when something goes wrong because we want results NOW! And we wonder why we don't care about things or take care of them. I'm not yet 30 but I have the old school mentality of working for something and taking care of it. The satisfaction I get from accomplishing something hard is a feeling that most people my age and younger may never experience. It's sad. So i hope that this thread will help someone else get through similar problems. Alright enough about why I'm doing it lets get going.

Also the hippo tang and clownfish are fish I was getting ready to add to my 75g so that was an added bonus.

So far I got the tank with all the water and everything set up at my house. I did however put 3 of the rocks in a 5gal bucket with a power head and no light.

Then 1 by 1 I put them in my 10 gal treatment tank and treated with aptaisaX per instructions.

Due to the beautiful coralline algae growing I want to preserve these rocks.

My plan is to take these three rocks after the initial treatment, put them back in the bucket, clean the 10gal very good to minimize propagation. Then get a few peppermint shrimp and see if they can keep it gone.
The other thing is the bristle worms. I was thinking of getting an arrow crab but they are ugly and I'm not sure if it would go well in my reef tank when the treatment is over.

Any ideas on a small bristle worm eater that is peaceful?

 

[GatorBen]

Well it looks like treatment one of the aiptasia and manjos are looking good

does that seem like an awful lot of bristle worms to be out when the lights are on?
It does to me.
There are also a bunch of tiny starfish on these rocks. Is that good? Bad?

 

[Mr. D]

For the bristle worms you can buy a long-nose hawkfish which, in time should keep them under control.

The starfish aren't going to hurt anything. They're neat little things I enjoy having in my tank, but I'm not sure how you could get rid of them if you didn't like them. Perhaps another type of star fish?

I think this is a good idea, however semi long term it may turn out to be. I do not like drying out good live rock. Kills me.

Good project and it's going to take some work from what it sound like to get it where you might like it.

 

[GatorBen]

Thanks for the info D,
Would the hawkish do ok with my other tank mates?
Yellow tang, hippo tang, clown, diamond goby, six line wrasse, 3 blue green chromis

Also I know most starfish are not reef safe. Should I be concerned about them?

 

[Mr. D]

If they star fish are tiny, then you they are not a problem. However, try to get a good pic on here for others to see...just to be safe.

I don't think any of your fish will bother the hawkfish, or it bother them. However, check around or at your local store just to be on the safe side. I can't give you a for sure answer on that one.

 

[GatorBen]

So far I have treated all the rocks and put them in a 20g QT. I put in 1 peppermint to see what he can do to keep the baby aiptasia down. He is all over the rocks. Hopefully he is doing his job.

 

[miyags]

Your six line should eat those worms.

 

[GatorBen]

The six line will on the ones I add to the 75gal but I was going to try to thin the herd before I move them.
Does anyone know of anything that's eats manjo that is reef safe?

 

[GatorBen]

Here are some pics of the starfish.

Also some of the manjo didn't die off with the first dose.

So where I'm at now is I have removed all the live rock from the nano cube and put it into a 20 gal QT with a peppermint shrimp.

Then I added 20/1 bleach to the tank and let it run for 2 days. I wanted so ensure all organic matter was breaking down and that the pumps,hoses, and compartments were cleaned. Then I removed 95% of the water while I constantly stirred the tank to ensure that I removed as much junk and dead bristle worms as possible. Then I refilled the tank with tap water and turned everything back on.

My plan is to next drain the water again with a gravel cleaning syphon to eliminate as much residual debris as possible. Then refill the tank with RO water to minimize the junk in tap water. I will also add a very generous amount of prime to break down any remaining chlorine. I will then run the system for a few days, or weeks depending on my work travel schedule. I then plan to drain the tank again remove all the substrate and rinse thoroughly with RO water to remove all organic waste and any chlorine lingering around. Then take the tank completely apart, every hose, screw, and pump, clean it with a mild vinegar mix and bring it to brand new condition. I acquired a brand new oceanic nano protein skimmer. I believe it will fit so that will help with the new set up...whatever that ends up being.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments to my plan let me know. I'm pretty new to this so keep me from doing anything dumb.

 

[GatorBen]

It's been a while but I've drained and filled the tank 3times and cleaned the substrate well. During all this I put the bag of ceramic bio filters in my 75gal sump to seed it for when I'm ready.

It appears I have eliminated all traces of manjos and aiptasia on the live rock. I treated with key lime juice since I ran out of aiptasia x. It seemed to work well with 20% retreatment needed.

I left all the rock in the QT tank for 9days after the last sign of aiptasia and manjos. I removed 3peices including the one with the mushrooms and zoos, and put them back into the nano cube. Before that I put instant ocean bio something in to start the bacteria and inserted the seeded ceramic bio filters. All seems to be doing ok. The zoos and mushrooms are not 100% happy but they are opening some and more each day.

I put a couple of the rocks in my lion fish tank as well to seed it with copepods and the red coralline.

All seems to be going well.

 

[GatorBen]

The fresh nano cube. I added 3 rocks to it to see what happens.

The diatoms are blooming well.

Maybe too well, they seem to be covering my zoos I hoped to save. They were opening up a little.

I know this is a stupid question for most but I probably shouldn't have put these zoos in during the cycle huh?

Here are some mushrooms on the other side of the rock.

Well I've got a dilemma. If I shouldn't have the zoos and mushrooms in the tank that is cycling I only have 2 choices.
1.put that rock in the reef tank, however I just spotted a baby aiptasia on the back of the rock. I'm not sure if I want to chance a breakout.
2. Put the rock in the lion fish tank, a very well established tank with a filefish, lion fish, and eibli. Less concerned about an outbreak but it only has regular lights, nothing special or actinic.

Any suggestions??

 

[GatorBen]

Anyone know what this stringy white stuff is? Good? Bad?

How about this? It's a clump of pinkish sponge looking stuff.

This may be a better pic. Also this shows the clear white stuff that grows like a tube or something.

Not sure if it's visible but there is a baby feather duster on that shell in the back.

I feel kind of bad for the dusters, I hit many with the lime juice because I was so trigger happy after dealing with the manjos and aiptasia. I realize now what they are and I'll let them grow.

Any ID on the unidentified specimens would be appreciated.

So it looks like we are at on the down hill part of the manjo and aiptaisa extraction

So far 4 rocks in lion fish tank. I saw one aiptaisa several days ago but dont think it made it through the lime bath.
3 rocks are still in the 20 gal QT

 

[robsreefs]

this is my project tank

Here it is. Fresh from Craigslist
28g JBJ nano cube. 60-70lb of live rock, 50lb of live sand, 1 clown, 1 hippo tang, 2small groups of zoos.

This tank is extremely overrun with aptasia, manjos, and bristle worms.

Gotta like this stuff

They think they are zoos.

More aptasia

Before anyone assumes I'm an idiot i'll explain. Then if you think I'm an idiot, at least you'll have the facts.

I am fairly new to SW aquariums, the details are in my 75g reef tank thread.
I do a lot of research but everyone has different ideas on things. So I want to, with lots of pics, tackle a huge problem in the SW world and be able to confront it when it shows up again. Aptasia was the main focus but it seems like manjos and bristles are going to come up as well. I learn from well documented experiences much better than someone just saying "no you can't do that" or " just kill the rock, it's over". I believe that we as a society give up so quickly when something goes wrong because we want results NOW! And we wonder why we don't care about things or take care of them. I'm not yet 30 but I have the old school mentality of working for something and taking care of it. The satisfaction I get from accomplishing something hard is a feeling that most people my age and younger may never experience. It's sad. So i hope that this thread will help someone else get through similar problems. Alright enough about why I'm doing it lets get going.

Also the hippo tang and clownfish are fish I was getting ready to add to my 75g so that was an added bonus.

So far I got the tank with all the water and everything set up at my house. I did however put 3 of the rocks in a 5gal bucket with a power head and no light.

Then 1 by 1 I put them in my 10 gal treatment tank and treated with aptaisaX per instructions.

Due to the beautiful coralline algae growing I want to preserve these rocks.

My plan is to take these three rocks after the initial treatment, put them back in the bucket, clean the 10gal very good to minimize propagation. Then get a few peppermint shrimp and see if they can keep it gone.
The other thing is the bristle worms. I was thinking of getting an arrow crab but they are ugly and I'm not sure if it would go well in my reef tank when the treatment is over.

Any ideas on a small bristle worm eater that is peaceful?

I wouldn't worry about bw too much I usually just pick out the big ones from what I hear they are reef safe and kind of good

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[GatorBen]

Thanks for the reply Rob,
Yeah I since have heard that from many people. I just got concerned when I talked to a guy shopping at the LFS and he was telling me all kinds of horror stories about his fish getting eaten and so on. I had just gotten a dose of reality on salt water fish prices and I didn't want something in my tank that ate $50 a meal. I have a wrasse in my reef tank and I never see any in there.

 

[GatorBen]

So thanks to this stuff, some well seeded live rock, and well seeded ceramic bio pellets, this tank cycled in a few days. The diatoms mostly died back this morning and the green dust algae started this afternoon. This is my reference point for when to add fish because the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate never went above zero the whole time.

So here's the tank. I added 2 blue green chromis and 2 yellow tailed blue damsels. I was going to add these 4 to my reef tank anyway, so i figure i will give this tank some movement till i figure out what i want to do with it I am trying to get the top rock closer to the lights because it has a few mushrooms on one side and a few zoos on the other. They don't look too good so I'll see if they come back.