Nerve wracking maintenance!

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Man I’ve been putting this off for a long time. Mostly as I’m lazy but partly because….well, I was nervous as could be.

I have a bare bottom setup where the entire floor is encrusted and then some. This stuff has been creeping up the glass and is probably three to four inches tall along the bottom of the front and side panels.

So what’s the big deal? Well, it’s a rimless tank. Not just any rimless, a RS, plus it’s the generation and model that started the whole front seam fiasco. I also have a slight defect in the seam, front and center, that started about three months after I setup the tank and just before they sent out the cabinet bracing as a fix.

The real kicker is that I can barely see and have tremors that really start kicking in when I try to perform tasks with my hands. More so when I’m pushing or twisting.

Two days into my stupid project (not working at it straight, I don’t have a lot of stamina) I was able to pry and scrape off maybe a third of the front panel. I also removed some stuff that was growing over a monti so I freed up some real estate for that to grow back.

It’s a total mess. I can’t see to pick up all the pieces and tried to do it by feel with tweezers. But hey, much needed maintenance started….. I’ll be honest, probably not going to jump right in a continue. It will be awhile.

Most important part (knocking on wood here), I didn’t pry the front seal loose…….. or at least it hasn’t split yet, I guess it really would wait until the middle of the night just because.

So, I’m done tanking for the day…week…. Ah, who am I kidding? Month at least!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I hope it works out. When you said it was an RS tank I instantly envisioned that the glass was being held together by the encrusting corals/algae. :D

 

[braaap]

It’s probably holding the tank together. I would leave it.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I hope it works out. When you said it was an RS tank I instantly envisioned that the glass was being held together by the encrusting corals/algae. :D

You could be right!

 

[Fish Fan]

I think your tank looks great, you're obviously doing something right!

Best of luck going forward!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I think your tank looks great, you're obviously doing something right!

Best of luck going forward!

Thanks! I think the only thing I do right, is to not mess with it……but here I am. Ha! At least with this project I wasn’t breaking things off by accident as I really wasn’t anywhere where I could do any damage. I still have a few colonies that had some serious stn awhile back (I could tell when I saw bright white, but now that it’s covered I can’t) that should be dealt with. I tried once but the rocks started coming apart so I stopped.

A couple months ago I finally broke down and dealt with all the rogue bubble tip nems! They multiply like wet Mogwais! That was a disaster. I broke off a couple large colonies (not intentionally), rocks had to be pulled out, I cut my knuckles all over, it didn’t get put back together right and I had to toss the large colonies as I’m not capable of placing and affixing them. I saved frags and was able to glue those down…..without glueing my fingers together! Only good thing is all the nems were on one structure…..and they’re all gone! (I hope). Also, somehow I lost a fish in that process. Don’t know what happened but there were three (bonded) blue/green chromis (years ago there were eight, but they picked each other off). They always hung out together, a frequent visitor noticed there are now only two swimming together. Bummer.

 

[Biokabe]

As someone going through this right now...

How did you deal with the bubble tip nems? I've been trying to cut back from 8 to 1-2 for months now, but I can't get the things off the rocks no matter what I do. I've been sorely tempted to just cut them off the rocks multiple times...

 

[Fish Fan]

Thanks! I think the only thing I do right, is to not mess with it……but here I am. Ha! At least with this project I wasn’t breaking things off by accident as I really wasn’t anywhere where I could do any damage. I still have a few colonies that had some serious stn awhile back (I could tell when I saw bright white, but now that it’s covered I can’t) that should be dealt with. I tried once but the rocks started coming apart so I stopped.

A couple months ago I finally broke down and dealt with all the rogue bubble tip nems! They multiply like wet Mogwais! That was a disaster. I broke off a couple large colonies (not intentionally), rocks had to be pulled out, I cut my knuckles all over, it didn’t get put back together right and I had to toss the large colonies as I’m not capable of placing and affixing them. I saved frags and was able to glue those down…..without glueing my fingers together! Only good thing is all the nems were on one structure…..and they’re all gone! (I hope). Also, somehow I lost a fish in that process. Don’t know what happened but there were three (bonded) blue/green chromis (years ago there were eight, but they picked each other off). They always hung out together, a frequent visitor noticed there are now only two swimming together. Bummer.

Well again, your tank is looking good, maybe take some time to just enjoy it for now. You can get back into the heavy maintenance another day

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

As someone going through this right now...

How did you deal with the bubble tip nems? I've been trying to cut back from 8 to 1-2 for months now, but I can't get the things off the rocks no matter what I do. I've been sorely tempted to just cut them off the rocks multiple times...

Many people have luck with the nem cannon. Search for that here. Basically a large sponge that you slice and place a length of pvc pipe into. You place that over them nem and they’re supposed to climb out. I couldn’t do it. I tried believe me! But I can’t see well and just couldn’t figure out how to secure the sponge over the nem.

I ended up pulling the rocks out, breaking off anything I wanted to save, then rinsing the rocks under hot water for a very long time. It was a pita! Try the nem cannon first, you should be good to go!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Well again, your tank is looking good, maybe take some time to just enjoy it for now. You can get back into the heavy maintenance another day

Thank you kind sir! Don’t worry….Im D-O-N-E, done! It will be awhile for sure.

 

[Fish Fan]

Thank you kind sir! Don’t worry….Im D-O-N-E, done! It will be awhile for sure.

I think that’s a solid plan

 

[Biokabe]

Many people have luck with the nem cannon. Search for that here. Basically a large sponge that you slice and place a length of pvc pipe into. You place that over them nem and they’re supposed to climb out. I couldn’t do it. I tried believe me! But I can’t see well and just couldn’t figure out how to secure the sponge over the nem.

I ended up pulling the rocks out, breaking off anything I wanted to save, then rinsing the rocks under hot water for a very long time. It was a pita! Try the nem cannon first, you should be good to go!

That's what I was afraid you'd say.

I've been trying the nem cannon. I've managed to get 3-4 out with it, but it's slow going and not terribly effective. I have one that's going through the cannon right now, but it's at the end of the pipe and the foot is still attached.

Ah well, c'est la vie.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

That's what I was afraid you'd say.

I've been trying the nem cannon. I've managed to get 3-4 out with it, but it's slow going and not terribly effective. I have one that's going through the cannon right now, but it's at the end of the pipe and the foot is still attached.

Ah well, c'est la vie.

Yeah porous rock, where the foot is buried in the depths of hell….just no easy way. Sounds like you’re on the right path. Going full nuke is no fun either. You’ll get em, hopefully faster than they reproduce!

 

[rhitee93]

I went after some coraline growth in the corners of my tank for the first time in 2 years last weekend. Getting the razor blade near the silicone was indeed a sphincter puckering experience, and I have relatively normal eyesight.

My plastic scraper wouldn't touch the stuff, but fortunately the razor blade didn't require any force to get the growth off, so I could be slow and deliberate.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I went after some coraline growth in the corners of my tank for the first time in 2 years last weekend. Getting the razor blade near the silicone was indeed a sphincter puckering experience, and I have relatively normal eyesight.

My plastic scraper wouldn't touch the stuff, but fortunately the razor blade didn't require any force to get the growth off, so I could be slow and deliberate.

Yeah, some of that stuff is pretty fierce and requires an actual razor. They need to come up with a non-stick (fish friendly of course) coating for glass!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Oh, someone needs to come up with a miniature underwater demo hammer! It took a lot of pressure to get a scraper through 1/2”+ thick of encrusting coral. My palm is pretty sore. Some sort of ultrasonic kidney stone blaster might be safer…..

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I didn’t realize this was almost a year ago! I just this week got around to feeling well enough to tackle the rest. Well, just the encrusting on the bare bottom. Three days worth, well like an hour or two a day. I’m dead again and can’t feel my arms. As I filled up a 5 gallon bucket and had a ton more to go I figure I’d weigh it. Three 5 gallon Home Depot buckets full of encrustment for a total of about 28 pounds (not accounting for the weight of the empty buckets)! Some of this stuff was 5 inches thick. Crazy.

There’s a ton of little debris all over that I can’t catch, I tried my best. My ginormous Vca tweezers are now in the trash. Those are freakin horrible. Like using chopsticks. They were the second reiteration and have been upgraded now so maybe they’re better. Great that I can see them, and that they float….but that’s all they’re good for.

Now that the bottom is relatively clean I’m thinking of a bit of a reset. This time keeping the rock work a bit lower….but that will probably be another year down the road as I’m taking a minute after this.

 

[BryanM]

You've got some big colonies in there!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

You've got some big colonies in there!

Man, I still have to remove the dead ones from the stn/rtn event I had awhile back. I’ve really been holding off as the rocks are stacked like Jenga and will fall over if I try anything. Part of my reset thinking. With the bottom, I couldn’t really screw up…..well, unless I split the seam! Ha. Amazingly, that is holding…knocking on wood.

There is a really cool local reefer that has offered (a couple times now) to help me out and one day I may actually break down and ask for a hand with that. Part of the problem, aside from dead colonies, is that I made too many hiding spots for the fish and too big of a gap between the back wall and rocks. The fish love it, but they all disappear when people get close to the tank….leading to them asking why don’t I have any fish? They’re all front and center when I ask Alexa to feed the fish and the pumps spin down for me to feed them frozen.

 

[BryanM]

Man, I still have to remove the dead ones from the stn/rtn event I had awhile back. I’ve really been holding off as the rocks are stacked like Jenga and will fall over if I try anything. Part of my reset thinking. With the bottom, I couldn’t really screw up…..well, unless I split the seam! Ha. Amazingly, that is holding…knocking on wood.

There is a really cool local reefer that has offered (a couple times now) to help me out and one day I may actually break down and ask for a hand with that. Part of the problem, aside from dead colonies, is that I made too many hiding spots for the fish and too big of a gap between the back wall and rocks. The fish love it, but they all disappear when people get close to the tank….leading to them asking why don’t I have any fish? They’re all front and center when I ask Alexa to feed the fish and the pumps spin down for me to feed them frozen.

I have the "base" or foundation of my rockwork leaning against the back glass, all the fish still hide whenever someone gets close to the tank.