The Hand-Me-Down

[ConnorTheSalty]

Tank: Oceanic Biocube 29g
Sand: Wish I knew (Really dirty and a lot of green hair algae)
Live Rock: Infested with Aiptasia and Bristleworms

Coral: Several Feather Dusters and a small rock covered in mushrooms

Fish: Two Clownfish and a Yellowtail Damselfish (Lost a Royal Gamma and a Coral Beauty about two months ago (RIP))
Crustaceans: At least one snail and three Peppermint Shrimp

And some weird worm I have yet to identify.

I would like to upgrade to a bigger tank, but being in an apartment I am going to wait until I am in a bigger place. Also want to switch food source to pellets, so hopefully will limit excess food being lost in the tank. Currently: Frozen Marine Cuisine

While I probably could be convinced otherwise, I believe I have a good plan of action to resolve the aiptasia/bristleworm infestation and leaks from the water level gauge:

1. Setup the 15g QTank I got with the biocube with sand, water, heater, and pump/filter. Let it cycle.
2. Transfer fish and shrimp to Qtank
3. Transfer mushrooms to Qtank
4. Empty Biocube, clean, and reseal
5. Aquascape biocube with new sand and rock. Then cycle.
6. Acclimate shrimp, fish, and coral. Transfer to Biocube.

Completely open to feedback, I know there is a lot of room for improvement.

 

[andrewey]

Honestly, I think you have a good plan. My only concern is asexual reproduction of the aiptasia via sand, so that's something that would concern me if it weren't sterilized (assuming this sand is being reused).

Otherwise, I think there are a lot of ways to "skin this cat" and while everyone might do it a bit differently, it sounds like a good plan. Obviously, the biggest weakness will be your mushroom rock and dealing with the aiptasia from that.

I don't know what the timing between the steps is, but if you have your new rock, you could always start cycling that now in a 5 gallon bucket in tandem/before you even get to step 1.

Best of luck

 

[ConnorTheSalty]

Honestly, I think you have a good plan. My only concern is asexual reproduction of the aiptasia via sand, so that's something that would concern me if it weren't sterilized (assuming this sand is being reused).

Otherwise, I think there are a lot of ways to "skin this cat" and while everyone might do it a bit differently, it sounds like a good plan. Obviously, the biggest weakness will be your mushroom rock and dealing with the aiptasia from that.

I don't know what the timing between the steps is, but if you have your new rock, you could always start cycling that now in a 5 gallon bucket in tandem/before you even get to step 1.

Best of luck

I will definitely be using new sand once the Biocube is cleaned. And thank you for the mention on the 5g bucket cycling the new rocks. I should use new/clean saltwater for all the cycling right? Just get rid of all the in-use saltwater?

 

[andrewey]

I will definitely be using new sand once the Biocube is cleaned. And thank you for the mention on the 5g bucket cycling the new rocks. I should use new/clean saltwater for all the cycling right? Just get rid of all the in-use saltwater?

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably use new saltwater as it's only a few gallons. There are several possible pros to using new saltwater in this situation and the con is really only a buck or two. That being said, it's not mission critical, so if you don't have access to fresh saltwater right now, you could always start with old saltwater