Upgrading from 90 to 160. Question about reusing my liverock, and how to clean them up before transfer?

[OdinPrime]

I have had my 90 gallon setup for close to three years now. It full of mostly soft coral. Zoas, GSP, Mushrooms, big leathers, etc. Knowing that I was upgrading, I kind of let it all get out of control and things just started growing all into eachother. I also have a healthy number of aptasia that I dont want to be bringing into the new tank.

So if I only wanted to save some frags from the coral coated rocks I have now, whats the best course to clean everything off and reuse them? I dont want to kill the biological life, just remove the corals. Will LFS's typically trade coral covered rocks for fresh live rock? Should I just frag what I want, and kill the lights for a couple months? Appreciate any advice

 

[Saltyreef]

I have had my 90 gallon setup for close to three years now. It full of mostly soft coral. Zoas, GSP, Mushrooms, big leathers, etc. Knowing that I was upgrading, I kind of let it all get out of control and things just started growing all into eachother. I also have a healthy number of aptasia that I dont want to be bringing into the new tank.

So if I only wanted to save some frags from the coral coated rocks I have now, whats the best course to clean everything off and reuse them? I dont want to kill the biological life, just remove the corals. Will LFS's typically trade coral covered rocks for fresh live rock? Should I just frag what I want, and kill the lights for a couple months? Appreciate any advice

If you want to keep the corals on the liverock, just set up some tubs with tempered salt water and go to town with a high powered pump blasting out all the crevasses. (I used a jebao return pump) You can do this a few times until the water is a bit more clear after the pump pushes the detritus and debris out of the rocks.
Or you can do this slowly over the course of a week or so with a polishing filter set up on the tub. You just need to have a heater installed at that point.

 

[OdinPrime]

If you want to keep the corals on the liverock, just set up some tubs with tempered salt water and go to town with a high powered pump blasting out all the crevasses. (I used a jebao return pump) You can do this a few times until the water is a bit more clear after the pump pushes the detritus and debris out of the rocks.

In my case I have Aptasia mixed in with coral. What if I wanted to simply frag a few that I wanted to transfer over and kill off everything else on the rocks except the bio colony? I have tried eradicating the aptasia manually with different products, and they seem to just come back. I think a full reset might be what I need, I just was hoping to keep all the rock and years of bio diversity I have, minus the coral and pests.

 

[Saltyreef]

In my case I have Aptasia mixed in with coral. What if I wanted to simply frag a few that I wanted to transfer over and kill off everything else on the rocks except the bio colony? I have tried eradicating the aptasia manually with different products, and they seem to just come back. I think a full reset might be what I need, I just was hoping to keep all the rock and years of bio diversity I have, minus the coral and pests.

Have you tried franks F aiptasia?

Much easier applied if you are wanting to remove rocks from the tank.

I treated a few rocks at a time in a 10g tank while transfering my old 10 year live rock.

It was a long process but worth keeping the biodiversity going on the rocks.

Otherwise just frag what you want and then bleach cure them....but i would highly advise to just rinse really good and treat the aiptasia with franks.

 

[Subliminal]

Maybe it's an aside, but I had budding aptasia showing up in my tank and got a peppermint shrimp and within a week all aptasia was gone.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

In my case I have Aptasia mixed in with coral. What if I wanted to simply frag a few that I wanted to transfer over and kill off everything else on the rocks except the bio colony? I have tried eradicating the aptasia manually with different products, and they seem to just come back. I think a full reset might be what I need, I just was hoping to keep all the rock and years of bio diversity I have, minus the coral and pests.

Not bombing the rock but removing all algae and coral and aips...That's a tall order to fill..

You May be able to chip off all of the corals from the rock. If you leave any part of a leather or mushroom on the rock, chances are, it'll regrow.

What fish do you have in the tank? Are nudis an option? If there are Any aptasia left, they will likely respread in the new tank.

Turning off the lights will help with algae but you'll need to have your corals somewhere else temporarily.

 

[Saltyreef]

Maybe it's an aside, but I had budding aptasia showing up in my tank and got a peppermint shrimp and within a week all aptasia was gone.

Plenty of help for aiptasia.

Majanos not so much sadly in my case.

I use franks and then siphon the majano bodies off the rocks after 2 hours of letting them sit with no flow and a nice thick gob of franks covering them from reproducing.

For some reason it makes them loosen off the rocks and they are easily siphoned.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Have you tried franks F aiptasia?

Much easier applied if you are wanting to remove rocks from the tank.

I treated a few rocks at a time in a 10g tank while transfering my old 10 year live rock.

It was a long process but worth keeping the biodiversity going on the rocks.

Otherwise just frag what you want and then bleach cure them....but i would highly advise to just rinse really good and treat the aiptasia with franks.

The problem with this is aptasia will be in the overflow, in the pipes, in sponges... Pretty much everywhere. Removing them visually from the display is one thing, but trying to move them completely from the system is extremely hard without a reset.

 

[Saltyreef]

The problem with this is aptasia will be in the overflow, in the pipes, in sponges... Pretty much everywhere. Removing them visually from the display is one thing, but trying to move them completely from the system is extremely hard without a reset.

I agree with your above comment about nudis.
There needs to be a natural preditor to keep them in check.

But its an uphill battle without mass removal first.

Its like dropping a turbo snail in 4" thick GHA and asking him to take care of it

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I agree with your above comment about nudis.
There needs to be a natural preditor to keep them in check.

But its an uphill battle without mass removal first.

Its like dropping a turbo snail in 4" thick GHA and asking him to take care of it

I think we both agree that it will be a multi step approach. Manual removal won't get them all. Natural predators won't get them all. If the system is pretty well overrun with them, Nothing will likely ever get them all, but a multi prong approach would likely see the best results.

 

[OdinPrime]

Thanks folks for all the input. Ive have two peppermint shrimp in there for about a month now and I havent seen much. I two wrasses in the tank that would annihilate nudis, so I dont think that is an option. Definitely some things to think on. Maybe my LFS will let me trade in my coral rock for some new, non infested stuff

 

[HB AL]

I have had my 90 gallon setup for close to three years now. It full of mostly soft coral. Zoas, GSP, Mushrooms, big leathers, etc. Knowing that I was upgrading, I kind of let it all get out of control and things just started growing all into eachother. I also have a healthy number of aptasia that I dont want to be bringing into the new tank.

So if I only wanted to save some frags from the coral coated rocks I have now, whats the best course to clean everything off and reuse them? I dont want to kill the biological life, just remove the corals. Will LFS's typically trade coral covered rocks for fresh live rock? Should I just frag what I want, and kill the lights for a couple months? Appreciate any advice

I replaced my 6 year old 90g with a 180g in August 2021. My tank has aiptasia always has always will, they don't bother me, every couple months I go shock and awe on them. If your dead set on having no aiptasia your gonna need to sterilize all the rock, and any other submerged items in the tank and sump to kill them all off. Now you'll need to go through a full cycle before adding any types of animals. That wasn't an option in my mind so a little over a year the 180g is my favorite tank I've ever had in 35+ years with the combination of livestock.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Thanks folks for all the input. Ive have two peppermint shrimp in there for about a month now and I havent seen much. I two wrasses in the tank that would annihilate nudis, so I dont think that is an option. Definitely some things to think on. Maybe my LFS will let me trade in my coral rock for some new, non infested stuff

I wish you luck, but why would your LFS want rocks covered in algae and pest nems?

If they did, you'd likely get pennies on the dollar for it as they would likely have to black it out for months also.

If you want a reset, you may want to look into sourcing ocean direct rock supplemented with dry to lower the cost. KP Aquatics is a great company to work with and I've never heard of aips coming in on their rock. Can't say the same for a lot of the others.

 

[OdinPrime]

I probably shouldnt have used the word "infested" lol. I think I have maybe +/-15 Aptasia in all of my tank. Most of the rocks are just covered in unwanted GSP or Zoas.

 

[HB AL]

When I did my transfer I had some rocks covered in zoas and didn't want any in my new system so I put on some gloves and eyewhere to be safe and pulled the 2 large rocks out and scrubbed them with a wire brush then blasted them with the garden hose and no more zoas and the 2 live rocks went into the new tank.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I probably shouldnt have used the word "infested" lol. I think I have maybe +/-15 Aptasia in all of my tank. Most of the rocks are just covered in unwanted GSP or Zoas.

Zoa covered rocks may have some trade in value. I wouldn't expect to just do a straight across swap though. They will probably still want money for their rock.

15 aips is a whole different story than an infestation. 15 you see, 45 you don't. That's still manageable. Kalk paste, f aptasia, I've even just smushed a ball of purple reef safe epoxy over them with good results.