Zombie tank, can it be saved

[michealprater]

Great comeback story!

 

[Sticker shock]

Definitely have some baby berghia in the sump…hopefully they are doing their thing in the display too. Here a pic I got that shows one slurping down an aiptasia like it’s a noodle

 

[Sticker shock]

I was doing a little cleaning of some sand dwelling aiptasia when I noticed one with quite a bit of red color. I ignored it for a bit as I collected some of the larger ones in that area. Then I remembered that around the middle of August I witnessed a rock flower spawn. So I went back and examined the little guy and sure enough its a baby rock flower. Not sure why I was surprised by it but I just expected them to be bigger. I managed to scoop it up into a cup with some rock rubble. It probably would have been much easier to recognize if I wasn't dealing with a plague of aiptasia, but it was a neat little find. Once I finally put 2 & 2 together, I looked around the closest rock flower and was able to spot another baby, but this one is anchored to the rock. That was sort of facing away from the front of the tank so it's not possible to determine its color, but I can make out the white stripes on the tentacles.

So small it was hard to get a decent pic

 

[Sticker shock]

A berghia managed to survive going through the algae reactor pump and into the reactor so I pulled him out and gave him a snack before setting him back into the sump

 

[Sticker shock]

And if anyone is interested, this is what 7-10 days growth of chaeto looks like in the Tunze macro algae reactor

 

[Sticker shock]

Looking better, but it definitely needs more coral. Couple big patches of aiptasia left, but the tide is turning on that front as well.

 

[lmfbs]

Looking better, but it definitely needs more coral. Couple big patches of aiptasia left, but the tide is turning on that front as well.

I've loved reading through your journey - what an awesome success story.

 

[Sticker shock]

Almost all the aiptasia are now gone. I can count maybe 10 or so that are left and all in one section. Guessing the berghia will make there way over there next.

Bubble tip decided to take a walk which is pretty annoying. I have a perfect place to put it, but I can’t really get to the foot where it’s positioned now. But it still looks pretty decent where it is. And I want to get my rock flowers onto the sand bed, but I’m not sure how I’ll manage that.

I know need to figure out where I want to take this tank going forward. I spent a small fortune getting it back in shape so purchases are on hold for a bit. I want to get a skimmer in my sump to replace my hob. And I would love to get a couple gyres on a controller, to fix my flow.

Anyway, here’s how it’s looking now:

 

[Sticker shock]

So I’m up to 5 baby rock flowers that I can see. Every one of them has an orange base color. I’m wondering if there are more that are just harder to spot because the colors do not glow as much under the blue light. I’m going to need to find a good place to start a rock flower garden as these guys are taking up way to much space on the rocks as they are now. No way the rock can handle 5 or more once fully grown

I’m also starting to pull some of the wandering berghia to trade out. Looks like their job is mostly complete.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Heyyyy, nice to see someone else bringing their dead tank back to life. I’ve been doing the exact same thing for the past few months and it’s been some pretty fun work.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Almost all the aiptasia are now gone. I can count maybe 10 or so that are left and all in one section. Guessing the berghia will make there way over there next.

Bubble tip decided to take a walk which is pretty annoying. I have a perfect place to put it, but I can’t really get to the foot where it’s positioned now. But it still looks pretty decent where it is. And I want to get my rock flowers onto the sand bed, but I’m not sure how I’ll manage that.

I know need to figure out where I want to take this tank going forward. I spent a small fortune getting it back in shape so purchases are on hold for a bit. I want to get a skimmer in my sump to replace my hob. And I would love to get a couple gyres on a controller, to fix my flow.

Anyway, here’s how it’s looking now:

Glad to see the aiptasia is gone! Tank is looking great!

 

[Digimes]

Good luck, I once went on the cleanout to a plastic sterlite container and a bunch of 5gal cleaner buckets. Maybe you need to make a cleanout thread and show updates, lol.

 

[2020 Worst Year]

wow what a turn around in just a few months

 

[Sticker shock]

Heyyyy, nice to see someone else bringing their dead tank back to life. I’ve been doing the exact same thing for the past few months and it’s been some pretty fun work.

It’s been a lot in a short amount of time. Definitely not cheap to fix issues that have gotten out of hand. But I guess not doing anything for two years allowed me to save a few bucks, so it all evens out in the end.

 

[saltnut]

So glad your daughter is doing well.
Congratulations! I hope you have continued success, and the tank is running for years.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

It’s been a lot in a short amount of time. Definitely not cheap to fix issues that have gotten out of hand. But I guess not doing anything for two years allowed me to save a few bucks, so it all evens out in the end.

What did you end up doing with the algae? I’m trying to figure out which route I want to go with my turf algae, since can’t rip clean this tank due to clumsiness and everything being essentially nailed down.

 

[Sticker shock]

What did you end up doing with the algae? I’m trying to figure out which route I want to go with my turf algae, since can’t rip clean this tank due to clumsiness and everything being essentially nailed down.

There were a lot of changes that potentially helped. I replaced my lights, and reduced the amount of white. I scrubbed a lot down with a battlebrush ™, and did tons of sand vacuuming while doing water changes. I added a chaeto reactor and UV as well. Eventually added a Tomini Tang and a Stary Blenny. I still have patches that spring up, but I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary for any reef.

My hands were in that tank a lot during that first month. Scrubbed algae and aiptasia away at the same time.

 

[Sticker shock]

A shot of my euphyllia:

 

[Sticker shock]

 

[Sticker shock]

Gong to be leaving the tank alone for a few days for Thanksgiving. Here’s a peek at how she’s doing.

Added a new SCP-120. The flow was killing me and really needed something pretty cheap and effective. Ultimately I want to upgrade to a couple XF330s. We shall see how this works out for now

Got myself a bunch of new frags as I want to see how I handle some higher end pieces. So far it’s sticks and zoas. Look great on the racks just need to get them a permanent place in the rocks soon.