The Rebuild.....

[Learner]

Decided not to re-use the old rock, too much of a scaredy cat :-[

Put new base of marine gravel in, now having diatom bloom as expected, will let it clear before adding live sand.


About to place pic' here,....no upload facility!!! tried to get into the Gallery, message read 'Error' no access there either :(

Had to remove powerhead  today, found a baby Aippy on it; pulled it straight out of tank, and will let it sit for a day or two before I replace it.

[Bergy]

yea, i have not installed the 'upload' utility as i am hoping folks will either use the gallery or use photobucket or other off site

Not sure why you are getting error message of gallery... Anyone else have similar problem with the gallery???


I may bring back the 'inline' upload mod if folks want...

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

I'm happy you found a hiding aptaisia. That would have sucked if that one guy redid all of that.
Why don't you wanna reuse the old rock?

[Learner]

I'm happy you found a hiding aptaisia. That would have sucked if that one guy redid all of that.
Why don't you wanna reuse the old rock?

It would take months to cook the old rock, to ensure that no more aippies  are present, so have decided to buy a small amount of  new rock when I'm sure the tank is clear*fingers crossed*.
The old rock will be re-used as base rock for a larger tank sometime in the future. :)

[Bergy]

you can dry the rock out, and then start over using them as 'base rock'..

which you can add to your tank after the new rock is cured and the tank is established...

that will be quicker


you can start off by soaking / rinsing in fresh water / tap water...

or even accelerate it with a cup of bleach in the water too...

THIS WILL PRETTY MUCH eliminate the potential of any APPY hitchhikers

[Learner]

Thanks for that Bill,

The rock is actually in an open container in the garden...so it's being rinsed quite regularly with rainwater  :-\ and you know how much it rains here ;D.

 My theory was, if I leave the rock in the open, as I hadn't intended using it for a while, nature will kill off all life on it, rendering it safe to re-use at a later date...am I on the right track?

A sort of losing a few to save many *hopefully*

Managed to get into the gallery, so will attempt to upload pic's as I go.... ;)

[Bergy]

although the rock will be rinsed by fresh water, TAP water will work better. 

the clorine in the tap water will help in killing hte micro organisms

also, at some point you will have to dry the rock and then rinse it out as good as possible.

things will grow in fresh water too, although they will probably be killed once put back into saltwater, but you dont want to import any 'nutrient', back into the tank

so, like i said, you will have to dry it out and rinse the snot out of it at some point

unless you do the 'cooking' method.. which is NOT real cooking, or the use of heat, but rather to keep the rocks in salt water in DARK, for months... and rinsing the rocks out every two weeks or so with newer salt water..

Lots of folks see/hear about cooking rock and they really think of boiling...

although i am sure it can be done, I would not rush to do that first

[Learner]

Woo Hoo......put 6 and a half Kilos of new live rock in today, the fish went nuts!!!!
Hardly seen them since.. lol.
It's been a long time, but we are now officially on the rebuild.
Have uploaded a pic'  -or will be in a mo'- the water's rather cloudy, as I was soooo excited, I couldn't wait to take it.
 

[Bergy]

whoohhoooooo


it's actually lookin like a real reef... heheheheheh

i like the minimal look, so, I really like what you got goin on...  if you keep the fish load minimal to match, you should be fine...

i can still see the diatom, and think that eventurallly it will go away, but with teh addition of the rock, that it may take a bit longer...

[Learner]

Thanks Bill, Yes, the diatom will probably take off again, but hey ho.

Looking at the tank this morning, and noticed an aippy!!!! sitting on the mushroom, nice as you like.

Immediately took out the mushroom - £20 against £78 for the new rock- no contest I'm afraid.

Hubby then noticed one on the glass of all places, so hit it with Aiptasia - X, and siphoned it out of there.

Fingers crossed there are no more of the swines!!

We probably won't add anything else until after our hol's, which will be the end of June.

That will hopefully give us and the tank a chance to ensure there are no more problems; fingers crossed.

[Bergy]

wow, im wondering if you have aptasia spores in the air over there???? hehehehehe


definately keep an eye out for them buggers and do what you can to stay on top of them...  goo d thing you got the aptasia x stuff handy...

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

Are you still planing on getting those peppermint shrimps?

[Learner]

Are you still planing on getting those peppermint shrimps?

I have asked everywhere!!! no-one seems to be able to supply them.
I now have three suppliers on the lookout for me.
I don't want to chance mail order....not that I know of anyone who has them anyway.

Obviously as common as rocking horse poop....lol

[Hajra]

sorry about your appy troubles. we are starting to get them again. i seen one the other day. i am just gonna wait til they start to take over and go to LFS and pick up some peps. not sure how far you are but you can try http://www.aquariumconnection.com They usually keep them in stock though not sure of the shipping thing. Bill made a nice point with the mail order thing. they go through the mail atleast once already to get to the lfs. lol. so whats it really gonna hurt do be shipped again??? personally i dont think its right. but that is just my opnion. Good luck on your tank

[Learner]

Thanks Haj, followed the link, but Tennessee is far far away for me...I'm in the UK, so wouldn't like to put anything through that journey...lol

Just a little advice, don't let them 'get a hold', I had to completely empty my system and get rid of all rock and coral, except one brain.

Apart from the upset, the whole episode cost about five hundred pounds; I would hate it if you or anyone else had to do the same.

Hope you get rid soon,
Tania.