I've got worms, and I'm happy!!!

[CoryDude]

This week I discovered that my tank has the reefing equivalent to herpes...Acro eating flatworms. I've been going back and forth on whether to remove all the acropora and set up a qt, or just do weekly dippings of each acro and skip the qt.

Finally decided to set up the qt and just bite the bullet for 2 months, instead of battling these nasty creatures for months and possibly years. So why am I happy about having flatworms?

Since I'm moving all but 2 corals out of the tank, I'm going to completely shut it down for 2 months and do a tank reboot. What's going to happen?

First, I can finally remove a couple of fish that have been causing me headaches for a while now. So goodbye Mr. Coral Beauty and Mr. Royal Gramma. Don't let the tank lid hit you in the caudal fin on the way out!!!

Secondly, I finally get to "cook" my live rock and remove those tiny annoying patches of bryopsis, derbesia, rouge mushroom, and green star polyps. Over the years, so many unwanted pests have been introduced to my tank due to my own negligence. I'll finally have a clean slate to start with.

Third, I'm replacing the tank with a new drilled tank that has a calfo overflow. No more flooded floors when the siphon breaks on the external overflow or when my Tom's Aqualifter pump goes out. The wife should be really happy about that.

Lastly, I can do a planned build using all the knowledge I've gained in the two years of being a member here. I have seen so many beautiful tanks and read so many cool tank build threads. Before I joined Maast, my tank was based on outdated designs and a hodge podge of ideas. So I can finally try some of your great ideas and layouts out for myself.

Anyways, I'm starting all of this over the weekend, and hopefully should have tank version 2.0 on track for a release date in early September. If anyone can help me with ideas or tips, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Cory

[allan]

Cool cory,

be sure to document (pictorially) your progress. Are you going bigger?

[CoryDude]

I wish I could allan. A standard 90 is about all my fish room can hold without starting an expensive remodel. Trying to keep the costs down so the mrs. won't put her foot down on this one.

[Bill S]

Cory, being honest, a 90 to 110 is really the perfect size tank. My 215 was an order of magnitude more expensive than my 55.

Honestly, I like the idea.

[Europhyllia]

Small is not bad. We enjoyed the 75g much more than we thought we would. Having the 215 come in is almost scary now.
And the prospect of potentially having a low pest tank by starting over is fantastic I think.
Will be interesting to see how much we can avoid stuff (or not) by using better introduction procedures.

[CoryDude]

Karin/Bill, I totally agree with you. I've always thought larger tanks were better suited for bragging rights. You can do a lot with a medium sized tank and save exponentially on the costs and time vs. a large tank. 200+ is just way too much fish tank for me to handle right now. Although Bill's 215 brick was pretty tempting.

[ErikH]

I am glad you have a positive outlook rather than just quitting. This hobby is a true test of man's will. :) I would dip the corals several times over the period of change over just to ensure you get them all. Good luck, I will be tagging along or sure.

[FireWater]

Good luck with the plan. Sounds like you have it nailed down. I went through a similar thing a while back. Absolutley killed me to admit defeat and tear it all down. I have been researching and planning like mad over the last couple of months. Original plan was to rebuild my 90, but I have decided to go up a little bit in foot print - I am going w/ a 48"X24"X24" vs the old 48"X18"X25". So far by laying out the footprint on the ground the extra 6" front to back have opened a huge amount of new possibilities in aquascaping.

Good luck and if you need any help feel free to ask and I will be more than happy to either talk your ear off or give help anyway I can.

[Mr Cob]

Cory....great attitude! Happy for you. Makes me excited about the hobby when we can tackle our troubles positively. Best of luck to you on the new build.

John...48x24x24 is my old 120g...I loved that footprint, so much room to work with.

[CoryDude]

I am going w/ a 48"X24"X24" vs the old 48"X18"X25". So far by laying out the footprint on the ground the extra 6" front to back have opened a huge amount of new possibilities in aquascaping.

Hmmm. That sounds something I might look at. The front/back depth is the only gripe I have about the standard 90. Who's going to fab your new tank?

Should I try and save all the colonies, or just frag everything and start completely over? I'd like to save as much as possible, but I don't want to risk reintroducing any agressive turf algaes that might hitchhike on the current colony bases and frag plugs.

I was thinking remounting the smaller frags. I would then clean and rinse the bases of the larger pieces, since I need to do that anyways to get rid of the aefw eggs.

[FireWater]

My thought would be minimal fragging if possible. When you start over it would seem a lot more awesome to have colonies vs small frags. One good thing about fragging is that you can have multiples so if something bites the dust you have a back up. Also, some of the colonies would take on new and different characteristics with differing placements - I had a red planet that was accidentally fragged that looked completely different because I had them in defferent spots in the tank.

I am thinking of going ready made on the new footprint - it is a pretty common size so it is stocked by a few places. As a bonus when Ace and I did my stand for the 90 I added in extra space for the plumbing behind the tank and the new tank will be drilled on the bottom- so, with the new tank I will not have to build or buy a new stand and canopy.

[CoryDude]

Oh, and thanks for all the best wishes.

[allan]

I had a hundred gallon, but when I saw the stand for a 48-36-24 I knew that I had to have it. I really like the front to back depth but I'm not utilizing it correctly.

A buddy of mine just started an entirely sterile tank. And now you.., got me thinking.

But no, I'm gonna keep trucking on with what I got, pests and all. Telly interest in your progress though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CoryDude]

Hmmmm! Still thinking about that 120. I'd need to redo the platform, but it might be worth it. :hypnotyized:

[FireWater]

For me it was worth it... or actually will be worth it. So many options opened up with a measley 6 extra inches. I need to hurry and set up the new one though. I want to try more and more stuff with every new article I read. I prefer open and minimal aquascaping so that is one element that I will strive for. Plus I have been bugging Karin about the shadow box concept and we ordered in some stuff for the rock work on the back walls. I am hoping to finally have what I want - at least for a while until I change my mind.

[CoryDude]

Did a test with betadine this weekend. Dipped all corals for 25 mins each and then rinsed in 2 separate containers. What get's me is there were flatworms on a red devil monti frag and a green stylophora. I had read on other sites that these type of sps were not affected by AEFW. No ill effects were noticed on the corals. Polyps have already started to come out on most of them.

QT tank is ready to go and I've got 3 plastic bins to cook the LR. Making the water as we speak, so if I can shake this nasty summer cold, the process should start tomorrow.

Finally decided to go with an Ocean View 120 w/corner overflows. Thought seriously about the DSA 140, but I'd have to redo the platform and framing on the wall. Way too much work involved for an extra measly 20 gallons.