Can I restore live rock from an unhealthy tank?

BoulderReefKeeper · #1 01/17/2004, 03:13 PM

I can get about 100 Lbs. of mostly Fiji live rock back from a friend that I gave it to when I moved out of town for an extended period of time. It was in great condition when I gave it away and now there is a good bit of bubble algae on it. The main problem is that it is mostly covered with aptasia. Because I know how it once was, I am curious to see if I can restore it. I know that if at all possible, it would take a long time. Has anyone done this? I could put it in a separate 40 gallon breeder. Any ideas on what I would need to do to bring it back- lighting/filtation/dosing/water changes? Thank's!

Gerard the fish · #2 01/17/2004, 03:18 PM

Restoring your live rock should not be a problem especially if thats your sole goal.

I would start off by limiting your lighting schedule to maybe a couple of hours a day heavy skimming and water changes will help too.

Remove the apataisa with Joe's Juice or another less abrasive form of removal and you should be fine.

As far as the bubble algea goes, when you limit your light schedule as well as maunal removal should knock down there numbers big time.

Hope it helps I am sure lots of other have idea as well.

- g

BoulderReefKeeper · #3 01/18/2004, 12:51 PM

Thank you Gerard the fish. I will certainly use your advice. One question though. Will Joe's Juice treat the whole tank of aptasia at once or do I have to go to each piece individually with a needle? Thank's again!

stereomandan · #4 01/18/2004, 12:57 PM

Yes, any live rock, given enough time, will come back.

If it were me, I would dry it out for a few days to kill all the aptasia and bubble algae. Otherwise it would take a long time to kill the aptasia and bubble algae. Scrub the rock with a stiff bristle brush when it is dry to remove all the dead stuff.

Then I would put it all in a seperate tank and let it cycle. Put strong current through it. After a few weeks you should have great live rock again. It may lose it's coralline algae for a while but it will come back.

Dan

BoulderReefKeeper · #5 01/18/2004, 12:59 PM

stereomandan, You don't think the rest of the live rock including the coralline algae will be effected by drying it out?

j.stagner · #6 01/18/2004, 01:02 PM

You might consider changing the lighting to mostly or strictly actinic/blue in addition to the cut back schedule, although I wouldn't go too far with the reduced schedule. Coralline grows well in both low-light conditions and with blue light. This might be a good opportunity to get this rock completely covered with the stuff by keeping up the calcium and alkalinity as well as controlling the light.

To my knowledge, the Joe's Juice is meant to be directed at individual anemones, and so far customer reports are positive. You should also consider other means at the same time, such as peppermint shrimp. Not everyone has success with them, but I have. I think that if there is not much else for them to eat, they will eventually start munching on some of the smaller ones that you can't get to and hopefully keep them in check.

I strongly urge you to put in some snails and hermits, and maybe some emerald crabs for the bubble algae. They don't need hardly anything in the way of care and will keep the rock nice and clean until it is once again worth of going into a display tank.

I think that you will almost certainly be able to restore it, and in the long run you will be very glad you did. If you have the time and patience, and no overriding need to hurry up and place it in a display, you will probably end up with some good quality stuff. Think of it like you are planning the perfect reef, with the patience most of us wish we had when we set up our last system

stereomandan · #7 01/18/2004, 01:03 PM

The coralline will most likely be gone, and if that's a big concern, then don't dry it.

Coralline always comes back though. It just takes some time.

The LR will be dead, but the bacteria will replensish itself. You may get same nasty algae blooms for a while but it will go away.

Like I said, this should only be done in a seperate tank with nothing else in it. It should also be lit.

Like I said, that is what I would do, but not what you HAVE to do. It's just the easiest way to kill the aptasia, unless you want to pic them off, which may be easier in your case. It depends on how bad the aptasia and bubble algae is.

Dan

Gerard the fish · #8 01/18/2004, 01:04 PM

You know apatasia is really a what works for you type of thing. There are lots of ways to get rid of aptasia including natural predatation via nudibranch berghia or peppermint shrimp.

stereomandan is correct his way will certainly remove the aptasia and bubble alge from your rock but at a huge cost every other organism therein.

Since your sole goal is to remove this stuff doing so via the slow as you go route should not take too long and you wont have nearly the die off from drying the rock out.

- g

stereomandan · #9 01/18/2004, 01:06 PM

Yeah, it's totally up to you and your time schedule.

There is always more than one way to skin a cat so to speak.

Dan

jktest · #10 01/18/2004, 11:05 PM

Dry it out, scrub it off. When you put it back into a tank seed it with some new live rock. The rock will become live again over a short amount of time. When I go on vacation I collect dry rock on the beaches. I bring it home boil it then put it into tanks. After a couple of months you can't figure out what rock is the new rock.