Starting Afresh

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Cryp

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Greetings All

Can someone please advise me on the best way to get ride of worms in my tank that have taken over while I am in the process of strating afresh. What I am looking at doing is draining the tank completely, cleaning it and then refilling it. I do have some live rock at present and not sure what to do with it while the tank cycles. Please guys I am in need of help here:(.

The questions are:
How do I get ride of those worms?
How do i look after the live rock while in the process of draining and cleaning the tank?

Any ones help will be greatly appreciated.
 
Buy a couple of sixline wrasses, they'll gladly assist with the worms...
 
u can make some traps to trap them in(thinking of a tube of sorts with some food in there), keep the rocks in a container with SW with some flow in there.
 
Thanks for the advise greatly appricated!!!!:)
Will a normal bucket suffice for keeping the live rock? Do I need to heat the water at all to maitain the rock during the cleaning process?

I will only be able to get the 6 line wrasses into the tank once I have set it up again. But I realy need to know how to get ride of a lot of them before I put the fish in?
The trap idea seems to be the best at persent, does any one know where I can find info inregards to builing a trap?
 
Afert doing some research on the net I have found that it is Bristalworms in my tank some I have seen ranging in size from 1 to 5 cm in length.
I have also found some info on traps that I can build and insert into the tank. I will also look at getting 2 six line wrasse for future prevention, as I am sure that I will not be able to get ride of all of them.
 
Cryp said:
Afert doing some research on the net I have found that it is Bristalworms in my tank some I have seen ranging in size from 1 to 5 cm in length.
I have also found some info on traps that I can build and insert into the tank. I will also look at getting 2 six line wrasse for future prevention, as I am sure that I will not be able to get ride of all of them.
Click to expand...

Cryp , bristleworms are harmless in my opinion. They are good scavengers and thus actually part of the CUC.

Six Line wrasse for prevention, not sure this will work (for flatworms yes)
 
FransSny said:
Cryp , bristleworms are harmless in my opinion. They are good scavengers and thus actually part of the CUC.

Six Line wrasse for prevention, not sure this will work (for flatworms yes)
Click to expand...

I have read that they are good for the tank in as they eat left over food, dead organisms and airate the sand. But with reagrds to prevention they are saying one should have a predator to control the population of the worm buy have a arrow crab, coral banded shrimp and a wrasse of the genus (Halichoeres) which do dine on the smaller ones. There are other predators that you can get but it depends on the typ of tank you have set up.
 
Cryp said:
I have read that they are good for the tank in as they eat left over food, dead organisms and airate the sand. But with reagrds to prevention they are saying one should have a predator to control the population of the worm buy have a arrow crab, coral banded shrimp and a wrasse of the genus (Halichoeres) which do dine on the smaller ones. There are other predators that you can get but it depends on the typ of tank you have set up.
Click to expand...


Cryp,

I'm with Frans on this one.
Worms and other detrivores are good additions to the tank and can be seen as part of the CUC.
I would actually encourage the presence of the worms and not try to eradicate them, unless they are causing some type of harm to your other inmates like corals , smaller fish etc.

Just a thought;)
 
Appollo
But then would it be safe in trying to get rid of the bigger ones? As they have seemed to have taken over my tank.

In draining the tank completely will that remove some of the worms after i have removed the live rock so that i will be able to clean the tank proparlly.
 
Cryp,

Your LR is riddled with little holes (wormholes) and there are probably more worms hiding inside than what you can see. I say again - this is a good thing to have ;)

If you really want to - For the bigger one's I suggest following Ziyaads' advice and setting a worm trap. Just take note that this will be a time consuming task.

Take your LR out and keep in a separate container with a bit of flow and the temp running at the same level as your DT.

BTW : Why are you starting afresh if I may ask ?
 
Cryp said:
Appollo
But then would it be safe in trying to get rid of the bigger ones? As they have seemed to have taken over my tank.

In draining the tank completely will that remove some of the worms after i have removed the live rock so that i will be able to clean the tank proparlly.
Click to expand...

Crypt bristleworms live "inside" the rock ...I seriously doubt that draining the tank will help. You might also kill off good bacteria

If you really want to take them out wait untill after lights out & pick them off with tweezers. DONT touch !!!!

BTW pls post a pick of the worms if you can
 
All the life stock I had in the tank died, due to the heater that failed. I have replaced it now and need to clean the tank because of algae growth, clean of filter etc. the tank i have is a buyo nano which model not sure.
 
Cryp said:
All the life stock I had in the tank died, due to the heater that failed. I have replaced it now and need to clean the tank because of algae growth, clean of filter etc. the tank i have is a buyo nano which model not sure.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your losses.:(


If I remember correctly you have a Boyu TL450 - 58 liter.
Since you are starting afresh, it might be a good idea to work in some upgrades to the Boyu tank .
Start looking at upgraded filtration ( skimmer upgrade etc.) , upgraded lighting ( T5 or MH perhaps) and increased flow and circulation in the DT .

Just a thought ;)
 
Apollo

the filter i have is that funny spounge stuff, not sure if I should remove it or not. I am not sure what else is in the back of the tank, but I am looking at cleaning that out as well. Any advise on what filter mediam I should use and where to locate it in the tank.
I am also not sure what type of lighting I have in the tank as well, as there is the normal white colured and a blue colured light.
As for the skimmer same applyies.
 
Cryp said:
Apollo

the filter i have is that funny spounge stuff, not sure if I should remove it or not. I am not sure what else is in the back of the tank, but I am looking at cleaning that out as well. Any advise on what filter mediam I should use and where to locate it in the tank.
I am also not sure what type of lighting I have in the tank as well, as there is the normal white colured and a blue colured light.
As for the skimmer same applyies.
Click to expand...


Cryp,

The standard filtration media that the Boyu comes with ( Sponge , Bio-balls , ceram rings) are not ideally suited to a marine setup and should be removed.

Here is one suggestion that you could look at :

Looking at the filter compartments from right to left:

1st Compartment - Build a little platform out of eggcrate and put some filter floss in there OR just leave it empty
2nd Compartment - This is where your skimmer goes. The standard Boyu Skimmer is crap IMO, and should be upgraded with a Boyu WG-310 skimmer ( Costs approx R 200)
3rd Compartment - This is where the heater goes
4th Compartment - Put some carbon and phosphate removal compound in here , and add a return pump ( rated at say 800 lph). Connect the pump outlet to the spraybar or just let it flow into the tank.

You will have the standard 2 x 18W PL tubes in the hood. They will be OK depending on what you want to keep in the tank, but IMO I found them to be too weak to keep LPS's happy.

A lighting upgrade can be done by either adding another PL tube into the Boyu hood ( You will need to strip the hood and re-arrange the two existign tubes a bit)
OR You can go with MH lighting right from the start ( I personally recommend this option if you have the funds available)


Have a look at my thread titled "Apollo's Nano Chronicles" under the Nano advice forum. It will give you some ideas as to what I have done in upgrading my nano.

That's all I can think of right now.
If you need some more help , drop me a PM and I can always give you a call.

I stay in Buccleuch , so not too far from you.
 
Apollo

I know I am been realy doff here, but if you don't mind what is eggcrate?

I will look at your "Apollo Nano Chronicles" for more info and advise.

Thanks for all your help thus far. Please just bare with me as I am sort of new to this game, as before I have kept tropical fish.
If I do need more help I will drop you a PM.
 
Cryp said:
Apollo

I know I am been realy doff here, but if you don't mind what is eggcrate?

I will look at your "Apollo Nano Chronicles" for more info and advise.

Thanks for all your help thus far. Please just bare with me as I am sort of new to this game, as before I have kept tropical fish.
If I do need more help I will drop you a PM.
Click to expand...


He he .. No worries Cryp.

Eggcrate = Light diffuser , known as eggcrate light diffuser in the lighting trade.

If you can't find this , then fairly stiff plastic mesh will also work great.
The mesh holes need to be at least 15mm or so in diameter, otherwise you will choke the flow through the mesh too much

:)
 
Apollo

Thanks, will look into getting some and chnaging the set up as well

:)
 
Hi Apollo

If I can ask what did you use to seal off the slot in the tank?

As I would look at doing this as well.
 
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