ToxicPoison Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 So I've been battling Aiptasia in my sump for quite some time now. Since it has a DSB and lots of reef rubble, I figured they were hiding in the cracks (which, they may still be doing). It seemed to clear up for a while, then they'd come back with a vengeance. The other day I was under my tank cleaning up (Sump is in the basement), looked upwards into the tank and saw a few GIANT aiptasia growing in my overflow box. So I think these guys may be whats "feeding" my sump with new aiptasia. I can't reach these guys with Joe's juice or anything, without dismantling a LOT of plumbing...which I'd rather not do. I also obviously can't drop a peppermint shrimp down there since theres a pretty good chance it would get sucked into the sump fairly quickly. Soo...my thought was to siphon all the water out of my overflow, drop the water level in my main tank to just below the overflow, turn off my return pump and let it "dry out" for about 24 hours. I know this might make the problem in the sump worse, but if I don't kill the guys in the overflow, it's never going to end. I'd be leaving my circulation pump on during this time and my only livestock is essentially 1 acro frag, a brittle star, a peppermint shrimp and a bunch of snails..so I don't think the livestock would suffer at all. Thoughts? Would this work? There is nothing in the overflow other than plumbing, and they're growing directly on the glass so it's not like they can retreat into the rocks and stay wet. Also, Tank is over a year old, specs are all in normal range (81f, 8.3ph, 0 no2, 20ppm Phosphate, 440 calcium, 7 dKH) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 24 hours may be not enough. Can you help the drying with the heat of a light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToxicPoison Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 24 hours may be not enough. Can you help the drying with the heat of a light? Oh right, I forgot to mention that. This is under 2 250HQI lights, so it does get pretty warm. I was also considering using a small clip-on fan to help with the evaporation. My tank is also open-top, no hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfisher Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Hair dryer, small blow torch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToxicPoison Posted July 16, 2010 Author Share Posted July 16, 2010 Hair dryer' date=' small blow torch?[/quote'] Does it really need to be that extreme? I was under the impression that exposing them to air for an extended time would cause them to "pop"? I just posted a thread about in my tank in the tank forum (100 gallon open top). Maybe pictures would help? If you look in the top-down shot, the aiptasia are living in the black box surrounded by egg crate. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Or if you can reach it with something, some cotton soaked into some muriatic acid, if you can then rinse the area somehow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Boiling water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 20 ppm phosphate!!! That is a lot of phosphate. Did you dump is fertilizer or something? I was battling algae when my phosphate was 0.04 ppm... dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Re: Can you "dry out" Aiptasia? You can try Biofuel found at Westside or Brightwell makes some stuff called Phos extract.....there is also some purigen products which you can browse on Marine Depot Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 I was able to kill all the apt in some good rock by soaking it in fresh water (rodi) for a couple hours. After you drained the overflow, could you fill it with fresh water for a couple hours, then drain out of your system? Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 i use a blow torch and burn them off. i have also used aiptaisia-x and it works pretty good for the rock u can't take out. You can also squirt small shots of boiling water on them in the tank, just be carefull with that one. The problem with leaving them in the tank is bits and peices of it will grow new ones if they are not removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToxicPoison Posted July 16, 2010 Author Share Posted July 16, 2010 Or if you can reach it with something' date=' some cotton soaked into some muriatic acid, if you can then rinse the area somehow[/quote'] Do you mean after I drain it? That might be possible. Rinsing may be tough. I'll have to think about that. 20 ppm phosphate!!! That is a lot of phosphate. Did you dump is fertilizer or something? I was battling algae when my phosphate was 0.04 ppm... er...uhm...that should be .02ppm. I do that a lot. I often refer to my water salinity as 1.25 too. Thanks for pointing that out. I was able to kill all the apt in some good rock by soaking it in fresh water (rodi) for a couple hours. After you drained the overflow, could you fill it with fresh water for a couple hours, then drain out of your system? Thats not a bad idea either. I could probably just close the ball valves for the drain/return pipes and siphon out the fresh water. Is this more/less/the same effectiveness as muriatic acid? I think I'm more inclined to use the fresh water since it would do much less damage if it got into my system (I'm assuming). As for the blowtorch suggestions...not an option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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