Converting FW to SW

Fishnoodle

Awesome thanks for the help and the quick response!

reefsahoy

fishnoodle, next time you may want to give peppermint shrimp a try to remove aptasias rather than to boil water and submerge the rock. when you kill everything in the rock you may also get phosphate leaching out of the rock from all the dead stuff. not to mention you killed all the bacteria and ow the waiting game. another thing you could do is get kalkwasser and mix it strong, take the rock out and put alittle of the paste onto where the aptasia is. that will only kill that area and leave all the other good bacteria alive and well.

Fishnoodle

Sounds like a great idea! I will get some peppermint shrimp in as part of my CUC in a few weeks

The white stuff thickened into a goo yesterday by the time I returned home from work. I did a 30% water change last night but that doesnt seem to alleviate any of the goo.

This morning I woke up to find 3 x Brittle Stars moving around the tank and some un-identified slug type thing sliding across the glass. It was an opaque white but thats all the identifying features I could find!

Are any of these creatures likely to be detrimental to my nano????

Fishnoodle

Now Im quite concerned about what else has piggy backed on that second batch of supposedly pest free LR

I was given a handful of coral sand from the LFS display tank as well so should I take all the LR out and completely kill it off?Will a few days out in the sun perhaps after pouring boiling water over them and submerging them in boiling water for a few hours be enough? I can keep the water running and the coral sand in the tank which should maintain some of the good bacteria Ive built up over the week right?

I would like to keep the Brittle Stars if they arent going to hurt anything

I dont mind starting over now
What I want to avoid is having to start over once I have fish and corals in my tank

Any thoughts or opinions anyone?

Reefing Madness

The Brittle Starfish are not a pest. As far as the opaque slug, could be any number of things, some Reef safe, some not.
As for the unwanted Hitchhickers, personally I'd nuke the Rock. Putting it in a bucket of boiling water for just a few minutes and giving it a scrub off will do the trick, shouldn't need more than that. I've done it a few times myself. You could let it sun bake for a day or 2, that will also do the trick.
Live Rock Hitch Hikers

Fishnoodle

Thanks for that website - thats very helpful information
It has frightened me sufficiently enough to nuke the LR

Will the Brittle Star eat my fish when I eventually get them? Thats my only concern with them really

The LFS suggests a 5min freshwater bath of all the LR but I dont think that will give me peace of mind

So, a full nuke of all LR, keeping the current water and substrate bed (its about 3.5 inches thick and has been seeded from an established tank) - that sound ok?
Maybe jumpstart the cycle again with a dead shrimp?

Reefing Madness

The Star Fish will not eat your fish when they are put in there. They will sift through the sand bed. No worries.
You can nuke the Rock, but just sitting it in fresh water will do nothing. Cook the rock in your oven, or put the rock in boiling water. This will kill all the creatures in the rock, and yes, it will start another cycle when you put it back in, may be a small cycle because of the substrate being established.