[CaseyH]

Hey everyone,

I have a 46G bowfront that is my first salt tank and has been running well since 2003. My work is sending me on deployment starting in a few weeks, for about a year, but I will be home on most weekends. The tank is in need of some upgrades, improvements and repairs. I would like to keep my live rock. About a month ago I noticed a large bristleworm in the tank for the first time, and got out my trap. So far, I have trapped about 12 large ones. I also have a very tenacious green algae problem. I am thinking I would like to take my remaining fish back, and cycle the rock, and start over.

A few questions though...

1. How long can you cycle live rock?

2. What do you do to kill any remaining bristleworms without killing the rock (would they survive cycling)?

3. Should I get rid of the sand bed or clean and filter it?

Thanks for any info!

[pogodzib]

1 - You can cycle LR as long as you wish. There is no max amount of time, but you will still want to make sure that you have adequate circulation and do water changes periodically. If you have an actinic light over your rock, you're coraline should take off and you'll have nicely colored rock when everything gets going again.

2 - Yes, more than likely the bristleworms will survive. You can use a trap or hand pick them out if you'd like, or you can get a wrasse to eat them. Personally, I think bristleworms are just fine to have in a reef tank, as long as there is something in the tank to keep them under control.

3 - I'd get rid of the sandbed and start fresh with new sand or a BB tank. It's alot easier to replace the sand when starting over than with a tank full of livestock.

[CaseyH]

Thanks for the info. I was planning to use my mixing vat to do the cycling. I would like to drain the tank to be able to polish out the scratches (acrylic tank) and rebuild the stand which has some water damage. My thought was to do the dark cycling method to be sure the green algae is wiped out. That would suck to loose my coraline algae, though. Would the green survive under atinic only?

[pogodzib]

The green algae may or may not survive under the actinic lights. Having the rock in a dark vat with regular water changes for 6+ weeks would help clean the rock out. This process is known as "coking" live rock. However, the purple coraline may die off as well.