Killing aiptasia by boiling LR?

Hi guys. I have a fist-sized piece of lr in my refugium that is riddled with glass anenome. I was thinking of taking out the rock and dropping it in boiling hot water to kill all the anenome, then putting the rock back in. I know that I will be killing any pods and beneficial bacteria that live on the rock. But do the pros outweigh the cons or vise versa in this situation? How about using aiptasiaX in the fuge? Thanks!

 

I boiled around 100 pounds of LR then cycled it in a roughneck with power head for a few weeks this was to get rid of tons of aiptasia in a tank that I had purchased worked well, and if you put the small fist size piece back in your tank you will probably just have a bit of a run of algae or something from the excess nutrients but that will go away.

 

Ok great. So no need for cycling or curing the rock again in a seperate container? I can just place the rock right back in to the fuge?

 

i would just dump or trade in the rock somewhere and buy a new piece. Boiling a rock and then using it again is too much work and is hazardous to the tank. Tried boiling lr once. Never doing it again. Traded all the LR in and bought new LR.

 

If you boil LR there will not be any nutrients, just waste in which will spike your system. IMO I wouldn't put a boiled rock back into my system, regardless how small it my be.. I have had very good success just using a bladed screwdriver and just scrapping them off & rinsing the rock in container with saltwater.

How big is your system?

 

How big of a piece of LR do you need? I have a ton of it right now.. You pay the shipping & I'll give you a piece.

 

Ok. Yeah its just a small piece about the size of a fist. I guess I'll go with the AiptasiaX stuff than. My tank is a 20 gallon with a 10 gallon sump/fuge, so about 27.5 gallons total, give or take. Thanks for the info guys. I guess boiling the rock to kill them off is probably more of a hassle than just using the AiptasiaX stuff.

 

ap-X works wonders on Aptasia you can see, but once its in your tank, if given any chance to gain a foothold, it seems to keep croppin up from time to time...

Just like ball anemone and red cyano, best I do is just try to kill it as I see it, and/or make it difficult to establish a foothold...

In hopes that Coral/Macroalgae/Coraline will take hold and utilize the nutrients that those other 'pests' would otherwise use to thrive...



But Yeah, Aptasia X if you really like the rock, otherwise no I wouldn't boil unless your starting a system from scratch.

Other methods Ive heard successful include taking the rock out of the tank and using a sodering gun to kill them....

You DON'T want to try to cut them or kill them in the tank any other way, otherwise they release spores as they die, and you end up with 5 baby aptasias instead.

 

Dittto! i'd just throw the LR in the backyard and buy new dry rock! It'll become live soon enough!

 

I can't think of a reason to go through the hassles of boiling LR.

I would just nuke it (bleach it). Much simpler process and the rock can easily be reused.

Or just chunk the rock.