An Idea For Better Live Rock?

Variant · Jun 23, 2020

Having moved, I've been in the process of taking down my tank and planning an upgrade. Part of the planning involves trying to decide whether to go live rock or dry rock. I've been down this path before and every time I get live rock from even the most reputable aquacultured live rock vendor, I still get Isopods, bobbit worms and polyclad flatworms that harass and kill my fish and clams. They apparently even survive a 24 hour journey on rock that was not delivered submerged but just covered in damp newspaper.

So I had an idea I wanted to share with folks to see what they think. I don't want this to be a live rock vs dry rock debate but rather a thread to think about ways to make live rock "safer".

My idea is to use live rock primarily as a source of bacterial diversity to seed tanks. Not using it for aquascaping or anything else. So if this is the case, why can't vendors just dump baskets worth of marine pure spheres or blocks. That way, when you get your basket worth of spheres or blocked, you can just give it a quick toothbrush scrube to scrape any undesirables off and plop them in your tank. Since they're not full of larger holes and mazes, I can't imagine large flatworms or isopods will be able to hide inside.

Thoughts?

andrewey · Jun 23, 2020

I think your idea will only work for certain pests (and even then, I'm not so sure). As a hobbyist that tried seeding his dry rock with a marine pure sphere from my LFS, I can tell you marine pure is a great vehicle for transferring aptasia

The same would be true for other pests that can fit in the holes or where the larval/juvenile stage was small enough to hitch a ride. Point is anything wet has the possibility of transferring pests

Obviously something is better than nothing, but I tend to put my faith in the source of my rocks in tandem with some pretty lengthy QTs/observational periods before using it to seed dry rock.

Variant · Jun 23, 2020

andrewey said:
I think your idea will only work for certain pests (and even then, I'm not so sure). As a hobbyist that tried seeding his dry rock with a marine pure sphere from my LFS, I can tell you marine pure is a great vehicle for transferring aptasia The same would be true for other pests that can fit in the holes or where the larval/juvenile stage was small enough to hitch a ride. Point is anything wet has the possibility of transferring pests

Obviously something is better than nothing, but I tend to put my faith in the source of my rocks in tandem with some pretty lengthy QTs/observational periods before using it to seed dry rock.

Maybe dense cement balls or something similar and less porous might prevent this? The goal should never be perfectly eliminate pests but to make it more manageable. I tried to manage things like Isopods and it wasnt.

Thespammailaccount · Jun 23, 2020

I read somewhere that if you raise salinity like 1.040 and place the rocks in that critters will come out of the rock work to try and find an area with lower salinity but not sure if it works

KenO · Jun 24, 2020

I kept my LR in a separate tank for about 8 months to eliminate any pests. I dosed ammonia to keep the bacteria alive but didn’t put any real food in the tank to starve any bad critters. If a saw a bad worm it was easy to pull that rock out and put it in my sink. Almost every time the worm came out on its own. I would do it again. I prefer to start a tank with dry rock let it go through it’s cycle and ugly phases then I add the ocean LR to let it add the diversity. That way the high ammonia levels don’t kill everything good on the ocean LR.

DxMarinefish · Jun 25, 2020

KenO said:
I kept my LR in a separate tank for about 8 months to eliminate any pests. I dosed ammonia to keep the bacteria alive but didn’t put any real food in the tank to starve any bad critters. If a saw a bad worm it was easy to pull that rock out and put it in my sink. Almost every time the worm came out on its own. I would do it again. I prefer to start a tank with dry rock let it go through it’s cycle and ugly phases then I add the ocean LR to let it add the diversity. That way the high ammonia levels don’t kill everything good on the ocean LR.

Excellent idea.

Daniel@R2R · Jun 25, 2020

KenO said:
I kept my LR in a separate tank for about 8 months to eliminate any pests. I dosed ammonia to keep the bacteria alive but didn’t put any real food in the tank to starve any bad critters. If a saw a bad worm it was easy to pull that rock out and put it in my sink. Almost every time the worm came out on its own. I would do it again. I prefer to start a tank with dry rock let it go through it’s cycle and ugly phases then I add the ocean LR to let it add the diversity. That way the high ammonia levels don’t kill everything good on the ocean LR.

I used dry rock, but I've started thinking about doing something like this for biodiversity.

Variant · Jun 25, 2020

Daniel@R2R said:
I used dry rock, but I've started thinking about doing something like this for biodiversity.

If bacterial bio diversity is what you need, which is my focus too, maybe getting proper live sand from vendors like tampa bay saltwater and using dry rock would be best?

If I go this route maybe i will get a QT tank, put in the live sand, and gravel vac the ***t out of it to make sure no oddball isopods, worms and such make it. Maybe do a gravel vac with a small pump into a felt sock once a day for a week should be enough to get out any critters while keeping the beneficial bacteria on the sand in tact.

AlexG · Jun 25, 2020

I used dry rock to aquascape my tank. All of the live rock I purchased went into my refugium tank which helps contain any unwanted pests with the LR. I used the LR as a means to seed the system with life via the refugium.

SunnyX · Jun 25, 2020

On my latest setup I placed dry rock in my display as it was easier to aquascape and work with. I purchased 20lbs of live rock from KP Aquatics and have it in my sump. My tank is doing very well and I started growing coralline algae on my dry rocks in less than a months time.

I did not want to risk killing off the beneficial bacterial by dipping my rock in hyper saline or fresh water. Needless to say I do have a mantis shrimp now living in my sump.

I did not find any isopods or flatworms in my order. I did see some bobbit worms...

DeniseAndy · Jun 25, 2020

I have had a nightmare issue with live rock in the past, but I got some more finally after 16 years to add diversity. It is in its own tank until I am satisfied it is fairly clean. It is a 32g biocube, so decent light and good flow and very stable water. I have aiptasia, which I have not had in my main system for years. So, I have to deal with that before adding it.

About what you said, I keep tons of rock in my sump to switch out with dispaly rock if algae creeps up on me or I need to start a nano or pico for fun. Then I just add more dead rock to the sump. I know some shops that do keep live rock (just rock and bacteria). No coralline that way, but no unwanted critters usually.