Couple questions on adding KP rock to a 7 month old system

[Daenion]

Friends,

I am looking to add KP liverock to a 7 month old system.

First of all is it a good idea.

Second I thought I read somewhere that you should do a hyper (or is it hypo?) salinity dip to get the crabs out of the rocks without harming the bacterial population. Is this true? If not what can be done before dumping the rock into DT.

As always any and all help are appreciated.

 

[Jekyl]

There are directions right on the site on how to handle the new rock. After shipping it will need to be placed into a separate tank. There will be some die off from shipping and this needs to be managed before going in your system. Also during this time you can watch for unwanted critters.

 

[Daenion]

There are directions right on the site on how to handle the new rock. After shipping it will need to be placed into a separate tank. There will be some die off from shipping and this needs to be managed before going in your system. Also during this time you can watch for unwanted critters.

I did read that however what i did not understand was all the steps should be done for an already cycled tank since the amount you are adding will not be that high. For example for me there is already 100+ lbs of live rock. I will add maybe 10-15lbs. Would the die off trigger a huge ammonia spike like it is described?

 

[Jekyl]

I did read that however what i did not understand was all the steps should be done for an already cycled tank since the amount you are adding will not be that high. For example for me there is already 100+ lbs of live rock. I will add maybe 10-15lbs. Would the die off trigger a huge ammonia spike like it is described?

Depends on the shipping method, delays, etc. You also want to be able to watch for things like gorilla crabs, and various worms/shrimp. Best to not cause a nutrient spike and keep your tank safe from predators.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Friends,

I am looking to add KP liverock to a 7 month old system.

First of all is it a good idea.

Second I thought I read somewhere that you should do a hyper (or is it hypo?) salinity dip to get the crabs out of the rocks without harming the bacterial population. Is this true? If not what can be done before dumping the rock into DT.

As always any and all help are appreciated.

I place such rock in a container of tank water in low light or dark - which allows hitchhikers to come out and then with a flashlight I weed out any unwanted specimens such as gorilla crab, worms, etc

 

[Eric R.]

From the KP website:

After the arrival of the live rock rinse the live rock in a 5 gallon buck with freshly mixed saltwater to remove any debris or died of organic matter.

(Optional Step) Undesired critters (we really don’t like the word unwanted pests as every creature has a purpose in life) can be removed by submerging the live rock into a saltmix of 1.035 to 1.040 (Specific gravity) for one minute. You can leave it a little longer but it should do the trick for mantis shrimp, crabs and worms to vacate the rock. Please turn the live rock in the bucket for the salty saltwater to penetrate everywhere in the live rock. Afterwards you can evaluate which crabs to keep and which ones to permanently remove. You can repeat this step 2 to 3 times during the curing process (before, during and after). It will help with keeping the unwanted critters under control obviously it doesn’t guarantee 100% success but it should get very close to it.

 

[areefer01]

I'll pass along what I did when adding 25 lbs of KP rock to my existing 4 year old 210 gallon mixed reef.

Talk to KP, work out details, shipping, about of rock, etc. Exchanging emails with them was easy to include KP calling me with a concern on weather. Great customer service if you ask me.

Know what you are about to receive and get mitigation processes in place. The rock is going to come in fully submerged. It is why you are paying a premium for both rock and shipping. Mine left their facility and was on my door step across the U.S. in California in a tick under 24 hours. Pretty flipping incredible if you ask me.

Remember above I said know what you are about to receive and have mitigation processes? Well my choice was to place my rock in isolation and observe for a few days. I can take my refugium offline if need be if fear of contamination. Or I can just use it for short term storage if I'm comfortable. I chose to use the refugium but leave it connected. What I did was cut some 4" pvc for stands, placed egg crate on them to lift them a couple inches off the substrate, and place the rock on those. One corner I left some room from the front of the glass. It was here that I added some food for anything I didn't see to more or less trap it.

Opening and inspecting the box and bag. Take out rock, look it over, place in bucket, then into refugium. Repeat until box, bag, is empty. Look at bag, drain water, collect rubble and animals, decide what to do.

7 x red mitrax. Keep. Placed immediately into display
1 x decorator. Keep, refugium
2 x gorilla crab. Keep, display overflow box (breeding pair oddly enough, free food)

I lost a pistol shrimp (I think it was) and 1 red mitrax down the drain I was trying to catch, the shrimp startled me, and I lost them both like a dork

TL; DR - think about what risk you are willing to take. Have some idea how to mitigate it. Most hitch hikers can be caught with a bit of patience and time. The rock will arrive within 24 hours. It is fully submerged. Use their instructions as guidelines. Adapt to your comfort level. Same rule applies to TBS rocks. You pay a premium for it to arrive alive and the diversity it brings. You want to keep that. My choice was isolation and the rock went into my display a couple days later. I didn't do the saltwater bucket transfer they note or that was mentioned here. Box, bag, inspect, bucket, refugium, collect critters in left over water, disperse.

Done - Bob's your Uncle.