Introducing copopods for biodiversity in a base rock only tank.

[J1a]

A glass box in my living room full of expensive colorful sticks is not a natural reef. These things have predators in the wild, first of all, and some "pests" will wipe out cubic meters of coral in a day. That isn't a problem when the reef is the size of an entire island but it is when it's 180 gallons or even less...

Totally true. Some organisms can cause huge problem in the aquarium.

What I was referring to, was that we can't really expect the great diversity from liverocks without accepting that they may come with some "pests". Hence when it comes to live rocks, the challenge is always there.

 

[jimk60]

Check out garf.org. I purchased their bag of bugs and was very happy. A lot of mini brittle stars, worms and pods. Cheap too compared to Hawaii!

 

[gbroadbridge]

I don't want bristle worms, aiptasia, majanos, mantis shrimp, asterina star fish, etc.

But they can be controlled.

I believe the benefits of live rock outweigh any of those risks.

But, you could use a few different bottle bac, like Seachem stability, Dr Tims and MB7.

I did that because live rock is difficult to obtain and expensive.
I had quite a few problems with the tank, and wish I'd used LR.

Regards
Graham.

 

[Reef_prop88]

Thanks for your input everybody. I am going with my original plan doing 100% base rock. I have live sand activator plus coming from psif.com and I will be ordering copepods from algae barn in a min. If you want to see the outcome follow my build thread I just started lol.

 

[Reef_prop88]

But they can be controlled.

I believe the benefits of live rock outweigh any of those risks.

But, you could use a few different bottle bac, like Seachem stability, Dr Tims and MB7.

I did that because live rock is difficult to obtain and expensive.
I had quite a few problems with the tank, and wish I'd used LR.

Regards
Graham.

What issues did you end up running into?

 

[tautog83]

Once again , why not buy marine pure blocks or balls and put them in a friends tank for a couple months . 0 difference in buying a piece of live rock or getting a rock from a friend . We all know it has tons of surface area and I think this could be really beneficial for tanks that start out with dry rock . Let those companies sink blocks and plates of that kind media for a year in the ocean and I'd buy that in a heartbeat . Yes, the cycle would be longer still but you have a lot of surface area covered in all the good stuff and not wondering how many more pistol shrimp and gorilla crabs you'll have to catch from the $900 in live rock you shipped in water . Then in 4 months you can post pics of your coralline covered rocks and say look live rock !! Once again, live rock works ,its faster and has amazing benefits , that's never ever in question . I'm just thinking outside the box a little on how we can create more biodiversity in a tank that starts with dry rock , and also not have to worry about hitchhikers and money!

 

[gbroadbridge]

What issues did you end up running into?

Instability and then Dino's.

and the first time put in a coral it came with aiptasia even though it had an H2O2 dip, as well as AF protect dip and Reef Primer.

Seems settled now after 9 months though

 

[Reef_prop88]

Instability and then Dino's.

and the first time put in a coral it came with aiptasia even though it had an H2O2 dip, as well as AF protect dip and Reef Primer.

Seems settled now after 9 months though

As of right now I am planning on getting all of my corals from top shelf and Jason Fox in hopes it doesn't come with any hitchhikers as I know they take a ton of precautions to avoid pests in their own systems. We'll see how it works out lol. Something tells me it will work out in the end.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

I don't want bristle worms, aiptasia, majanos, mantis shrimp, asterina star fish, etc.

Unless you quarantine coral for long periods you're going to get some of these hitch hikers Regardless. Dips are not 100% effective and there's no dip on the market that I'm aware of that kills aiptasia spores . There's normally always natural ways to remove thing's from a aquarium if they get introduced. Aiptasia- Berghia nudibranch's bristle worms - traps and arrow crabs asterina stars - Harlequin shrimp etc etc etc . I stared with 100% Dry rock and still got Aiptasia and bristle worm's due to dips not being 100% effective. Just prepare your self as you will most likely encounter some " pest " in your reef system eventually

 

[Duncan62]

I don't want bristle worms, aiptasia, majanos, mantis shrimp, asterina star fish, etc.

You'd better quit now. If you do this long enough and buy animals for your tank you will encounter all this stuff. It's worth it though. I think the biodiversity is a plus. The bad things can be managed. Good luck.

 

[Duncan62]

A glass box in my living room full of expensive colorful sticks is not a natural reef. These things have predators in the wild, first of all, and some "pests" will wipe out cubic meters of coral in a day. That isn't a problem when the reef is the size of an entire island but it is when it's 180 gallons or even less...



I disagree. While pests on live rock are somewhat rare, there are some that can ruin a tank and might not be discovered until it's too late. Bobbit worms, fire worms, mantis shrimp, gorilla crabs, flatworms, vermetid snails, and so on are very annoying and it would be nice to have the peace of mind of a quarantined and controlled live rock available. Every coral I've ever gotten in the mail had 0 pests during dip and quarantine and introduced none into my tank because good aquaculture vendors are pretty tight with that stuff. I think it's totally possible to have a pest-free system if you QT new arrivals and start with dry rock. The disadvantage is a lack of little beneficial critters. Live rock from the ocean is still king with that.

I've placed uncured live rock in established tanks for literally decades. I've never had a pest that got out of control. I've got pistol and mantis shrimp. All kinds of crabs. Stomatella. Sponges. Tigertail cucumber. Spaghetti worms. All busy cleaning up. All free. Ohhh. Bristle worms.

 

[Chrisv.]

You'd better quit now. If you do this long enough and buy animals for your tank you will encounter all this stuff. It's worth it though. I think the biodiversity is a plus. The bad things can be managed. Good luck.

This. All day long this.

 

[Reef_prop88]

I can live with the fact that I am eventually going to get pests in my system but if I can go a period of time without them that would be great. I placed an order with ipsf.com for their live sand which happens to have bristle worms in it and I'm cool with that since they help stir the sand up a little bit. I will end up purchasing a fish to keep them at bay though.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I don't want bristle worms, aiptasia, majanos, mantis shrimp, asterina star fish, etc.

You're going to get all of these (except the mantis shrimp) from frag plugs eventually! Even if you're being careful with dipping, you're bound to have some slip through

 

[Reef_prop88]

You're going to get all of these (except the mantis shrimp) from frag plugs eventually! Even if you're being careful with dipping, you're bound to have some slip through

I'll deal with it when it becomes an issue down the road. Hopefully well down the road lol.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I'll deal with it when it becomes an issue down the road. Hopefully well down the road lol.

If you're planning on keeping coral, it's a very short road

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

@Reef_prop88 not a sad thing, a reef tank (a good one anyway) is an ecosystem and every living animal has a part to play

 

[Reef_prop88]

Not really sad lol. I’ll prepare myself.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I don't want bristle worms, aiptasia, majanos, mantis shrimp, asterina star fish, etc.

I’ve got plenty of bristle worms, asterina, Aiptasia, and vermitid snails! It adds to the biodiversity! Very manageable and my tank looks fine (SPS dominant reef).

 

[BanjoBandito]

There's no substitute for good old matured live rock.