Is it worth it? Live rock.

[Cwentz758]

So I just took down my 65g tank with live rock that is about 5-6 years old. The rock is full of sponges and has some solid coralline. The bad things are, verminted snails, asternia stars and I have been fighting dinos off and on for awhile. Some rocks have other random critters that pop out at night that are harmless.

I have all new marco rock waiting downstairs that's been cooking since January. I would really like my new upgrade to not have all the pest mistakes i made over the first years in the hobby BUT... I know how much good live rock benifits a tank especially a new tank with incoming fish that are 4+ years old. Will the dinos bacteria come over on the rock?

I guess the real question is. Is it worth it?

 

[Unregistered1]

Did you know that Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

If dinos no. Leave it circulating with heat and sw in a dark place maybe for 1 month. Get a good spot light or something and check it.
You can always add the live stuff to your tank after setting it up imo.
D

 

[mdb_talon]

If it were me i would definetely keep the rock. I would piece by piece inspect each rock removing vermetid snails over the course of a couple weeks to ensure you get them all. I would not be concerned with Dinos as the way i understand it all tanks have some amount of Dinos. Only become a problem when the tank conditions allow them to thrive. Rinsing the rock well with saltwater should remove most of them and then it is a matter of the conditions of the tank whether they exponentially increase in volume.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yes you can swish the rock around vigoriously in sw before placing in the new tank. This i deff recommend.
D

 

[Unregistered1]

I wouldnt worry about it much. No matter how careful and how much you dip corals and inspect rock. You will get some pests....its just the way life is

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I agree. Eventually your tank will level out with the pests or algae it needs.
E.g. u will end up with aptasia anyway. Is their any tank with out it?
D

 

[Unregistered1]

Only for a short while

u will end up with aptasia anyway. Is their any tank with out it?

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Definitely worth it. This trend of using dead rock, adding some bacteria and thinking it’s cycled brings all kinds of headaches.
Been using live rock for the last 20 years and not once have I had any catastrophic pests enter the system.
Aptasia and stuff sure, but people are acting that they are getting the thing from Alien with their rock

 

[mdb_talon]

I agree. Eventually your tank will level out with the pests or algae it needs.
E.g. u will end up with aptasia anyway. Is their any tank with out it?
D

Haha i dont want to jinx myself but yes i had a tank go almost three years without it(and was frequently adding coral). I QT everything though for at least a few weeks

 

[DonTavo27]

Keep it, like mentioned above, get a Tub and keep it going. It’s getting harder to find real live rock nowadays.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I hope to have a qt sytem to do this with. We will see. Fish only right now and they all have gone straight in

D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

People act like they cant rid the tank of a mantis shrimp or gorilla crab. Its the aptasia i dont want. Lol
D

 

[Jekyl]

I vote maturity and diversity over pests.

 

[davidcalgary29]

This is where I'm more in line with Paul B's way of doing things: I want as much microbial (and microfaunal) diversity as possible in my builds, and live rock is an excellent way of establishing that. I think that, if I do introduce some pathogen into my builds, there's a greater chance that it won't be able to establish a foothold in the tank if there's already a very healthy biome full of potential predators in it. And I know that aiptasia freaks out many people, but it just requires a bit of maintenance once a week. Maybe I should just call it a day and start dying mine pink or yellow and claim that they're a designer breed.

 

[Jekyl]

I sourced live rock from 4 different LFS when starting just for the diversity.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Pink and yellow aptasia. Theirs a picture.
D

 

[mdb_talon]

Maybe I should just call it a day and start dying mine pink or yellow and claim that they're a designer breed.

Only works if you have a good name for it also. Get some Ultra Fire Rainbow Fart aiptasia and the collectors will throw their wallets at you.

 

[Jekyl]

Only works if you have a good name for it also. Get some Ultra Fire Rainbow Fart aiptasia and the collectors will throw their wallets at you.

This

 

[davidcalgary29]

Pink and yellow aptasia. Theirs a picture.
D

Good god, it looks like this is actually a thing with other types of anemone. Wow.