KP Aquatic live rock question

Brooks Allman · Jun 23, 2020

Thanks for the response everyone! Also, I clicked on the emergency section and posted a thread there without being forum savvy or remembering that it was 2020. Im terribly sorry to have offended so many people.

VR28man · Jun 23, 2020

Brooks Allman said:
Thanks for the response everyone! Also, I clicked on the emergency section and posted a thread there without being forum savvy or remembering that it was 2020. Im terribly sorry to have offended so many people.

No worries at all. Everyone pressez wrong buttonz sometymes.........

Fishbird · Jun 23, 2020

You're fine. I have some KP rock and I love it. I cured mine under lights in a separate 10 gallon. I did aggressive water changes and as far as I can tell everything that survived the trip to my house survived the cure/cycle.

(Also, if you ever get a rude comment again you can hover your mouse over the poster's name and click "see all posts". At least in the case of one of the people on this thread, many/most of their posts are just them logging in to tell people that they aren't actually experiencing an emergency, but not offering any constructive advice. It's not personal to you.)

Brooks Allman · Jun 23, 2020

Fishbird said:
You're fine. I have some KP rock and I love it. I cured mine under lights in a separate 10 gallon. I did aggressive water changes and as far as I can tell everything that survived the trip to my house survived the cure/cycle.

(Also, if you ever get a rude comment again you can hover your mouse over the poster's name and click "see all posts". At least in the case of one of the people on this thread, many/most of their posts are just them logging in to tell people that they aren't actually experiencing an emergency, but not offering any constructive advice. It's not personal to you.)

How long did you cure yours for?

VR28man · Jun 23, 2020

Brooks Allman said:
How long did you cure yours for?

I kept my newspaper rock in saltwater for about 1-2 weeks, until ammonia levels and the smell died down. I would not bother with this in a new tank and would just add it, though I would give it a good shakearound to get out potentially unwelcome hitchikers. (or, more accurately, residents we want to evict, that is animals that chose to not escape - minimizing thier chances of becoming fishfood or suddenly having to fight another animal from their home - when we hauled their homes out of the ocean, and that we now don't want)

If I bought it wet I honestly would not worry about cycling/curing/whatever at all, especially in a new tank.

Midrats · Jun 23, 2020

I prefer KP's site over Tampa Bay's. Too many barnacles on the latter.

Bluedore · Jun 23, 2020

I got 25lbs from KP two weeks ago shipped in water, for this order the price is cheaper then shipped in wet towel. The rocks came in looking real great, lots of life(crabs, shrimp, urchins, bristle star, worms, snails, hermits, clam/mussel but NO aptisas) and 4-5 different color corallines. I dipped in higher salinity according their site instructions to remove unwanted pest and keeping the ones I want. But still found 2 gorilla crabs during the curing stage. Ammonia was at 2 for the first day or two but by day 5 or 6 ammonia is already at 0. If choosing ship in water, may want to let them know if you want all rocks fully cover in water. My was maybe cover 85-90% water and damp towel on top. I think Phillipp was trying to save me some money and just got the weight to around 50lbs, the minimum for Southwest charge. But if I had known I don’t mind paying the extra 10-15 lb of water to have them fully cover(Southwest charges $1.05 per lb with minimum 50lb to my airport). This way I don’t think I would need curing at all with probably no die off. I would definitely recommend them and will order again in the future.

Fishbird · Jun 23, 2020

Mine was shipped damp in paper towel and I got it the morning after it was shipped. I did 100% water changes for the first 3 days and then I did 30% (ish) water changes for a couple of days and then every other day and after a few every other day water changes I dropped to one a week 10% water changes. I didn’t add fish to my tank for six weeks or so. I definitely could have done so earlier, but they were still in QT.

Aquavaj · Jun 23, 2020

Also I believe TB only ships air freight due to shipping with water so you'll have to pick it up at the airport. Shipping will be based on the airline's rate. KP can ship wet through air freight as well as overnight to your door with UPS. Overnight will only be wrapped in wet brown paper.

Keithb22 · Jun 23, 2020

Love my KP and quarantined it for about 10 days or until everything stabilized. Didn’t find any aptasia or gorilla crabs. But occasionally when I walk by the tank I hear a snap so maybe a mantis found its way but doesn’t seem to of bother any thing. I did a thread about the process if you’d like to take a look. Can’t say enough great things about the whole KP experience. Loved everything about it.

hoju74 · Jun 23, 2020

One week for me today and my ammonia is coming down. Just waiting for the nitrite to come down. Spotted a couple urchins cruising on the rock, so more things are making their appearance.

VR28man · Jun 23, 2020

Keithb22 said:
But occasionally when I walk by the tank I hear a snap so maybe a mantis found its way but doesn’t seem to of bother any thing.

People have said that these snaps are from small clams on the rock. My rock had a good number of these clams, and I'd hear these snaps with some frequency, but I am sure there were no mantises or pistol shrimps (at least when I was regularly hearing the snaps!)

TBS ID's them as "jewel box clams" but I'm not so sure that ambiguous common name can correlate to a known species. Maybe @liverock can help....

Keithb22 · Jun 23, 2020

VR28man said:
People have said that these snaps are from small clams on the rock. My rock had a good number of these clams, and I'd hear these snaps with some frequency, but I am sure there were no mantises or pistol shrimps (at least when I was regularly hearing the snaps!)

TBS ID's them as "jewel box clams" but I'm not so sure that ambiguous common name can correlate to a known species. Maybe @liverock can help....

Phew, that’s a bit of a relief lol

fishface NJ · Jun 23, 2020

Katrina71 said:
Has anyone ever had a DT without at least one aiptasia?

Never had them and I hope it continues. I have been quarantining since I stated in 2010.

liverock · Jun 25, 2020

VR28man said:
People have said that these snaps are from small clams on the rock. My rock had a good number of these clams, and I'd hear these snaps with some frequency, but I am sure there were no mantises or pistol shrimps (at least when I was regularly hearing the snaps!)

TBS ID's them as "jewel box clams" but I'm not so sure that ambiguous common name can correlate to a known species. Maybe @liverock can help....

If you have not seen any mantis scooting around, then it is a pistol shrimp that live within the rock, you will never see them....they are like a 1/4 inch long....have claws like a Maine lobster, and make the HUGE POP with the larger claw as a defense mechanism. Harmless cool critters.....just make noise!

VR28man · Jun 25, 2020

liverock said:
If you have not seen any mantis scooting around, then it is a pistol shrimp that live within the rock, you will never see them....they are like a 1/4 inch long....have claws like a Maine lobster, and make the HUGE POP with the larger claw as a defense mechanism. Harmless cool critters.....just make noise!

Thanks Rich..... I knew you would probably know and you didn't disappoint! Interesting, yes I haven't seen any such shrimp before. They must hide very well. I'd also guess that even if well fed, they had a lifespan of like a year or so and will gradually disappear from the rock....assuming their larva are unable to grow.

Tanggy · Jul 1, 2020

I am in the process of replacing all my old "live rock" (which I bought from LFS) 2 years ago. KP is awesome. I replaced 1/3rd of the live rock each time. Takes about 10-14 days for the rocks to be fully cured (ammonia reading 0 for 3-4 days). In total I order about 55 lbs from them. No aptasia. Only a few bubble algae I noted on some of the rocks.

Johniejumbo · Jul 1, 2020

I got some from Gulfliverock about a year ago and it’s good rock. Lots of life and diversity. Even though it got stuck in shipping for a few days it bounced back nicely after curing it for a couple of weeks. I’d order from them again.

SuaSponte · Jul 1, 2020

Using live rock is great for a variety of reasons, but be aware there are some pests that are very difficult to remove once introduced into your system -- I'm primarily speaking about cirolanid isopods. I ordered 40 pounds of live rock from KP at the beginning of this year (during the winter), and my tank is still fallow due to the initial healthy cirolanid population on the rock. If you go the live rock route, I strongly suggest you do a hypersalinity dip/soak of the rock and cure for a week or two outside of your DT. I would also make sure to use a bottle trap during the curing process to see if any parasitic isopods are present.