KP Aquatics Live Rock Review 2020

[IKD]

Found a new hitchhiker tonight. Posting in the ID forum but I’ll throw it up here as I’ll try to get pics at night. Gonna set my LED to run the reds from 12-1am so I can sneak around and try to find some neat stuff.

lemme know if you all recognize this - no identifiable head and moved exactly like an earthworm.

Looks like a peanut worm

 

[Creggers]

Got a few shots of some life on the rock tonight.. Also noticed that somehow a featherduster made it down to the sump and found a home in my Chaeto!

Cycle is done - gonna continue to broadcast feed and set up some traps as I saw a tiny crab tonight that I’d like to identify / banish to the sump.

first a daylight shot - I have a few of these in here little clear anemone like critters on the rock. Any idea what this is?

Here’s a picture of Mr. Crab II - he’s about the size of a thumbnail
Also pictured is something I can’t ID - little white ant hill like structure with long strings that come out at night. Some kind of friendly worm I hope?

Mr crab eating something (video)

One of the at least three urchins. I’m fairly certain this is a pencil which I understand are not really reed safe. Keeping an eye on them and I’ll try to sump them if I can ever get them in the open. Thoughts?

Two photos of the bristle worms. At first I was worried that they were fire worms but after some time on google I confirmed that they were bristles
Guest appearance by one of the literal hundred starfish. At this point it’s safe to say I got about infinity brittle stars. To the point where I will probably need to provide them some kind of food to avoid a huge die off / ammonia event.

 

[Snoopdog]

Your clear anemone like thing is just a sponge

 

[Thaxxx]

I live in Florida and am planning on renting a van, putting a bunch of plastic bins in the back and running down to pick up a bunch of this rock and bring it back to the Tampa Bay area in water once my new tank arrives. Awesome to hear you've had a good experience!

You might want to check on Gulf Live Rock in Tampa.
They have premium live rock at great prices.

 

[IKD]

Agree that is a pencil urchin. I have a few also. They are not considered Reef safe but they are so slow moving they can be removed if they cause trouble.

 

[Foothill Corals]

That worm on the left in the last pic looks like a Eunice worm. I would work on removing that. You may want to dip your rock in a high salinity bath to get out the hitch hikers then put back the good ones you want.

 

[Creggers]

That worm on the left in the last pic looks like a Eunice worm. I would work on removing that. You may want to dip your rock in a high salinity bath to get out the hitch hikers then put back the good ones you want.

That’s actually one of the brittle starfish. It’s hard to tell in the picture but it’s just one of the arms of the starfish.

 

[Foothill Corals]

Awesome!

Nice rock, I am getting ready to start up another tank and am debating Dry Fiji or KP or a mix of both.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I ordered 65lbs around early June I think. They shipped on time and I received the product as anticipated. Well packaged and in great condition. The rock cycled as anticipated. Very happy with my purchase.

 

[Creggers]

Awesome!

Nice rock, I am getting ready to start up another tank and am debating Dry Fiji or KP or a mix of both.

So far the mix has been a solid plan. I used most of the dry to set up a base for the live to sit on. I’ve already seen some life in the dead rock, starfish and the like. It’s funny cause I’m getting the uglies on the dry and glass but the live rock looks perfect.

 

[Tired]

The anemone-thing does look like a sponge to me, agreed with the above.

Your anthill with antennae looks like a spaghetti worm. Great detritivores. They may annoy any corals right next to them by touching the corals, but are generally considered to be harmless.

The crab looks like maybe an emerald crab? At that size, no matter what the species is, it can't do any harm. Definitely find out what it is in case it gets big, but no need to worry about him.

The bristleworms are just that, yep. They freak people out, but they're very useful.

Nice find on the brittle stars! How big are they? You could always trap some out and give them away. I'd definitely start feeding, though, you don't want all those good scavengers to starve.

I'd be interested to see a few pics, in a week or so, of the difference in algae growth between the dry and live rock. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what it's going to look like (pest algae running wild over all the free real estate, maybe the start of non-pest algae catching up, and the live rock probably looking mostly unchanged), but it'd be cool to see it illustrated in the same tank.

A mix of dry and live rock is great. Dry for all the cool shapes and the ease of scaping, live for the critters. It's what I'm going with when I can eventually set up a bigger tank. I went with all live for my current tank, but it's a pico, so there wasn't really space for both!

 

[Creggers]

The anemone-thing does look like a sponge to me, agreed with the above.

Your anthill with antennae looks like a spaghetti worm. Great detritivores. They may annoy any corals right next to them by touching the corals, but are generally considered to be harmless.

The crab looks like maybe an emerald crab? At that size, no matter what the species is, it can't do any harm. Definitely find out what it is in case it gets big, but no need to worry about him.

The bristleworms are just that, yep. They freak people out, but they're very useful.

Nice find on the brittle stars! How big are they? You could always trap some out and give them away. I'd definitely start feeding, though, you don't want all those good scavengers to starve.

I'd be interested to see a few pics, in a week or so, of the difference in algae growth between the dry and live rock. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what it's going to look like (pest algae running wild over all the free real estate, maybe the start of non-pest algae catching up, and the live rock probably looking mostly unchanged), but it'd be cool to see it illustrated in the same tank.

A mix of dry and live rock is great. Dry for all the cool shapes and the ease of scaping, live for the critters. It's what I'm going with when I can eventually set up a bigger tank. I went with all live for my current tank, but it's a pico, so there wasn't really space for both!

That’s the plan! The whole point of this thread is to consolidate my experience with Live Rock and how it matures over the first months in the tank. Hopefully it can serve as a resource for folks considering this as an option.

I’m going to pick up some plankton and frozen mysis to feed nightly. Also need something to bait my traps! I hear a lot of clicking in the tank, far more than the pistol in my pico tank. I’m thinking I have a few pistols in there, and at least one mantis.

 

[Tired]

I know they scare people, but pistols and mantises are cool. Is your sump viable as a sorta-display if you get something really neat, that you actually want to watch?

I only have one pistol shrimp (and some sort of mystery very-soft-clicking), but I hear a lot of clicking some nights. They can make a ton of noise if something is bothering them. Mine clicked almost constantly for about 10 minutes once, until I figured out that one of my shed hairs had gotten into its burrow and it was trying and failing to deal with that.

 

[shred5]

This is most likely a Spionidae Worm but it is possibly a spaghetti worm. They are closely related and beneficial.

As far the crab I would get a better shot because it may need to go. It could possibly eat allot of what is beneficial on your rock. To me it looks like a possible emerald crab which would not be to bad, I am just not a fan of crabs

 

[KJoFan]

I'd be interested to see a few pics, in a week or so, of the difference in algae growth between the dry and live rock. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what it's going to look like (pest algae running wild over all the free real estate, maybe the start of non-pest algae catching up, and the live rock probably looking mostly unchanged), but it'd be cool to see it illustrated in the same tank.

I set up my tank back in May with all KP Aquatics Live Rock. I opted to have mine shipped in water via air freight. I have had zero pest algae in the nearly four months I've had the rock/tank going. I am very pleased with this as a large part of the reason I went this route with this tank was because I had zero luck with dry rock in my last tank and green hair algae ran rampant on that dry rock after a time.

 

[shred5]

I know they scare people, but pistols and mantises are cool. Is your sump viable as a sorta-display if you get something really neat, that you actually want to watch?

I only have one pistol shrimp (and some sort of mystery very-soft-clicking), but I hear a lot of clicking some nights. They can make a ton of noise if something is bothering them. Mine clicked almost constantly for about 10 minutes once, until I figured out that one of my shed hairs had gotten into its burrow and it was trying and failing to deal with that.

Pistols are fine but a mantis would need to go.. They will eat snails and if hungry enough go after fish when sleeping. I had a mantis for years in one reef but he was super small. Problem since a pistol almost makes the same noise of a mantis some people freak out thinking they have a mantis.

Pistol shrimp seem very common in Florida rock.. All the live rock I have bought from so many places I have only got a few mantis shrimp and usually the green type. My last batch of Florida rock I got a mantis and he was small. Very easy to catch once I saw him, I just took the rock out of the water and he crawled out.

 

[Creggers]

Pistols are fine but a mantis would need to go.. They will eat snails and if hungry enough go after fish when sleeping. I had a mantis for years in one reef but he was super small. Problem since a pistol almost makes the same noise of a mantis some people freak out thinking they have a mantis.

Pistol shrimp seem very common in Florida rock.. All the live rock I have bought from so many places I have only got a few mantis shrimp and usually the green type. My last batch of Florida rock I got a mantis and he was small. Very easy to catch once I saw him, I just took the rock out of the water and he crawled out.

I saw the mantis shrimp, he was about an inch or so and all black. I do plan on baiting a trap and catching him and whatever other crabs I can over the next week. I would prefer the mantis gone just because I don't want to lose all of the beneficial hitchhikers to a predator. I don't know if they eat brittle stars or anything like that and given his size I don't know how much damage he can do, but as he grows I'm sure he'll become a tyrant.

I'm not a huge fan of crabs either, I have a red emerald crab in the sump right now who's made a home in my chaeto. If I catch other small crabs / mantis I'll toss them in the sump until I find them a proper home. I'm not interested in killing anything that I got in the rock - I picked up their home and moved it 12 hours away, the least I could do is give them a chance at life. Only thing I wouldn't attempt to save is a fireworm if I god forbid found one, that'd get a freshwater dip.

 

[Tired]

Oh, yeah, definitely take the mantis out. It'd just be neat to put it elsewhere and watch it. But at that size, he's not going to be an issue for awhile, so you have plenty of time to get him out via a bottle trap. Might be able to find him a home, too, people like mantises.

I'm not sure much of anything eats brittle stars at a high rate. Something must, but they don't exactly seem... edible. Like a walking bit of gristle.

 

[Creggers]

So after about 12 days in my tank I feel comfortable doing an update to my 9/1 post below:

9/11 impressions - two weeks in

1. My overall impression at the time of posting
   • I'm going to keep this at a 9.5/10 - overall still very happy with my decision
2. Cycling
   • Calling it complete after six days, I'll give this a 8/10 only because I chose the same day shipping option, from a cycling standpoint I do not thing this improved my overall cycle time in any meaningful way
3. Coralline Algae coverage / coloration
   • Coralline coverage has not changed, I did have some bleaching and spots die off, but overall 10/10 would recommend (Don't think this had anything to do with shipping method)
4. Hitchhikers list as of 9/11 (this is 100% due to the shipping method chosen and IMHO 100% worth the price)
   • Yellow / Red / Orange / Clear sponge all alive as of 9/11
   • Two Pistol Shrimp
   • One mantis shrimp
   • Spaghetti worms
   • uncountable amount of brittle starfish, ranging from juveniles to adults
   • Multiple pencil urchins
   • Bristleworms
   • Red Emerald Crab
   • Unidentified baby crab
   • Peanut worms
   • One large featherduster with two plumes
   • Approximately 10 smaller featerdusters that I've seen throughout the rock
5. Photos of rocks / hitchhikers
   
   
   

 

[Creggers]

Bristleworms or Fireworms? It's so hard for me to get a positive ID on these guys and there's a lot of misinformation out there.