KP Aquatics liverock thread

[PghReef]

My 30 lb order came in this morning from KPAquatics. This was my first time ever purchasing real liverock so I'm sure I'm in for a ton of surprises and will have lots f questions.

Work was shipped in damp paper. Packed around 5pm last night and in my curing tank by 10am today. I did do the hypersalinity dip but nothing came off or out. The rock did not have any stench to it and smelled fresh. Found a few larger mysis dead in the bag but that seems to be all that was dead.

Ton of color from purple to orange, which I understand is just the stresses coralline algae. Lot of little pieces of algae but nothing crazy. I found a few ceriths I could easily identify and some good bristleworms.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Pictures? Keep us posted if anything pops out!

 

[PghReef]

Pictures are terrible quality atm. Tank is an old 26 bowfront with a hob RO skimmer blowing crazy microbubbles and just a small regular t5 light.

What is this some sort of sponge?

 

[Thaxxx]

Yes pictures!
Yes a sponge.
I'll give it a official name...
MAGIC ERASER SPONGE!

 

[PghReef]

Heres what 30 lbs looks like. Just tossed it in and tried to scape it to allow good flow. Took 5 minutes very pleased how easy it is to scape.

 

[PghReef]

Yes pictures!
Yes a sponge.
I'll give it a official name...
MAGIC ERASER SPONGE!

I like it!

 

[PghReef]

The macro algae I mostly see is almost a see through green leafy algae. What is this? Also appears to be white wiry growth is that desd alger of some sort?

 

[Lizbeli]

I love my rock from them! It looks so beautiful when it first comes in. It does turn regular purple after a while. You can see my dry rock in the background covered diatoms. It really needed the diversity.

 

[PghReef]

I love my rock from them! It looks so beautiful when it first comes in. It does turn regular purple after a while. You can see my dry rock in the background covered diatoms. It really needed the diversity.

Looks beautiful. I dont see a ton or life outside of the algaes and the few hitchhikers I mentioned. I know a lot of people report corals, porcelain crabs, starfish, urchins, etc. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they start to come out of the rock. I see the fact that I only saw 2 large dead mysis in the bottom on the bag as a good sign everything else is alive and stayed in the rock.

 

[jda]

What you really need is going to be fine... the bacteria, phosphate free structure, microfauna, starfish, etc. The crabs and stuff on the coral is not where the prize is.

 

[Lizbeli]

Looks beautiful. I dont see a ton or life outside of the algaes and the few hitchhikers I mentioned. I know a lot of people report corals, porcelain crabs, starfish, urchins, etc. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they start to come out of the rock. I see the fact that I only saw 2 large dead mysis in the bottom on the bag as a good sign everything else is alive and stayed in the rock.

Dont worry, you will start to see new life even weeks after adding it to the tank. A lot of the good stuff hides deep in the rock during shipping. I found a baby pencil urchin just last week and my rock has been kn here for over six months. I watch my tank every night so I was surprised to see him. Maybe it was super tiny when it came in. Who knows!

 

[PghReef]

What you really need is going to be fine... the bacteria, phosphate free structure, microfauna, starfish, etc. The crabs and stuff on the coral is not where the prize is.

Agree 100%.

 

[PghReef]

What are the common algaes we see on this rock? Any that can become a nuisance later with corals and reeflighting?

 

[PghReef]

In assuming this is some kind of coral? Sorry for the blurry pictures. Also found a large feather duster.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I was super happy with my order from kp... The fact that I didn't get a lot of ancillary stuff was just fine by me. I was only after the bacteria and the coraline. That said, mission accomplished. Just wanting to avoid the start up uglies, so far so good.

 

[PghReef]

Been about 3 days since adding to the tank. Tank cleared pretty good within the first 24 hours. Ammonia was 2 yesterday so i did a 50% WC. Been dosing a double dose of prime daily to detoxify any ammonia as well.