Live Rock Hitchhikers / Cycling

[huckjai]

Hi everyone. I recently bought a display tank and stand from a seasoned reefer. Also bought live rock from him. He had the display tank running with just the live rock as he sold his live stock.

I currently have the rocks in a tub of saltwater with heater and circulation pump running.

I should have my tank fully set up to transfer the rocks from the tub in a couple of days.

How can I check the rocks for any potential bad Hitchhikers? Are they easy to spot?

Also, once I get the rocks into the display tank, when do I add fish in? Do I just check the water parameters after week, and if everything checks out, add one fish in to start? Or do I need to do something to cycle the new tank?

Thanks for the help. Sorry if these questions were asked before. I tried to do a search but all the threads were overwhelming.

 

[brandon429]

They're ready and they won't even have a partial cycle

The notion of mini cycles comes from API mis readings, live rock retains its bacteria as long as it stays wet. Even if you moved it to four new tanks over the next two weeks, it never dies or does anything other than take a new ride. Detritus is the risk of a cycle, if you don't move muddy waste among tanks in either the rock or sand then it doesn't cycle when you set up those rocks, they're currently ready. Hitchhikers you deal with as they arise, scrape them off outside the tank usually works vs tinkering with the water months hoping they'll die by starvation. If you think you might have an invader post pics

 

[huckjai]

Thanks Brandon. The rocks were transferred in salt water from the original tank in 5 gallons pails to the tub with fresh saltwater in my house. It was a 10 minute drive, so I'm sure there was minimal die off from the transfer.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed, since they already come from a small tank they're cured down of worms that might die etc.

have you seen that vid of me draining my reefbowl to the bare sand for thirty mins lol talk about a decent way to put money where mouth is
14 yr old corals air jerkied
You could have lifted the rock out of his tank, set it in your trunk, and waited up to an hour I'll bet and it still doesn't recycle. All the old info about live rock was wrong, we can demo

 

[huckjai]

Nope. Have not seen your video yet. Will check it out haha. Thanks!

 

[Nooooooooob1]

Nuke them. Dry them out, bleach them, wash them. Whatever you have to do. Who knows what pests were in his system. If your system is clean, don't risk infestation. I'm completely restarting my tank right now because I bought ready-to-go live rock for it and I've been invaded by worms and aiptasia and crap. It's a mess.

 

[huckjai]

Nuke them. Dry them out, bleach them, wash them. Whatever you have to do. Who knows what pests were in his system. If your system is clean, don't risk infestation. I'm completely restarting my tank right now because I bought ready-to-go live rock for it and I've been invaded by worms and aiptasia and crap. It's a mess.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I'm going to go ahead with the live rock. Hope your restart turns out fine.
Wish me luck on my start!

 

[BeejReef]

You'll never spot hitchhikers. I mean, you might find a crawler or two and pluck it off, but there's no point really.
You're getting his tank's microbiome, for better or for worse. Hopefully for the better

 

[Katrina71]

I would 100% welcome that rock. Most things are fine. A matter of preference. Aiptasia. You'll get them in on a frag in the future anyway. Not a big deal if you address them early.

 

[brandon429]

You get dinos + 27 people offering ideas on how to hopefully beat them if you use unlive rock
Both lfs rock or someone's sold live rock are risks, aiptasia v dinos easy choice

 

[LAReefer4Life]

You can use CORALRX and dip your rock but you will also kill beneficial hitchhikers such as copepods. here are some examples of bad hitchhikers that CoralRX with kill.

Bristleworm
Fireworms
Flatworms
Asterina Starfish
Crabs
Mantis


There are some additional hitchhikers that CORALRX wont have any impact on. I provided a few examples for you below. Scrape it off and manual kill yourself.

Aiptasia
Majano
Vermedit Snail

To answer your question about when the tank is ready to start housing livestock, I suggest waiting 30 days after all your test check out. It will cause you less stress down the road knowing your tank fully stabilized.