Quarantine advice for live rock
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90 days if you don't want to cut corners. then you'd fallow anything added just the same to keep up that protection protocol.
45 days was the new recommend after 90 but that's a shorter time, so I wouldn't choose it, I'd go the extra mile considering how bad diseases are nowadays.
45 days was the new recommend after 90 but that's a shorter time, so I wouldn't choose it, I'd go the extra mile considering how bad diseases are nowadays.
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jonnywink
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Do I do any treatments besides just leaving in my QT? Any dips, etc? And can I have snails quarantining/shrimp in the same tank and at the same time, as long as they all start and end together?
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You can even QT it in a brute trash can with a pump and a heater. Dose ammonia and you will help it colonize cycle bacteria at the same time.
You talking real live rock, or dead/dry rock that is wet with some bacteria on it? Real live rock will need light during the process. The other can be done in a bucket. Heat, oxygenation is all that is needed.
If you have other tanks, juice from your fish food is a really good thing to add to the live rock curing station.
If you have other tanks, juice from your fish food is a really good thing to add to the live rock curing station.
LFS tells folks a lot of things. Got any photos?
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It is only “real live rock” if it was harvested from the ocean or one of the companies that puts rock in the ocean to farm live rock.
Today people call any rock that is wet and maybe has a bacterial colony live rock. But that is really just seeded dry rock. Or what we called base rock back in the day. True live rock will have life growing on it, macro algae, sponge, etc.
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The rock in my tanks has not been in the ocean for many decades, but it is full of pods, worms, sponges, etc. I consider it live. The stuff on my live rock would die without light. ...so it matters what kind it is.
Of course, rock that was recently from the ocean is usually live too.
Of course, rock that was recently from the ocean is usually live too.
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jonnywink
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No. Just recently started up the QT for inverts and LR, but haven’t put anything in it yet. Still cycling.
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Yes, I am not talking about adding life to it, but life that already comes attached to it.
My LFS has a huge tank in the floor with water flowing through it and they call it wet rock, I don’t know if they are feeding it to establish bacteria or not. But they will add their dry rock to it as it sells off.
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they don't have to feed it to establish bacteria. bacteria don't starve in water, in open-topped settings that exchange microcontaminations with the surrounding environment. remaining rock transmits the full cycling complement to that dry added rock in fifteen days just by sitting in the vat of water and existing cycled rocks.
if it comes wet from a pet store, it's skip cycle live rock that doesn't require cycling. it doesn't require confirmation either, because in 20 years of continually doing skip cycle reef setups across sites I've never seen a false sale of fake wet non cycled live rock. wet=cycled for 20 years straight. in under four months dry rocks put into mere saltwater alone, no feed no bottle bac, self cycle. see page 98-110 of Dr. Reefs bottle bac myth vs fact thread for MSteven1's documented unassisted cycle verification. cycles don't starve: they self-sustain and build as long as they're wet. slower, if unassisted but they still reach the finish line relative to the degree of surface area at hand.
if it comes wet from a pet store, it's skip cycle live rock that doesn't require cycling. it doesn't require confirmation either, because in 20 years of continually doing skip cycle reef setups across sites I've never seen a false sale of fake wet non cycled live rock. wet=cycled for 20 years straight. in under four months dry rocks put into mere saltwater alone, no feed no bottle bac, self cycle. see page 98-110 of Dr. Reefs bottle bac myth vs fact thread for MSteven1's documented unassisted cycle verification. cycles don't starve: they self-sustain and build as long as they're wet. slower, if unassisted but they still reach the finish line relative to the degree of surface area at hand.
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I don’t disagree with that, but it would depend on how fast they are turning it. Could only be in there for a day or two before someone buys it. And yes feeding speeds the process as more fuel (ammonia) is available to the bacteria.
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agreed but an additional factor: there are no examples of unready rock being sold as live from a pet store in all of reefing I've ever seen. it's a hinted risk that has never been seen/linkable from any thread. agreed I'm playing % risk but it's such a strong % risk due to never seeing one single linkable example in 20 years online. I have never seen a failed live rock transfer from a pet shop, of course I'm not validating anyone's api reading for the matter those are mixed up in way too many misread threads. I'm going off seneye uploads and then outcome in the aquariums on file regarding ability to carry life.
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jonnywink
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Oh, that sounds like what is at my LFS. I’ll have to have them clarify what it really is. Thanks for letting me know about this.
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If it's coming from a tank at the LFS that has fish and corals in it then yes you should quarantine it. Think of it like letting the rock lay fallow - you are just waiting for anything like velvet to die off. If it came from a big tub of wet rock then you should still quarantine it. There might still be unwanted things in there; generally those rocks are pretty sterile but contrary to what Brandon likes to post everywhere, he has not actually personally visited and audited every LFS on the planet so you really have no idea how long that rock has been wet or what it has been seeded with. They could have stuck it in there five minutes before you walked in the store. They could have broken down a customer's tank that was in the middle of a velvet outbreak and dumped all the rock in there. You just don't know. Frankly it's a waste - not only does it cost more per lb, but it weighs more because you're paying for the water too. But while you're quarantining it all you have to do to keep the bacteria alive is keep it wet. Ambient light is enough.
Unless you can source 'real' live rock (It does NOT need to come from the ocean. Any suitably mature and diverse tank is going to have all the microfauna you need) just get dry rock and a bottle. You'll end up in the same place and save a lot of money.
Unless you can source 'real' live rock (It does NOT need to come from the ocean. Any suitably mature and diverse tank is going to have all the microfauna you need) just get dry rock and a bottle. You'll end up in the same place and save a lot of money.
