Quarantine Seed Live Rock

[funguyatnight]

I want to start my new reef tank with dry rock then seed it with 5lb of live rock. What is the safest method of introducing the live rock to the tank t minimize non-beneficial stuff to the tank? Can you quarantine the 5lb of live rock in some way to make it safer?

 

[veselym]

for stuff like aiptasia yes but flatworms, isopods and smaller creatures that are mobile could make it up in the display if you put it in your sump...you might be able to use a separate tank but would have to sit and watch forever to find things

from my experience's with purchasing LR, I will only do dry rock from now on to avoid such issues...what makes a rock "live" is the bacteria that forms on it, not critters and such

 

[HWDylan]

I went the dry rock route too to avoid unwanted hitchhikers.

All live rock needs is heat and saltwater to live so I would just put it in a bucket or a small tank for a while and watch it if you want to make sure nothing is on it.

It is going to be hard to be 100% sure though. Some stuff is really good at hiding in live rock.

 

[PatW]

You could run the live rock in a QT for something over 6 weeks. I would think that most diseases and obligate pests would perish by that time for lack of a host. You migjt get something. But you should get most of the beneficial critters. So it is a trade off. Getting your live rock from a very reputable source would help.