Real Live Rock

  • Thread starter Thread starter JCM
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users None
BRS
Jump to Last
The KP Aquatics live rock showed up today. I am surprised how different they are. The KP rock has absolutely no macro algae and no clams. It's more porous and filled with tunnels, nooks, and crannies.

Within 2 minutes I had counted a pistol shrimp, 5 porcelain looking crabs, a red mithrax crab, a fat spined urchin, a few snails, and a bunch of tiny squigleys (flatworms? I don't know) all alive and well. I assume the gulf live rock normally has similar and they just didn't make the transit.

20210407_171047.jpg
20210407_171137.jpg

20210407_171548.jpg
20210407_171553.jpg



20210407_172025.jpg

20210407_172029.jpg

20210407_172031.jpg
20210407_172049.jpg
20210407_172419.jpg
 
Avast
Very cool! I like the no clams and no macro, at least for our reef purposes. I just see the clams as a ticking nitrate bomb, and the macro isnt what I want in a reef tank.

Any life start showing up on the GLR stuff?
 
reefinatl said:
Very cool! I like the no clams and no macro, at least for our reef purposes. I just see the clams as a ticking nitrate bomb, and the macro isnt what I want in a reef tank.

Any life start showing up on the GLR stuff?
Click to expand...

I agree, the clams make me nervous. I don't mind the macro so much as I assume herbivores will readily eat it.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
20210407_190535.jpg


Right in the middle of this first pic is a second mithrax crab hiding in a hole. Picking for food like nothing happened. The first already went in my sump. There's also a couple of these weird things. Sponges? Maybe I don't know

20210407_190719.jpg
20210407_190714.jpg
 
Possible cucumber, I had one come through in the GLR stuff. I found it at night freaked out killed it and solved the mystery later.

Mine was one of these guys, or very similar.
e524a56f1816618cdf6fec2985a240c8.jpg
 
reefinatl said:
Possible cucumber, I had one come through in the GLR stuff. I found it at night freaked out killed it and solved the mystery later.

Mine was one of these guys, or very similar.
e524a56f1816618cdf6fec2985a240c8.jpg
Click to expand...

Good call, even cooler I hope you're right. There are 3 or 4 of them.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
I think that’s a spaghetti worm. I have several of them in the KP rock that I got several weeks ago. Haven’t seen an entire worm but if I look at night with a flashlight I can see them reaching out from the rock work,
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
That KP looks really good! I have been planning to use them when the time comes to upgrade
 
rtparty said:
That KP looks really good! I have been planning to use them when the time comes to upgrade
Click to expand...
Theses are two of my KPA live rocks I got in Jan. They had good coraline then in two months just took pics now for you. You will see the difference, I will find the pics of these two rocks from Jan and post for you.
 

Attachments

  • 16179106890874944541031396870697.jpg
    16179106890874944541031396870697.jpg
    265.2 KB · Views: 69
  • 16179107082117438276541441761120.jpg
    16179107082117438276541441761120.jpg
    184.4 KB · Views: 74
  • 16179107274124314437599635849778.jpg
    16179107274124314437599635849778.jpg
    286 KB · Views: 69
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
KP rock with some dry rock that has been in my tank for about 6 week. Lots of coralline coverage Couldn’t be happier with it. I did pay extra to have it shipped in water.
624236F8-F3E3-4A5B-B5AD-98B652E49004.jpeg
F88E80DC-9B92-42A1-9FBF-8806D5F1E52D.jpeg
 
So I have converted to the live rock tribe. I have about 75lbs of marco rock for aquascaping but I still want some live rock for the biodiversity.

my question is do you all think something like 25 or 30lbs of live rock would be a good enough amount to bolster biodiversity and seed the rest of the rock work? As of now that’s about all I can afford if I go with overnight shipping and water. Ideally I could get more if I waited several months but my build is already 2 years in the making and I’m ready to get it set up.

side note, down the line I plan on adding more live rock from a different vendor to further bolster the biodiversity
 
Deltec
Micro-Reefs Aquarium said:
Theses are two of my KPA live rocks I got in Jan. They had good coraline then in two months just took pics now for you. You will see the difference, I will find the pics of these two rocks from Jan and post for you.
Click to expand...
They look great! I need to figure out a QT setup for it and get it in before my tank, stand and sump arrive. This will be a slow build for me. My 120 is rocking so I have no reason to rush anything
 
BeltedCoyote said:
So I have converted to the live rock tribe. I have about 75lbs of marco rock for aquascaping but I still want some live rock for the biodiversity.

my question is do you all think something like 25 or 30lbs of live rock would be a good enough amount to bolster biodiversity and seed the rest of the rock work? As of now that’s about all I can afford if I go with overnight shipping and water. Ideally I could get more if I waited several months but my build is already 2 years in the making and I’m ready to get it set up.

side note, down the line I plan on adding more live rock from a different vendor to further bolster the biodiversity
Click to expand...
That will be plenty IMO. I plan to do anywhere from 25-50% of my new tank as live rock. Might pull quite a bit from my 120 as well. It is close to 2 years old at this point
 
BeltedCoyote said:
So I have converted to the live rock tribe. I have about 75lbs of marco rock for aquascaping but I still want some live rock for the biodiversity.

my question is do you all think something like 25 or 30lbs of live rock would be a good enough amount to bolster biodiversity and seed the rest of the rock work? As of now that’s about all I can afford if I go with overnight shipping and water. Ideally I could get more if I waited several months but my build is already 2 years in the making and I’m ready to get it set up.

side note, down the line I plan on adding more live rock from a different vendor to further bolster the biodiversity
Click to expand...

I absolutely think it's worth doing. I'm happy with both of my purchases and glad I got rock from 2 different vendors. Can't have too much diversity right.
 
Nutramar Foods
rtparty said:
That will be plenty IMO. I plan to do anywhere from 25-50% of my new tank as live rock. Might pull quite a bit from my 120 as well. It is close to 2 years old at this point
Click to expand...

JCM said:
I absolutely think it's worth doing. I'm happy with both of my purchases and glad I got rock from 2 different vendors. Can't have too much diversity right.
Click to expand...


Thanks, since this is my first reef I’m very grateful for any insight I can glean from you older salts!

I think what I’ll end up doing is getting about 30 for the display and then another 10 or 20 from a different vendor for my sump....

Meme Think GIF
 
BeltedCoyote said:
Thanks, since this is my first reef I’m very grateful for any insight I can glean from you older salts!

I think what I’ll end up doing is getting about 30 for the display and then another 10 or 20 from a different vendor for my sump....

Meme Think GIF
Click to expand...

I would advise quarantining it in some way. There are a few hitch hikers you will want to avoid outside of the display if you can
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

New Posts

Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
TCK Corals
Nutramar Foods
Deltec
Top Shelf Aquatics
Chewy.com
World Wide Corals
Tidal Gardens
New Posts
Back
Top