Use Coral Dip for Seed Rock?

[Fish76]

I have about 110lbs of base rock and I was gonna get a really small piece of live rock from my LFS to get things started. I'm a bit worried about introducing any type of pests or whatever, so was thinking to dip the small piece of rock in a coral dip, like Coral RX. What do you think? Is that stuff only for corals?

 

[Rob.D]

I've had the same thoughts when adding a small rock to fill in space in my display, I don;t think dipping the rock will kill off the bacteria that makes the rock "live" but most live rock is porous, so when dipping the rock in a product like ReVive/CoralRx the rock will soak in the dipping solution. If you want to dip the rock, I would suggest that you soak the rock afterward in a separate container, at least that way it dilute most of the solution, hopefully not contaminating your display.
I know that I have dipped frags that were on live rock plugs with Bayer and didn't rinse the frag enough, about an hour later I had a ton of dead bristle worms and amphipods floating around...a mistake I don't plan on making again...

 

[redfishbluefish]

You don't want to use any dip on live rock (or dead rock as well).

 

[Viracon13]

I'd be worried about any dip leaching into my tank after doing that. All those dips recommend rinsing a coral off to remove the dip before placing it in the tank. If you cycle the rocks in some plastic bins, you can give them a close inspection when moving them over to your display tank

 

[Fish76]

Ok thanks, I won't be dipping the rock then. There are a few pieces at my LFS that have colonies of zoas attached to small pieces of live rock, how would you do a dip on those? Just dip upside down and make sure the rock doesn't touch the dip?