Reef nutrition

Live rock for newbies

Turkeysammich

Turkeysammich

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Hello.
I thought I would try this here. As I’ve seen some people do it in LA. I have a 40 gallon breeder that I keep live rock in. I throw easy corals in there. It’s a stable system. It’s been running for 6 months or so.
So anytime I run across rock I will put it in there. Then when we get beginners or newbie start up. I can give them a nice size rock to seed their aquarium. Or lI can give them rocks or trade them for dead rock.
What do you think ? Is it worth the effort ?
 
If you enjoy having it around for your stated purpose then yes. Being able to give new folks a hand is one of the reasons many of us enjoy any hobby. Sharing your passion.

I think if you have the space and resources it's also great to have around if you have to redo a tank from scratch due to a particularly nasty parasite or other burn it to the ground event.
 
I’d be concerned with handing a newbie rock that is sprinkled in aiptasia, green hair algea, flat worms, vermatids or other relatively common nuisance pests. Seems to be much more of this stuff passed around the Bay Area than I had ever experienced in my several years in the hobby north of the border. I know there no such thing as perfect rock, but chatting with a few newer reefers, a bad batch of “seeding rock” is a recipe for an early exit from the hobby for some.

If there was some effort put into maintaining the rock in good shape, I think this is a great idea.
 
I think it’s a great idea and I also agree with the caveats from @B the Nano Reefer that if you are going to be sharing rock from there you need to be very confident that there are no pests in it. To me, in a perfect situation, that would include not keeping coral or fish in there, so that nothing that comes along with them is in there on the rock. Unfortunately that also makes it boring…
 
B the Nano Reefer said:
I’d be concerned with handing a newbie rock that is sprinkled in aiptasia, green hair algea, flat worms, vermatids or other relatively common nuisance pests. Seems to be much more of this stuff passed around the Bay Area than I had ever experienced in my several years in the hobby north of the border. I know there no such thing as perfect rock, but chatting with a few newer reefers, a bad batch of “seeding rock” is a recipe for an early exit from the hobby for some.

If there was some effort put into maintaining the rock in good shape, I think this is a great idea.
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Agree any live rock from tanks or the Florida sellers can have every pests..We dip corals in such but don't dip live rocks. I as well now always have 60#+ of live rock soaking in the garage like phc567 with heater and powerheads which are loaded with pods..I added some zoas the pods had a munching buffet of which I've never seen before lol never touching the large colony of ugly paleys or sps ..Planing on adding a wrasse or green clown goby in there for some control and maybe a pipe fish. But that still doesn't guarantee total irradiation of all..Just to many variables keeping any tank sterilized of pests. But I've gone through alot of either purchased or handed down great live rock without getting any pests in the last 5 years that I've noticed or maybe the wrasses and other fish keep issues at bay..For myself I'd rather take the live rock risks gaining more types of beneficial bacteria/sponges, the cool yellow blue snot lol, in such but it always goes first into the garage tank or HD bins for several months. I'm in no rush tossing it into a dt..
 
So my rock goes into a covered dark bin first for 90 days with nothing else then into a garage tank with wrasses in such for observation before I add to a DT...Just wondering how long does it take for pest bugs to starve in a covered bin with rock? Ick is about 90 days to be safe just don't know about all the other pests?
 
Well. My buddy in LA just adds it to his 600 gallon system. So he trade live for dead. Or he will give you a piece. I was thinking. A aquarium separate from my system. Trade live for dead rock. No fish. Just softies coral in there. No light. Aquarium set at 70*. And a pump. Yeah there’s Aiptasia. But your gonna get that anyway.
@PjFish. Leaving rock in your garage in a closed bin for months and months on end. Is called cooking rock. It was popular about 15 years ago. I’ve done it. Aiptasia still survived. It was clear when I took it out. But it was still alive.
 
It’s very true that Aiptasia and some other pests are real hard to avoid in this hobby, but it’s another thing entirely to give a newbie rocks known to have them to start their system, in my opinion.

You can definitely kill off Aiptasia (and likely all other pests) by letting the rocks/tank/equipment completely dry out, outside in the sun, for a couple weeks or more. People joke around that they are indestructible, but as someone who actively raises them I can tell you they are not. Then if you restart the rock donor tank with just these sterilized rocks and equipment, maybe with bottled bacteria to jump start, and don’t add rocks/coral directly from another system without sterilizing them, you can keep Aiptasia and other stuff out. It’s a lot of effort though.

If someone were to volunteer to maintain this I’d be happy to donate sterilized rock and coral skeletons to the project.
 
grizfyrfyter said:
A trash can with water, rocks, heater and pump is the way to go. Any livestock or lights is just a recipe for some kind of hitchhiker.
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Heater is unnecessary. Nitrifying bacteria can handle a wide range of temperatures.

phc567 said:
Aquarium set at 70*. And a pump. Yeah there’s Aiptasia. But your gonna get that anyway.
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Not true at all. I have had 5 separate systems running for multiple years. Of those 5, I only managed to get aiptasia in one of them. The longest has been running for almost 6 years.

JVU said:
If someone were to volunteer to maintain this I’d be happy to donate sterilized rock and coral skeletons to the project.
Click to expand...

I have rock that has been sitting in my garage that has never seen any light, any coral, or livestock except seeded bacteria from a bottle, live rubble from aquabiomics and pods from Reef Nutrition. Pods are probably dead by now though. Runs with a lid and a small pump (no heat or light) and has been running for over a year. If someone wants to keep a storage bin of rocks for distribution I’m happy to provide a clean source of bacteria.
 
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When I first started a tank with only a few corals I was fascinated with aptaisa and zoa eating nudi that matched the color of whatever zoa they were munching or stn/rtn. Having those first off as a beginner made me research more gaining better knowledge and practices how to deal with them. I didn't or don't see them as pests really just life's way of survival just amazing!!.Glad I learned from experience in the beginning verses full stocked tank then (OMG what do I have eating expensive coral!) I'm always learning which only 5 years in I still think I'm such a newbie lol..The Bod and members in our club are a timeless wealth of knowledge and help which makes the hobby so much more rewarding and enjoyable Thanks everyone!!
 
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