Best Friend Found On Aussie Live Rock

[Asagi]

Did it look similar when it was submerged during the curing process? It really does seem like some sort of leather that would expand/open up if happy. A lot of leathers look vaguely like that when very unhappy, and it's likely been unhappy through this entire process. They're also pretty unkillable.

Also I totally get not wanting to go through a bunch of die off and ammonia directly in the tank. I am curious if the main reason to buy aussie live rock and treat it this way is the desire for the particular shape of the rock or the few living things that hitchhike in on it that are able to live through curing? Or is it a porosity thing? I guess I'm asking are things like these incredibly hardy hitchhikers the reason to go for this rock in your opinion or is it the rock itself that you think is worth the much higher price tag vs cured dry rock?

I’ll stick the rock in the display once I have zero ammonia reading in the bin, should only be a couple more days.

So the reason I wanted to find some non-cultured live rock is due to a thread I read in this very forum.

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

The rock I am curing would be considered “live-b” from this write up.

In the past we all started our tanks with ocean live rock (not “cultured” as they call it “live-a”). I wanted to inject my aquarium with additional beneficial bacteria that is not available in a bottle. This current tank is only about 13 months old, started with man made dry rock.

Read that write up. Good info.

 

[Cthulukelele]

I’ll stick the rock in the display once I have zero ammonia reading in the bin, should only be a couple more days.

So the reason I wanted to find some non-cultured live rock is due to a thread I read in this very forum.

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

The rock I am curing would be considered “live-b” from this write up.

In the past we all started our tanks with ocean live rock (not “cultured” as they call it “live-a”). I wanted to inject my aquarium with additional beneficial bacteria that is not available in a bottle. This current tank is only about 13 months old, started with man made dry rock.

Read that write up. Good info.

It's interesting, though I'm pretty curious how much bacterial diversity it will actually add to a 13 month old tank. In their survey they previously did and linked, established hobbyist tanks polled in a previous study averaged a similar bacterial diversity to what the live rock ended up with after a month. The diversity eventually reaches an equilibrium in both cases that peaks in the same range of unique bacterial strains. If this were done in the first few months I'd expect it to have a bigger impact, though it's an interesting question. Also did they cure the coral rubble they got from the live rock b group? It doesn't seem to mention that just that it's imported coral rubble. I imagine sitting in a big death soup is going to change the bacterial composition pretty drastically.

 

[Asagi]

It's interesting, though I'm pretty curious how much bacterial diversity it will actually add to a 13 month old tank. In their survey they previously did and linked, established hobbyist tanks polled in a previous study averaged a similar bacterial diversity to what the live rock ended up with after a month. The diversity eventually reaches an equilibrium in both cases that peaks in the same range of unique bacterial strains. If this were done in the first few months I'd expect it to have a bigger impact, though it's an interesting question. Also did they cure the coral rubble they got from the live rock b group? It doesn't seem to mention that just that it's imported coral rubble. I imagine sitting in a big death soup is going to change the bacterial composition pretty drastically.

All very interesting for sure.

The death soup has been 100% changed everyday adding fresh salt water.

maybe I’ll add the softie to the display today.

 

[Dburr1014]

Could be a ball anenome, maybe aptaisia.

 

[mww00ds]

Would it be possible to get a picture of your watery friend in some water. That would help is determining what it is. This way we can all see the rough size and shape of him. From what I can tell from your pics it looks like either some kind of nem or a mushroom coral

 

[Asagi]

Would it be possible to get a picture of your watery friend in some water. That would help is determining what it is. This way we can all see the rough size and shape of him. From what I can tell from your pics it looks like either some kind of nem or a mushroom coral

Man it looks the exact same in and out of the water. Hahaha

 

[mww00ds]

From what I can tell In every photo it looks deflated and that makes it hard to tell any kind of distinguishing marks or tentacles that would help us identify it. Does it fluoresce under blue lights? And if so what colors/ patterns?

 

[Asagi]

From what I can tell In every photo it looks deflated and that makes it hard to tell any kind of distinguishing marks or tentacles that would help us identify it. Does it fluoresce under blue lights? And if so what colors/ patterns?

No, there is zero GFP in this thing. It’s in my sump now, let me see if I can an underwater pic.

 

[vetteguy53081]

better Image

Hard to tell from this pic between the heavy blue and reflection from lights

 

[Asagi]

Hard to tell from this pic between the heavy blue and reflection from lights

So those white squares are actually a pattern on the thing

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like a goniastrea or maze coral at first glance

 

[Asagi]

Thanks guys I appreciate the feedback. Fun stuff

 

[Asagi]

Wow this forum is so heavily moderated now. What’s up?

 

[JAS927]

If it doesn’t move and looks the same underwater I’d say some sort of sponge

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Wow this forum is so heavily moderated now. What’s up?

I believe there have been several pretty spicy debates as of late, so the team is kind of on high alert...

 

[littlefoxx]

@ISpeakForTheSeas might know

 

[KrisReef]

I believe there have been several pretty spicy debates as of late, so the team is kind of on high alert...

I have been working a lot lately and I feel like I missed the action.

The OP’s picture looks like a soft coral with the white structures being the spicules( hope I spelt that right) or the internal skeletal structure that soft coral has?

Maybe a leather of some sort.

I have had a few coral hitchhiking on fresh Aussie rock, palys, and a few sps that lived.

 

[littlefoxx]

I believe there have been several pretty spicy debates as of late, so the team is kind of on high alert...

That!

 

[Asagi]

I have been working a lot lately and I feel like I missed the action.

The OP’s picture looks like a soft coral with the white structures being the spicules( hope I spelt that right) or the internal skeletal structure that soft coral has?

Maybe a leather of some sort.

I have had a few coral hitchhiking on fresh Aussie rock, palys, and a few sps that lived.

Wow even SPS?! That’s too cool

 

[Asagi]

I believe there have been several pretty spicy debates as of late, so the team is kind of on high alert...

That’s lame. Anybody remember reef central? The mods were answering these kinds of questions.