I am the bristleworm destroyer!

[BUDgetREEFer]

Hi, recently joined a week or so ago and I have came to the conclusion, I dont want anything in my tank I didn't put there.

Noticed I had several bristle worms in my 40 breeder and decided to quarantine each rock into 5 gal buckets and soaked them in tap water and some Bayer overnight. The next morning I shake the rocks in the water and give a generous rinse from the hose. After a few mins their bloated bodies floated to the surface. I've been soaking them in tap water without Bayer for a couple days and was wondering how long would it take for the Bayer in the rocks to come out clean with no Bayer in it.

Also I really did this rock quarantine bc I found a inch long bobbitworm breaking the rock to enlarge its borrow, and I havent found his body yet. Any suggestions to get the remaining unwanted pests that might have died in the rock? I think if I leave it there long enough the body would decompose and just dissolve? I'm not sure.

Does anyone know when Petco is going to do their $1/gallon sale again?!?!?! I've been waiting since November.

 

[Jesterrace]

I think February or March is the next sale. Incidentally you just reminded me why I didn't put regular live rock in my tank (use the Life Rock). No amount of beneficial filtration is worth a bobbit worm. :P

 

[BUDgetREEFer]

I think February or March is the next sale. Incidentally you just reminded me why I didn't put regular live rock in my tank (use the Life Rock). No amount of beneficial filtration is worth a bobbit worm. :P

Here's some more when I just rinsed the other rocks

 

[DSC reef]

Those are all bristleworms not bobbit worms, good clean up crew. That's part of a diversity you want in the tank.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You never, ever want to put rock in any coral dip. The dip is absorbed into the rock and will take forever to leach out. You won't be able to put CUC in your tank for who knows how long.

As far as soaking in water, that will kill everything....including the beneficial bacteria. You now have "dead" rock that now needs to be cured before going into an existing DT. Curing allows all that dead stuff to decay and leach out of the rock (outside your DT), where multiple water changes will remove the nitrates and phosphates leaching from the decaying matter.

If you don't want the life on living rock, buy dry "dead" rock and start fresh with a rock cure and cycle.

Oh, and welcome to R2R....you'll find a whole bunch of useful information on this website.

 

[BUDgetREEFer]

You never, ever want to put rock in any coral dip. The dip is absorbed into the rock and will take forever to leach out. You won't be able to put CUC in your tank for who knows how long.

As far as soaking in water, that will kill everything....including the beneficial bacteria. You now have "dead" rock that now needs to be cured before going into an existing DT. Curing allows all that dead stuff to decay and leach out of the rock (outside your DT), where multiple water changes will remove the nitrates and phosphates leaching from the decaying matter.

If you don't want the life on living rock, buy dry "dead" rock and start fresh with a rock cure and cycle.

Oh, and welcome to R2R....you'll find a whole bunch of useful information on this website.

Thanks for the welcome!
dang, that's what I figured with the Bayer and rocks. Good thing I bought some dry live rock. I dont need to cycle the new dry rock do i? Bc it doesn't have anything living on it to die? The original rock was a steal at $1/lb. I plan on leaving the Bayer rocks in the buckets until the smell goes away with doing full tap water changes every other day. Is there any other way to rinse the old rocks I have with the Bayer to get the Bayer off? I only let it sit in there for a hour and did a thorough rinse and it had been soaking for a week now.

 

[redfishbluefish]

The new dry rock needs to be cured. You don't see it because it looks like clean rock, but in the rock is dead stuff, like bacteria, and other microbes, that need to decay and leach out of the rock. You can monitor this decay by looking at phosphate and nitrate levels. Once it starts to drop, the rock is cured. Typically a month or two and you're set. The good news is that the cycle typically occurs while the rock is being cured. Hope this helps.

The "dipped" rock is rock I'd probably never use again. No idea how long it would take to leach out all the Bayer that's in that rock.

 

[andrewkw]

Seems like pretty extreme steps to go to, just so you can remove valued cleanup crew members.

 

[BUDgetREEFer]

Seems like pretty extreme steps to go to, just so you can remove valued cleanup crew members.

To me, they're just not good to look at. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Well thinking about it a different way, what are the chances of not getting any kind of unwanted critters in my system over its life? I plan on starting a quarantine process in the near future and I know this can greatly reduce unwanted critters and infections in my DT. If there's a 50% chance of critters still getting into the dt, then there's no point in doing quarantine on coral unless you can break the life cycle of whatever you're trying to kill.

I really only want the stuff that's in my tank that I put in there. Dont want unsightly hitchhikers but if there's really not much I can do to limit it then its fine, I can live with it.

You consider them valuable CUC members but I dont at this time. And I'm also going to "follow the beat of my own drum" bc I have been misinformed about stuff many people have told me. I know the worms are actually good for the system, but man, they're ugly to look at.

 

[BUDgetREEFer]

The new dry rock needs to be cured. You don't see it because it looks like clean rock, but in the rock is dead stuff, like bacteria, and other microbes, that need to decay and leach out of the rock. You can monitor this decay by looking at phosphate and nitrate levels. Once it starts to drop, the rock is cured. Typically a month or two and you're set. The good news is that the cycle typically occurs while the rock is being cured. Hope this helps.

The "dipped" rock is rock I'd probably never use again. No idea how long it would take to leach out all the Bayer that's in that rock.

Gotcha. I've seen people use, looks like, large rubbermaid tubs with a filter and heater to cycle it. I read that the tubs can leach phosphates over time and therefore leach into the rock making it a phosphate source in the tank. So I figured it shouldnt hurt to aquascape my design then cure it in the tank? Can I put sand in there to help cycle the rocks as well or should I wait until the rocks are cycled?