Is love rock from the ocean worth it if my setup is clean.

[Big Smelly fish]

I always use live rock, I have gotten from them and will again if I decide on another reef tank. As far as pest, I never got anything that would keep me from buying live.

 

[AKL1950]

Thread Title:

Is love rock from the ocean worth it if my setup is clean.​

If it’s “love rock” It should only have nice friendly Critters on it. Nothing bad would be on a love rock.

sorry…..couldn’t help myself.

 

[Reefing102]

The worst hitchhikers you may have, generally, are gorilla crabs or maybe a mantis. So far all the gorilla crabs I’ve gotten (about 3 or 4?) were super easy to catch. Either and the one mantis wasn’t even in the rock when I found him in the bag. Gorilla crabs, in my experience, aren’t too much of a nuisance until they get larger

 

[Viking_Reefing]

I don’t get what kind of hitchhikers people are so terrified of these days. Care to enlighten me? I’ve seen it being said time and time again but people are never specific, it’s always some sort of unnamed horror.
Back in the day all we used was live rock from the ocean and apart from a few mantis shrimp nothing super nasty got in our tanks…oh and a buddy actually got an octopus with live rock somehow but that’s an outliner.

Anyways, it’s definitely worth it. Dry rock sucks and just makes everything harder than it needs to be.

 

[sbreefco]

I don’t get what kind of hitchhikers people are so terrified of these days. Care to enlighten me? I’ve seen it being said time and time again but people are never specific, it’s always some sort of unnamed horror.
Back in the day all we used was live rock from the ocean and apart from a few mantis shrimp nothing super nasty got in our tanks…oh and a buddy actually got an octopus with live rock somehow but that’s an outliner.

Anyways, it’s definitely worth it. Dry rock sucks and just makes everything harder than it needs to be.

Gorilla crabs are really the worst hitchhiker I've come across on live rock from the Gulf, all the live rock hitchhikers are easy to deal with.
The worst hitchhikers in the hobby come from corals, and with super sterile tanks, they quickly take over.

 

[DaJMasta]

Mantis seem to be rare. My foxface ate all the macros that came in. And after watching it for 6 months I'm not worried. May do a high salinity soak before transferring it to my other systems but that's the extent of my concern.

It may be seasonal or location based, I got about 30 lbs last spring and had three mantises (all smasher type) and one spawned the second day in the tank!

I've gotten unidentifiable sump crabs in all of my live rock, my last batch also had a couple of flatworms - one I think was a polyclad that ate the feather dusters. A handful of meh anemones that can get big too and I eventually wanted out.

That all said, I got tons of fantastic stuff and would absolutely do it again, it's just that early stage when you're trying to remove smaller hitchhikers where accessibility and ability to remove rocks from the tank are very, very useful.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

It may be seasonal or location based, I got about 30 lbs last spring and had three mantises (all smasher type) and one spawned the second day in the tank!

I've gotten unidentifiable sump crabs in all of my live rock, my last batch also had a couple of flatworms - one I think was a polyclad that ate the feather dusters. A handful of meh anemones that can get big too and I eventually wanted out.

That all said, I got tons of fantastic stuff and would absolutely do it again, it's just that early stage when you're trying to remove smaller hitchhikers where accessibility and ability to remove rocks from the tank are very, very useful.

Yeah maybe it is seasonal because it seems like they get reported on here periodically rather than regularly. Idk. I got pistols with mine but I like em

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Without a doubt worth it. I wouldn’t start a reef system without it. 20 years in and although not as easy to come by but still available. Tanks imo just do better and establish themselves faster w greater bacterial diversity.

 

[christwendt]

Gorilla crabs are really the worst hitchhiker I've come across on live rock from the Gulf, all the live rock hitchhikers are easy to deal with.
The worst hitchhikers in the hobby come from corals, and with super sterile tanks, they quickly take over.

That makes sense. You guys have convinced me to order some via airplane. I’m going to Qt is for a month while observing in smaller tank.

 

[christwendt]

Without a doubt worth it. I wouldn’t start a reef system without it. 20 years in and although not as easy to come by but still available. Tanks imo just do better and establish themselves faster w greater bacterial diversity.

Yea my first tank went very smooth and I started with all live rock from lfs

 

[christwendt]

It may be seasonal or location based, I got about 30 lbs last spring and had three mantises (all smasher type) and one spawned the second day in the tank!

I've gotten unidentifiable sump crabs in all of my live rock, my last batch also had a couple of flatworms - one I think was a polyclad that ate the feather dusters. A handful of meh anemones that can get big too and I eventually wanted out.

That all said, I got tons of fantastic stuff and would absolutely do it again, it's just that early stage when you're trying to remove smaller hitchhikers where accessibility and ability to remove rocks from the tank are very, very useful.

How did you deal with the flat worms ? I’m curious have not had to deal with those before. I’m convinced so I’m going to order some rock from gulf live rock.

 

[lubeck]

It sounds like you have the time so I would go with with the live rock. I got gulf rock for mine and wouldn’t go back to dry rock. The rock was full of life. It took some time but the only bad hitchhiker was a whelk snail which I caught today 7 months later. they didnt do any harm to the tank from what I could tell.

I think you will be happy with going with the live rock.

 

[DaJMasta]

How did you deal with the flat worms ? I’m curious have not had to deal with those before. I’m convinced so I’m going to order some rock from gulf live rock.

Just wait, I had one that was jet black with a blue rim and I think was some kind of obligate sponge eater which just didn't have a food source and died, the polyclad was around for longer, but I only really saw it when it started running around in the sand looking for food, and even then some fan worms were still left when it had passed.

For the creatures with specific diets in a tank without added livestock, time is a pretty good solution unless you absolutely need to save what they're hungry for. For the mantises it was catching them, and my best results was pulling the rock they were hiding in, putting in a bucket, submerging in water briefly, then removing again - they run out when they realize the rock is sometimes out of water. The risky crabs are somewhat shy, but they will be out on the rockwork when you feed, so it's a matter of blocking their retreat path and then just grabbing them.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Gorilla crabs are really the worst hitchhiker I've come across on live rock from the Gulf, all the live rock hitchhikers are easy to deal with.
The worst hitchhikers in the hobby come from corals, and with super sterile tanks, they quickly take over.

Yeah, those sterile tanks are really set up for one organism to go haywire. I strongly believe that the so called pests isn’t a problem as long as the biodiversity is in balance and no one species is allowed to go rampant.

 

[i cant think]

It’s extremely worth it! Just look at some of the life you’ll find on rocks straight from the oceans.

 

[Paul B]

I would get as much live rock as I can afford and not quarantine it or do anything else detrimental to it. Forget hitchikers.

 

[Subsea]

Yeah, those sterile tanks are really set up for one organism to go haywire. I strongly believe that the so called pests isn’t a problem as long as the biodiversity is in balance and no one species is allowed to go rampant.

Kudos to this post. The key phrase is “allowed to go rampant“. Considering my perspective with beauty in the eyes of the beholder, I like the surprises that come with diver collected uncured live rock.

 

[LiverockRocks]

I don’t get what kind of hitchhikers people are so terrified of these days. Care to enlighten me? I’ve seen it being said time and time again but people are never specific, it’s always some sort of unnamed horror.
Back in the day all we used was live rock from the ocean and apart from a few mantis shrimp nothing super nasty got in our tanks…oh and a buddy actually got an octopus with live rock somehow but that’s an outliner.

Anyways, it’s definitely worth it. Dry rock sucks and just makes everything harder than it needs to be.

At least 3 of our customers have reported baby octopi this summer.
They tend to come in with our rubble rock, 4 yesterday.
It is that time of year!

 

[Subsea]

At least 3 of our customers have reported baby octopi this summer.
They tend to come in with our rubble rock, 4 yesterday.
It is that time of year!

Octupus is a serious predator.

I see you are the new Tampa Bay Saltwater. Glad to see continued operation of this sustainable source of diver collected live rock. I made my first order of live rock on a Marasat phone while I was on a semi-submersible drilling rig located 150 miles south of Biloxi while Richard was on a fishing boat circling our rig in 3000’ of water. That was more than 20 years ago.

 

[LiverockRocks]

Octupus is a serious predator.

I see you are the new Tampa Bay Saltwater. Glad to see continued operation of this sustainable source of diver collected live rock. I made my first order of live rock on a Marasat phone while I was on a semi-submersible drilling rig located 150 miles south of Biloxi while Richard was on a fishing boat circling our rig in 3000’ of water. That was more than 20 years ago.

Ahoy @Subsea! It is an honor to carry on Richard's legacy of sustainable live rock farming. The summer waters have been relatively clear, the rock looks great and lots of life down there.
@liverock what were you fishing for in 3000' of water?