Kp live rock. 10 lbs in water arrived today!

[t5Nitro]

Tempted to just put it into the DT after 3 or 4 days of circulating in here. Maybe do a few 5gal water changes every few days?

Initial purpose was to sit in this bucket to seed dry rock, to start curing for a tank move thatll happen next spring/summer. But it looks so good! Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Tired]

I'd test your parameters before doing any giant water changes, and probably feed it. All the stuff on that rock needs food. Don't do any water changes unless there's an ammonia spike or your nutrients get way too high.

Don't add any additional rock for a bit. Keep an eye on things, check at night with a red light, just in case there's pest crabs or something else on there. Once it's had awhile for any potential problems to emerge, then you can put the dry rock in. Make sure the live rock is on top of the dry, though, to keep all the photosynthetic stuff alive.

If you find that there's no ammonia spike, and you've watched it enough to feel there are no harmful critters, it can definitely go in a display tank. That's an instant cycle, right there, as soon as it's done with any die-off from shipping.

See any cool stuff yet?

 

[Billldg]

I received 2 20 lb orders from them and loved the rock from the start...BUT...do their recommended curing process. Algae and pest critters are FAR FAR more resilient than you realize.

Also, don't forget their recommendation to dunk the rock into 1.035-1.040 water for a few minutes to chase out any unwanted critters. Once initially, 2nd half way thru the curing process, and 3rd afterward before you add it.

 

[t5Nitro]

Sounds good. Thanks guys. For the first post, should I drop some pellets in and feed it that way or use a drop of dr tim ammonia that I have left over from cycling this tank? That light reflecting is just a regular flashlight. It'll lose the photosynthetic stuff, I just have it in the basement in a tub with a s powerhead. If you think I should light it, I do have an extra led lamp I used to grow veggies with but its way overkill.

For the second post, glad ro hear you like the rock. Certainly doesn't need to go anywhere near the current DT. Can keep it isolated for now. Tank move is 10 months away. If I can keep some of the ocean bacterial diversity alive and able to seed dry rock then would be ideal, with a goal of having nearly no cycle on moving the tank to a new location.

 

[Goaway]

Look out for bobbit worms. Yes kp live rocks can have them. Thats where I got mine

 

[Tired]

True bobbit, or just a eunicid? There are loads of eunicids, some of which will eat coral, some of which are harmless detritivores. Bobbits are one specific species.

When I say you should feed it, I do mean actual fish food. There's all sorts of live stuff on that rock that needs to eat, and that'll produce ammonia for everything that wants ammonia-related substances. You don't want all your scavengers and pods dying of starvation, after all.

You should light it. One of the major benefits of established live rock is that it's covered in non-pest algae, which means pest algae has a much harder time getting established. You want that stuff. It doesn't need to be a very good light like you'd use for corals, though it's entirely possible you've got a coral or something on there.

The best way to maintain all that biodiversity is to treat it like a reef tank. Food, light, heat, water movement, water changes but not enough to starve everything out. Is there anything in the display? If it's just sand and water, put the live rock in there so it can benefit from the lights and all that.

 

[Goaway]

Its a dead worm either way. It ate my ricordia florida.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Don’t leave it in the bucket like that whatever you do. Everything good will die off. Inspect and remove any unwanted hitchhikers with a pair of tweezers and then put in the display is mu recommendation.

 

[t5Nitro]

True bobbit, or just a eunicid? There are loads of eunicids, some of which will eat coral, some of which are harmless detritivores. Bobbits are one specific species.

When I say you should feed it, I do mean actual fish food. There's all sorts of live stuff on that rock that needs to eat, and that'll produce ammonia for everything that wants ammonia-related substances. You don't want all your scavengers and pods dying of starvation, after all.

You should light it. One of the major benefits of established live rock is that it's covered in non-pest algae, which means pest algae has a much harder time getting established. You want that stuff. It doesn't need to be a very good light like you'd use for corals, though it's entirely possible you've got a coral or something on there.

The best way to maintain all that biodiversity is to treat it like a reef tank. Food, light, heat, water movement, water changes but not enough to starve everything out. Is there anything in the display? If it's just sand and water, put the live rock in there so it can benefit from the lights and all that.

Oh yeah, my DT is fully up and running going on 2 years old. My next tank this would be for hasn't even been built yet. Likely wouldn't move tanks until may or June next year. Wanted the best shot at avoiding a cycle if I got this rock and seeded a bunch of new dry rock and kept it circulating.

 

[MaxTremors]

IMO, there’s no point in flying in good quality live rock from the ocean if you’re just going to let the majority of the life on it die. If all you were after was diverse bacteria you could’ve just gotten a pound of rock from someone’s long established tank (or the tank you have set up, if you’ve added frags from different sources, especially pieces that came on rubble, you have diverse bacteria). I would definitely feed and light it until you add it to your DT. I mean don’t you want to at least see what’s on it and what’ll grow out of it?

 

[Tired]

The best way to avoid a cycle when moving an established tank is to just keep the rock in water. Should be fine. Throw out all the old sand, except a few cups to transfer useful fauna, and replace it. You don't want all the gunk that'll get stirred up in there.

 

[t5Nitro]

Sounds good guys.

I can give it some hypersonic dunks and inspect it the best I can and put it in the tank. I can always go chasing the critters later if its a problem. I've never ordered the stuff before. 10 lbs is in 4 rock pieces. 2 of those rocks are pretty dang small. I could see definitely something living in those 2 on the left though if any were housing nasty creatures.

I tossed in some NLS pellets. I can throw a light on it tonight and take it out and inspect them later tonight. There is this one thing I found but I'm not sure what it is. Was jist out in the open. Looked again and it's gone. Not sure what its move looked like.

 

[Tired]

If you do a hyper-salinity dunk, do it with the rock in a net. Have a bowl of proper salinity water nearby. When things come out of the rocks, they wind up in the net, and you can quickly transfer the net to the proper salinity in order to harm it the least.

If you get any unwanted crabs or other crustaceans, make sure to rehome them or kill them humanely. Crustaceans feel pain, so should be treated with respect for that.

 

[captain_jimmy]

I'd say put it in a brute.

I got 10lbs last week and put it straight in a brute and have had pretty high ammonia readings despite daily 100% water changes. Over 2ppm for a couple days.

Down to .5 ppm now so a few more days and will be in my DT.

This was overnighted to my door in water and still had a bunch of die off.

 

[t5Nitro]

Guys, it smells like fresh ocean when you take a piece out to look at! The wife brought it in for me earlier so I didn't unpackage it.

This set up sufficient for keeping that color or do I need a stronger light? Theres a big ol crab in one of the pics and I saw something scurry into a crevice on the top left rock. Gosh the color is insane.

If it won't kill my tangs, wrasse, clowns or chromis its so tempting.

 

[Tired]

Pretty much any bright light ought to be acceptable for algae.

It's extremely unlikely that anything fish-eating is in that rock. The only potential trouble is, the display tank will give any possible pests more space to get into.

That looks like a ruby mithrax crab, maybe? Those generally behave okay, but can be a problem once they get to full size, if they don't get enough food. Catch it out and take a good picture to find out.

 

[t5Nitro]

The temptation to put the smaller of the two rocks in the tank! Will let you know if I find anything else. Testing ammonia now. Has been in there about 9 hours.

 

[Tired]

It's entirely possible the rock has enough bacteria on it to handle whatever ammonia is being produced by die-off.

 

[anthonygf]

Guys, it smells like fresh ocean when you take a piece out to look at! The wife brought it in for me earlier so I didn't unpackage it.

This set up sufficient for keeping that color or do I need a stronger light? Theres a big ol crab in one of the pics and I saw something scurry into a crevice on the top left rock. Gosh the color is insane.

If it won't kill my tangs, wrasse, clowns or chromis its so tempting.

Think I see a Pencil Urchin in the third photo.

 

[t5Nitro]

I thought that was an urchin! Wasn't entirely sure.