Real Live Rock

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Your Gulf rock looks amazing! I’m still curing mine separately and dealing with very high ammonia despite daily 90% water changes!? Like you I didn’t get much for hitchhikers but there is so much going on on each rock. I can’t wait to get the ammonia under control and get them into my DT
 
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Your Gulf rock looks amazing! I’m still curing mine separately and dealing with very high ammonia despite daily 90% water changes!? Like you I didn’t get much for hitchhikers but there is so much going on on each rock. I can’t wait to get the ammonia under control and get them into my DT

I dealt with some ammonia too. It topped out around 1.0 but I was able to keep it under control with prime and water changes. This is both Gulf and KP rock pictured.
 

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For Sure, just put the rock in a tub for a few days until ammonia disappears. Use those couple of days to check for unwanted critters on the rock.
I’m highly interested in REAL live rock now. In the tub, would it only need to be saltwater and a thermostat to keep the temp at the right level? Anything else I should keep in mind? Should I be concerned that I might wake up to aquaman walking around my house one morning?
 

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I’m highly interested in REAL live rock now. In the tub, would it only need to be saltwater and a thermostat to keep the temp at the right level? Anything else I should keep in mind? Should I be concerned that I might wake up to aquaman walking around my house one morning?
Definitely want a power head or pump in there as well. A skimmer wouldn't hurt either but depending on how much died in transit it may not be necessary. You'll want to do several water changes in the first week.
 
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I’m highly interested in REAL live rock now. In the tub, would it only need to be saltwater and a thermostat to keep the temp at the right level? Anything else I should keep in mind? Should I be concerned that I might wake up to aquaman walking around my house one morning?

I just used a heater and a small powerhead to keep water moving. Maybe not aquaman, but Gulf hitchhiker ID section does list octopus as a possible hitchhiker...
 

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Found this beast in the rock tonight. It didn't come out fully but we saw a good 5"+ of it.
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Just a normal bristle worm, so freaky how big some get and generally stay totally hidden.

Rock looks great. I remember hearing so much bad press about gulf rock, and by that I mean glr tbs kp etc, back in the day that I was really hasn't to buy it now that Fiji stuff is no more. Aside from being more dense I think it's great. No risk of peacock mantis is a plus too.
 
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Just a normal bristle worm, so freaky how big some get and generally stay totally hidden.

Rock looks great. I remember hearing so much bad press about gulf rock, and by that I mean glr tbs kp etc, back in the day that I was really hasn't to buy it now that Fiji stuff is no more. Aside from being more dense I think it's great. No risk of peacock mantis is a plus too.

For sure, just a harmless bristle, he's a welcome addition.

Yeah my first tank was started back when you could still get fiji rock it was great. This seems to be a great substitute so far.
 

TnFishwater98

Drink more fishwater there! And I still want more!
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I ordered from gulf last September. I quarantined for a month and decided to order a little more. It’s loaded with life. You’ll probably see some anemones but they are Lightbulb Anemones and not Aiptasia. Make sure you feed your Sea Squirts if you have them. I recently lost one and my local LFS says tank water probly wasn’t dirty enough. I target fed in the beginning not sure if that will help. Once it’s cleaned off the LR is beautiful...
 
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I ordered from gulf last September. I quarantined for a month and decided to order a little more. It’s loaded with life. You’ll probably see some anemones but they are Lightbulb Anemones and not Aiptasia. Make sure you feed your Sea Squirts if you have them. I recently lost one and my local LFS says tank water probly wasn’t dirty enough. I target fed in the beginning not sure if that will help. Once it’s cleaned off the LR is beautiful...

We do have a few of the "lightbulb anemones", they are very cool! We also have a big sea squirt from the gulf live rock, ill have to grab some food for it.

I highly recommend both companies. So much more interesting than dry rock.
 
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While looking with a flashlight, I found these two critters. They both behaved like spaghetti worms but neither looked like the typical spaghetti worms I'm used to. The second looks a bit like a brittle starfish, but didn't behave like one and the legs were way too long.

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