Scrubbed live rock?

christa55 · Dec 13, 2024

Before when i had reef tanks, when you bought live rock it was not cleaned. But now here in the netherlands all live rock indonesian and caribean comes scrubbed.

Is this a good thing? I mean i like bristleworms and little brittelstars

I noticed the start up was a lot faster. I mean the diatom phase was over in a week. But i kind of mis the critters from before. All the fun , so to speak , is out of the rocks.

Rjukan · Dec 13, 2024

christa55 said:
Before when i had reef tanks, when you bought live rock it was not cleaned. But now here in the netherlands all live rock indonesian and caribean comes scrubbed.

Is this a good thing? I mean i like bristleworms and little brittelstars

I noticed the start up was a lot faster. I mean the diatom phase was over in a week. But i kind of mis the critters from before. All the fun , so to speak , is out of the rocks.

Interesting.. does it arrive wet?

Fish Fan · Dec 13, 2024

Definitely interesting. I'm in the US, so I'm not sure what's available to you in your area.

I think way back in the day, when people were getting rock from the Fiji Island area, those rocks were "scrubbed" before being packed and shipped via the "Slow Boat From China" for real. They were often wrapped in newspaper and shipped "damp" not "wet". I think the idea was to remove most of the macro life that would die in transportation, but it still left all (or most) of the microbes, as well as "seeds" of macro life that would regrow in your tank given the right conditions.

I'm following along to see what others suggest for your area :)