Should you Really be so Scared of Hitchhikers?

[livinlifeinBKK]

So many people seem to start their tanks with all dry rock and sand mostly out of fear of hitchhikers which from my experience and the many others I've talked to, getting an actual bad hitchhiker seems to be a rare occurrence. I feel like so many new reefers are missing out on getting a great headstart into the hobby while also avoiding a large part of "the uglies" when they go the sterile all dry route. I just was hoping to start a dialogue to dispell some of the rumors associated with the terrors of possible hitchhikers so newer reefers might consider using live rock to set up a tank (there are many benefits). So what do you guys think? Should people really be as concerned as they seem over common hitchhikers?

 

[lulubap]

I think one of the bones of contention some tank keepers have is aesthetics. They see a big bristleworm poking out of their live rock and their immediate thought is that they want to get rid of it. In fact, this was one of the main reasons why my family wanted to switch from a FOWLR tank to a "fowlr" tank.

My mother took one look at the red bristleworm glistening out of the purple rock scape and said "we have to get rid of that!" Fast forward a day later, I wake up to them boiling a live rock and everything that was inside of it.

It's also the fear that people new to the hobby have with differentiating good hitchhikers from bad ones. How do we know that's a green or red brittle star that will just extend its arm every now and then for food, or the black brittle star that will feast on my weakened inverts before I get a chance to understand the situation?

I love these ugly little things though. If I had the chance to cycle my tank with live rock instead of dry rock, I'd take it in a heartbeat. I love darting my fingers around and being mindful of the bristleworms that feed on my detritus and clean up my nori scraps. I love observing the arms of the micro brittles that poke out of my rock scape.

How can we as tank owners expect a beautiful tank with no "bad hitchhikers"? How does that reflect our understanding of actual reef ecosystems?

Your post definitely provides some food for thought.

 

[Bucs20fan]

The absolute only hitch hikers I would be eternally fearful of getting are certain eunicid worms, specifically bobbits. Gorilla crabs, large flatworms, pistols and such can be removed.

 

[Mikey-D]

I am 100% planning on going with come one come all hitchhikers route. I have Ocean fresh rock and sand on standby once I build my tank, completely natural filtration...with some mechanical help as well but im getting as close to nature as I can and having a natural mixed reef aqurium with all the critters and fish living in harmony, lol. Thats the plan, I will see how it progresses and what path it takes on its own but I am going to persuade that direction.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I am 100% planning on going with come one come all hitchhikers route. I have Ocean fresh rock and sand on standby once I build my tank, completely natural filtration...with some mechanical help as well but im getting as close to nature as I can and having a natural mixed reef aqurium with all the critters and fish living in harmony, lol. Thats the plan, I will see how it progresses and what path it takes on its own but I am going to persuade that direction.

That's the route I've decided to take and haven't regretted it in previous tanks one bit!

 

[ying yang]

Reason why regretting not qt my corals with quite a few pests now in dt lol ^_^

https://youtube.com/shorts/Glcu0lIBXtQ?feature=share Possible eunicid worms. Sea slugs,pulled about 25 out in last 3 weeks from my gsp. Flatworms. Aiptasia Possible Spioniod worms on zoa rock and hermit shell. Black bugs eating sps. Some kind of worm in sump,not sure what lol So yeah I...

www.reef2reef.com

I got scared of bad hitch hikers from all articles/youtube videos watched so started with dry rock/dry sand route and didn't get that bad off an ugly stage at all tbh which surprised me,and still no bad ugly stage after 1.5 years off tank being up.
But from my coral frags got quite a few little critters,some good like pods and the like but some coral eating ones and I'm convinced got a hitch hiking pistol shrimp or something as pop seems to come from different part off my tank than my pistol shrimp is,but he could have tunnels all over and sometimes sound sounds like from different place but isn't lol

So I wish I went with live rock route as got bad hitch hikers anyway lol.

Reason didn't qt as thought only truly correct qt in my mind was to qt absolutely everything and thought yeah could help keep out some bad pests but maybe not 100% but thought extra cost of coral lights and running off coral/ invertebrate qt and may get coral deaths in qt as smaller system and not as matured ( at begginning anyway) I just decided not to and having extra qt tanks always set up as in small 2 bedroom flat and at begginning had 3 freshwater tanks also,so would off been to much

 

[kevgib67]

Before getting back into the hobby about 1year ago ( yes my new tank was started with live rock), I had a reef tank for approximately 16 years that was started in the mid 1990s. All we used was live rock. There weren’t frag plugs and every coral purchased came on a new piece of live rock. When the lights went out the flashlight would come out so I could see all the hitch hikers. It was as fascinating and interesting as watching my tank with the lights on. I never had an unwanted hitch hiker. I wouldn’t set up a tank with anything but live rock.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Before getting back into the hobby about 1year ago ( yes my new tank was started with live rock), I had a reef tank for approximately 16 years that was started in the mid 1990s. All we used was live rock. There weren’t frag plugs and every coral purchased came on a new piece of live rock. When the lights went out the flashlight would come out so I could see all the hitch hikers. It was as fascinating and interesting as watching my tank with the lights on. I never had an unwanted hitch hiker. I wouldn’t set up a tank with anything but live rock.

Wow that sounds pretty cool!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I say no way should you be scared of them.

All can be easily removed with the correct methods and a little time. Most methods being DIY and very cheap to lol.

I think the diversity alone outweighs the hitchhikers.

 

[MaxTremors]

IME, real live rock is superior in every way, except for aquascaping (but personally, I find a lot of negative space aquascapes to look unnatural). Very, very few hitchhikers are unmanageable, and the vast majority are harmless if not beneficial. IMO, it’s just not a reef tank without all the microfauna.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

IME, real live rock is superior in every way, except for aquascaping (but personally, I find a lot of negative space aquascapes to look unnatural). Very, very few hitchhikers are unmanageable, and the vast majority are harmless if not beneficial. IMO, it’s just not a reef tank without all the microfauna.

The aquascaping part is bit more tedious, but doable. Amazing what you can keep alive with a spray bottle and some SW in it. Just use the superglue and sand method, as it dries quick. There is the added time of having to setup larger tubs to put the rack into when working on another piece, but doable for sure.

One could do that neg aquascape stuff, I cannot stand that lol, it would just take a while to do it and one would have to have quite a bit of extra water to do it and keep it alive.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The aquascaping part is bit more tedious, but doable. Amazing what you can keep alive with a spray bottle and some SW in it. Just use the superglue and sand method, as it dries quick. There is the added time of having to setup larger tubs to put the rack into when working on another piece, but doable for sure.

One could do that neg aquascape stuff, I cannot stand that lol, it would just take a while to do it and one would have to have quite a bit of extra water to do it and keep it alive.

As for the aquascaping aspect, I don't have any serious gripes against what most people end up with just using their imagination with live rock even though you can sometimes do more with dry and epoxy. Natural reefs don't look pristine in their rockwork anyway....they look like natural processes have deposited the rocks where they are.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

As for the aquascaping aspect, I don't have any serious gripes against what most people end up with just using their imagination with live rock even though you can sometimes do more with dry and epoxy. Natural reefs don't look pristine in their rockwork anyway....they look like natural processes have deposited the rocks where they are.

Ohh, to each their own for sure. The neg scape stuff is just not for me. I would lose a lot of real estate for corals lol.

My thing is, if it makes you happy do it. Do not worry what others think about it. If one like the neg scape stuff, do it. Rock walls, do it. No rock in tank and all in sump, do it ( i want to see how that turns out lol)

 

[Malakai2]

I like the diversity from real live rock, but with a hefty dose of caution so as not to introduce pests I'll never be able to completely remove. I'e only kept smaller tanks with dry rock to start and managing the cycle that way. So, after everything is set up, I try to pick up small pieces and rubble and so forth to get some diversity of various worms, pods, etc.

For the things I end up not seeing that I want to see, stomatella for example, i pick those up in small quantity when i happen to see them in a vendor's display or another hobbyist's system. It ends up being a balance, I get a fair bit of diversity over time but never to the point of that same volume of habitat on any given real reef, which wouldn't happen anyway even if I started with 100 percent live rock.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I am 100% planning on going with come one come all hitchhikers route. I have Ocean fresh rock and sand on standby once I build my tank, completely natural filtration...with some mechanical help as well but im getting as close to nature as I can and having a natural mixed reef aqurium with all the critters and fish living in harmony, lol. Thats the plan, I will see how it progresses and what path it takes on its own but I am going to persuade that direction.

I have two temperate tide pool tanks with, pretty much 100% hitch hikers, some from rock, many from kelp. It is a joy and fascinating to observe. But you can only have a that "come what may" attitude for so long. Sometimes you have or grow a very special hitchhiker and you start to make decisions based on them. This is not a bad thing, it is just what happens.

 

[Mikey-D]

I have two temperate tide pool tanks with, pretty much 100% hitch hikers, some from rock, many from kelp. It is a joy and fascinating to observe. But you can only have a that "come what may" attitude for so long. Sometimes you have or grow a very special hitchhiker and you start to make decisions based on them. This is not a bad thing, it is just what happens.

So with your tank, its only a hitchhiker tank with rock? My thinking and approach is to maintin the system first and wait and see how the tank responds and what comes from the rocks. Then slowly add fish and coral to the mix, keeping an eye out on parameters and the behavior of the new colony. Heres to a successful tank I can only try and expermiate and see what comes out of it

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

So with your tank, its only a hitchhiker tank with rock? My thinking and approach is to maintin the system first and wait and see how the tank responds and what comes from the rocks. Then slowly add fish and coral to the mix, keeping an eye out on parameters and the behavior of the new colony. Heres to a successful tank I can only try and expermiate and see what comes out of it

Well they are temperate tanks, so <65 degrees. so you are semi-limited to its legal contents, AKA cali F&G. But it is a fairly honest representation of what tide pools are like in my area. For what you want to do, I think Gulf rock is the only current tropical water choice there is as far as natural. But that is not to say I do have some temperate live rock in my tropical tanks. Bacteria and micro brittles don't seem to care. I am probably going to get some gulf rock for my 40 I am building, because yes, I want all the extras that come with it.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Well they are temperate tanks, so <65 degrees. so you are semi-limited to its legal contents, AKA cali F&G. But it is a fairly honest representation of what tide pools are like in my area. For what you want to do, I think Gulf rock is the only current tropical water choice there is as far as natural. But that is not to say I do have some temperate live rock in my tropical tanks. Bacteria and micro brittles don't seem to care. I am probably going to get some gulf rock for my 40 I am building, because yes, I want all the extras that come with it.

Don't some shops get rock from Australia once in a while in the States?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

No I don't believe we import rock anymore. Tonga rock. Fiji rock. Pukani ect. All gone. A myth. A rumor. A has been.
What is live rock? Really as a hobbyist and aquarist you have 3 options. Completely dry. Live rock from the gulf or flordia storm rock or u can get the already cycled rock from the lfs that they have had sitting in warm circulated salt water. O and than the sand deal thing. Is it live in the bag? Off the shelf? How longs it's life shelf expectancy? Huh? Who puts a time limit on life?!

Congrats ur coming to the realization most old school reefers know. Just sayin
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

It used to be taught that you want porous rock. More surface area ect.
Heck I gave a guy a ton of rubble rock like 2 buckets full and told him to pit it in his sump with good flow.
Did this person ever clean their tank? No they did not. Did it work? Ya probably enough for his liking. Still shoulda cleaned the tank, sump, Filtration more.
Do I have a point? No I do not. Lol.
Reef on!
D