Should you Really be so Scared of Hitchhikers?

[ReefinIt]

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.

This is exactly why I loved my tanks back in the day, all the critters you find.

Just getting back into the hobby after years and years break. I would totally go live rock, but I can't find any except for rock that's been in peoples tanks or Florida live rock. The Florida live rock just doesn't look good to me and I'd wager the life on the rock isn't nearly as good as the stuff we got from the Pacific.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

This is exactly why I loved my tanks back in the day, all the critters you find.

Just getting back into the hobby after years and years break. I would totally go live rock, but I can't find any except for rock that's been in peoples tanks or Florida live rock. The Florida live rock just doesn't look good to me and I'd wager the life on the rock isn't nearly as good as the stuff we got from the Pacific.

I've never gotten the Gulf live rock so just speculation here but I'd guess the life is a good bit different not just because of the location but because of how it's maricultured

 

[jabberwock]

I think dry rock sucks. Algae farm waiting to happen. Give me some hitch hikers!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

@Jrain904 if you believe it's Australian live rock that's on you. I don't.
D

 

[Max93]

If I ever restart a tank from scratch again, I will go all Australian live rock, and a immediate 76 day fallow period with just water changes and a pinch of food every couple days.

With the amount of time I have wasted with ich, lost corals, lost coral growth, etc. 72 days is nothing. Heck even a 6 month cycle is nothing.

 

[DarkReefer]

I've used dry live rock both times I set up my tank.
(different rock).
First time I ended up with a lot of vermatid snails everywhere so I opted to use different dry live rock this time around.
Still have a little bit of snails popping up.
One of the rocks I bought with some shrooms on there has turned out to have 1-2 small feather duster worms. I'm kind of excited by those though to see what they do.

I think with the addition of corals etc, you're always going to get SOMETHING you didn't really want.

 

[DHill6]

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.

I have been there…Eunice damaging and nasty!

 

[DHill6]

In that tank it was live Tonga rock, the Eunice had tunnels running through it.

 

[DHill6]

I was one of those ppl who started w/dry — fear of hitchhikers but also cost. Then I gave up on sterile b/c it didn’t make sense and added some maricultured corals. The tank is much healthier for it but in came the hitchhikers even though I dipped.

So far the hitchhikers I’ve found have all been cool critters, except for one small Eunice I had to get out. I have a trap in tonight for a large bristleworm I saw the other night, mostly b/c it is too big for my liking, but if I don’t get it I’m not too upset. These zombie idiots won’t leave the trap alone, and have been at it for hours now — there’s six of them there — so I’m thinking traps are maybe for the birds and the worm will end up staying.

When the lights are off, red flashlight to spot it then be quick with the tweezer. Worked when the traps didn’t.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

This is exactly why I loved my tanks back in the day, all the critters you find.

Just getting back into the hobby after years and years break. I would totally go live rock, but I can't find any except for rock that's been in peoples tanks or Florida live rock. The Florida live rock just doesn't look good to me and I'd wager the life on the rock isn't nearly as good as the stuff we got from the Pacific.

I’m not sure about TBS or some of the other Florida companies, but I can vouch for the KP stuff. Very pourous, unique shapes, nice mix of sizes, and full of life. I used to get the Marshall Islands rock back in the day, which I always thought had the best live rock, and this rivals that—maybe even a bit more since the transit time is significantly less coming from the Keys as opposed to across the world so die-off is minimized.

 

[Rene']

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?

I started my 4 year old tank with rock taken from the intercoastal ( here in FL). I don't do dips, don't quarantine, and don't freak out at something new showing up in the tank.
As of 6 months ago, I stopped doing water changes, got rid of the filter socks, and stopped using a skimmer. My filtration is only live rock, chaeto and filter floss.
So, I'm doing the opposite of everything I was told in the beginning.
The result... My fish are fat, my corals colorful and growing well, and some amazing little critters have appeared.
BTW, a LOT less work on my end!!

 

[i cant think]

I’ve said this to you before @livinlifeinBKK however my answer to this is a big no!
Watching all of the life become active from that dormant period is the best thing ever. It’s one thing that Dry Rock and Bottled Bacteria will never be able to bring back into the hobby. I will always try and start my ranks with as much live rock as possible.
The other great thing with this is how it causes the algae blooms quite early on in the tanks stage compared to dry rock. I’ve found dry rock to cause an algae bloom just as you think your tank is in the clear whereas live will always without a doubt manage to bring it at the start. Yes people may hate this but we just have to learn to appreciate this is how a reef naturally forms, it starts with a bunch of algae blooms and then coral start to claim a base there and take on the algae bloom to outcompete it for food.

 

[i cant think]

I started my 4 year old tank with rock taken from the intercoastal ( here in FL). I don't do dips, don't quarantine, and don't freak out at something new showing up in the tank.
As of 6 months ago, I stopped doing water changes, got rid of the filter socks, and stopped using a skimmer. My filtration is only live rock, chaeto and filter floss.
So, I'm doing the opposite of everything I was told in the beginning.
The result... My fish are fat, my corals colorful and growing well, and some amazing little critters have appeared.
BTW, a LOT less work on my end!!

RFAs are what make me want to continue hunting Live Rock from the gulf that haven’t been messed with and have just been left to deal with themselves.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I’ve said this to you before @livinlifeinBKK however my answer to this is a big no!
Watching all of the life become active from that dormant period is the best thing ever. It’s one thing that Dry Rock and Bottled Bacteria will never be able to bring back into the hobby. I will always try and start my ranks with as much live rock as possible.
The other great thing with this is how it causes the algae blooms quite early on in the tanks stage compared to dry rock. I’ve found dry rock to cause an algae bloom just as you think your tank is in the clear whereas live will always without a doubt manage to bring it at the start. Yes people may hate this but we just have to learn to appreciate this is how a reef naturally forms, it starts with a bunch of algae blooms and then coral start to claim a base there and take on the algae bloom to outcompete it for food.

Yeah we've discussed this! I'm trying to dispell the myth that common hitchhikers are so terrible so maybe more new reefers wont be so apprehensive to give it a shot! I haven't seen many disappointed people on this thread that started with live rock at all!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

The only hitchhikers I don't want are eunice worms, aiptasia, and octopus. Anything else is fine by me. We can't cherry pick all of the lifeforms in our tanks. What we call hitchhikers are as important on the reef as our fish and coral, and I see few reasons not to work with their existence.

 

[i cant think]

The only hitchhikers I don't want are eunice worms, aiptasia, and octopus. Anything else is fine by me. We can't cherry pick all of the lifeforms in our tanks. What we call hitchhikers are as important on the reef as our fish and coral, and I see few reasons not to work with their existence.

Man… I remember when I was working in the LFS and we had a new shipment of LR in. I put it in the tank we would leave them to do their things in and discovered an octopus in one of the nearby tanks that wasn’t there before.
We did end up keeping the octopus just for the sake of it because it was the first time we had come across one in live rock. I believe it died of old age a few years after we found it.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Admittedly I do need to inject some Manjano hitchhikers and just a few aiptasia with some lemon juice before they get out of hand...the manjanos are really kinda cool looking though

 

[Rene']

Man… I remember when I was working in the LFS and we had a new shipment of LR in. I put it in the tank we would leave them to do their things in and discovered an octopus in one of the nearby tanks that wasn’t there before.
We did end up keeping the octopus just for the sake of it because it was the first time we had come across one in live rock. I believe it died of old age a few years after we found it.

That's awesome...I would love an octopus!

 

[Sump Crab]

@Jrain904 if you believe it's Australian live rock that's on you. I don't.
D

So you think several vendors are just lying?

 

[kevgib67]

This is exactly why I loved my tanks back in the day, all the critters you find.

Just getting back into the hobby after years and years break. I would totally go live rock, but I can't find any except for rock that's been in peoples tanks or Florida live rock. The Florida live rock just doesn't look good to me and I'd wager the life on the rock isn't nearly as good as the stuff we got from the Pacific.

Ya, I haven’t seen much live rock available like we had years ago. Bans?