Amount of pest found in LRs are crazy...

[Potatohead]

in response to mr potato head......
got syconid sponges in my 'reef' tank, better buy an angel fish to get rid of it.

this is the kinda nonsense that bothers me.

Different strokes man, if someone wants a sterile tank, it doesn't affect your life at all. I don't see the big deal.

 

[ajm83]

agreed, this "pest" paranoia is going waaaay to far and newbies especially are almost neurotic about it..... in 25 years of reefing I have never once removed anything except for 1 urchin that kept knocking over my freshly glued frags lol

believe it or not i have never ever even removed an aptasia.....sure I have 1 or 2 but they have never been an issue, mantis, pistol, worms, crabs.... I just leave em
even vermatieds are considered pests now :hmm3: really wth

let me ask a question.....if these are bad where are all the vids of mantis killing peoples fish, I know large spearers are capable but most pests are about 1 inch long clubbers, wheres the vids ppl, show me vids of bristl worm eating you prized corals and vermateids actually causing your rtn

Vermetids and aiptasia, no thanks :lolspin: think i'll be sticking to pulling them out.

Vermetids are proven to damage coral BTW but you knew that already didn't you?

 

[homer1475]

Vermetids and aiptasia, no thanks :lolspin: think i'll be sticking to pulling them out.

Vermetids are proven to damage coral BTW but you knew that already didn't you?

Actually let me correct you.

Vermetid snails do no actual harm to corals. What they do do(heh do do)is cast out a feeding "web" which in turn irritates the coral causing it not to open up. Which in turn causes it to die because it can't open up and receive light for food.

I'll reserve my comments on this thread. Just keep in mind, were all different and reef different. No one way is correct.

 

[ajm83]

Actually let me correct you.

Vermetid snails do no actual harm to corals. What they do do(heh do do)is cast out a feeding "web" which in turn irritates the coral causing it not to open up. Which in turn causes it to die because it can't open up and receive light for food.

Not to be a ****, but why jump in to correct me if you don't actually know?

Field experiments clearly demonstrated deleterious effects of vermetids on corals. Ambient densities of vermetids reduced coral skeletal growth of all four coral species (figure 2a). Vermetids reduced growth rates of Pocillopora by 68"“81%, P. rus by 62 per cent, P. lobata by 40"“62% and Montipora by 24 per cent. Vermetids also reduced survival of all species of coral except Montipora (which exhibited 100% colony survival: figure 2b).

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/05/18/rsbl.2010.0291.full

 

[saf1]

Sort of a funny thread. Responsible reef keeping will use QT tanks to varying degree. It helps. Has cost or value increases one typically will increase mitigation practices. However....

Trying to keep a sterile tank, dry rock or none, it all goes out the door upon the first introduction to the tank. Be that fish, coral, or your hand. Chemical euphoria aside, the tank isn't a operating floor and mother nature has a way of taking a bite out of the big apple.

Good luck.

 

[homer1475]

Not to be a ****, but why jump in to correct me if you don't actually know?



http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/05/18/rsbl.2010.0291.full

Did you actually read that entire thing or just cherry pick that quote? I would suggest you go back and read the entire article before saying that I don't actually know.

Let me cherry pick a quote from the article you just posted. Which describe just what I said.

Although the mechanisms underlying strong vermetid–coral interactions remain unknown, we speculate that they probably involve vermetid mucus nets. Thus, deleterious effects on corals will depend on vermetid density, possibly generating strong spatio-temporal variation in responses reflecting local vermetid dynamics. Further, we hypothesize that vermetid recruitment dynamics (possibly facilitated by an initial disturbance causing partial death of a coral colony) may play an important role in vermetid–coral interactions. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the density of D. maximum has increased recently in the Red Sea (Zvuloni et al. 2008) and Moorea (B. Salvat & Y. Chancerelle, personal communication), possibly in response to coastal eutrophication driven by human activities (Zvuloni et al. 2008), and/or a reduction in harvesting (D. maximum is a traditional food source in Polynesia: electronic supplementary material, appendix D).

 

[Spslvr]

Vermetids and aiptasia, no thanks :lolspin: think i'll be sticking to pulling them out.

Vermetids are proven to damage coral BTW but you knew that already didn't you?

what I also know is if you have a thriving healthy tank, no amount of vermiteid snails is going to kill your corals, in corals like montiopora and acropora these snails cause a healthy coral to grow tubes, some people don't like this look while others like me aren't really bothered by it, its kinda natural lookin.... lol...."natural".... in any case im still wanting an answer on how a mantis shrimp supposedly took out hundreds of dollars in coral over a weekend...

its like buying an adult emporer angel and adding to a tank no qt no acclimation period then waking up in the morning to find it dead and saying it must have been stung by that aptasia.....

p.s in my experience vermatieds casting webs is usually indicative of an over abundance of particle matter in your water column....

the animals we keep have remained unchanged for many millennia while our reefkeeping trends tend to go in 5 year blocks...

 

[Vio]

Whatever kill inside the rocks by using Muriatic Acid , Bleach. Bake, Cook etc. will release PO4, Nitrate etc. than you face the music HR, i prefer to cure for 3 months until i got nice coraline. Cure on dif. tank, use Algae Scrubber, dose bacteria than everything will be nice.

 

[Mad_Reefer]

I'd take your "pests".

 

[Mad_Reefer]

I didn't do this approach and ended up with hundreds of dime sized feather dusters in my sump. I think it's pretty cool.

 

[ajm83]

Did you actually read that entire thing or just cherry pick that quote? I would suggest you go back and read the entire article before saying that I don't actually know.

Let me cherry pick a quote from the article you just posted. Which describe just what I said.

Of course I have. I don't really understand what you are arguing about at this point.

I said "they damage corals"

you said "they just make mucous nets, they don't actually harm corals"

I said "yes they do, read this specific passage showing they harm corals"

you said "YES BUT MUCOUS NETS"

???

So what you're saying now is that you agreed with me all along - they DO damage corals?

 

[ReefPharmer]

Not sure about you guys but I don't want all that stuff in my tank. I have enough "biodiversity". I got a cleaner pack and got some chitons in it. Low and behold they leave bite marks on my 300 "was new" acrylic tank.

 

[saf1]

Some of them are actually great indicators of overall tank health and make good signs of potential issues. Personally I don't mind Vermetus has long has they are kept in check. Gives me an idea of my feeding habits and other forms of tank maintenance and/or overall water quality. Same with various forms of algae and fauna.

Many may gasp at such comments but one mans opinion on it.

 

[Mishri]

I have some live rock I've been curing for over a year now.. almost have all the pests gone (2 gorilla crabs left).. and have a lot of beneficial and neat critters... I think I have 40lbs of it.. will use that to seed my display tank dry rock.. If you are patient, and pay attention and watch the tank at night you'll find the things you need to get rid of.

 

[KingOfAll_Tyrants]

Or he simply has a different view on keeping a reef than you guys do. Shockingly not all that uncommon to see when you gather thousands of people together, there is no "right" way to do it.

Many of those "pests" listed very well could be fine, pistol shrimps are mostly harmless, depending on the mantis could be the same. Bristle worms are great for part of the CUC. Different strokes for different folks

Further, it seems to me how you do this depends on your objective for the tank. If you want it it be a small slice of the ocean, many/most of these hitchhikers are good. If you want just baceria filtration for a host of corals/fish, then the start from dry rock method makes sense.

 

[Rick's Reef]

I have been following this thread with intense interest .

I have been out of the hobby about 5 years but now setting up another tank. My previous tank I setup in ~2000 and shutdown in 2011. I only had a few LPS and well stocked with fish but my rock was the real stuff from Fiji and Tonga with ~4 weeks curing. Maybe I got lucky or maybe it wasn't as "real" as I thought...

Anyway I have been reading the thread and I feel like Charlie Sheen in Platoon listening to Barnes and Elias waging a war for my reefing soul . Originally, I was thinking I would be ordering the live stuff again, despite listening to the BRStv videos about pests and starting all bare and dry.

So for those that are into the live side of the argument, beyond the 4 weeks curing time and some observation, what other tips are recommended? For example, should I be doing a high S.G. dip for 15 minutes before putting the rock in the tank after the 4 weeks curing?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[ks1546]

[emoji317].


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Green Chromis]

I have been following this thread with intense interest .

I have been out of the hobby about 5 years but now setting up another tank. My previous tank I setup in ~2000 and shutdown in 2011. I only had a few LPS and well stocked with fish but my rock was the real stuff from Fiji and Tonga with ~4 weeks curing. Maybe I got lucky or maybe it wasn't as "real" as I thought...

Anyway I have been reading the thread and I feel like Charlie Sheen in Platoon listening to Barnes and Elias waging a war for my reefing soul . Originally, I was thinking I would be ordering the live stuff again, despite listening to life on itthe BRStv videos about pests and starting all bare and dry.

So for those that are into the live side of the argument, beyond the 4 weeks curing time and some observation, what other tips are recommended? For example, should I be doing a high S.G. dip for 15 minutes before putting the rock in the tank after the 4 weeks curing?

Thanks,
Rick

:fish1: Hi Rick, if you are spending a lot of money on live rock, why kill all the beneficial life on it, by doing a high salinity dip, just go with some dead rock, and deal with the rock leaching phosphates for a long period of time. I would never start a system without a very high quality live rock, and yes their may be a few unwanted hitchhikers in it, but they are easy to remove from your system, it just takes a little patience, and work. It is a lot easier, and cheaper in the long run to remove a few pest, then it is to fight algae and other problems, for a long period of time associated with using dead rock. Does your live rock have a lot of living organism on it, like some corals, beneficial algae's, or other organism on, or in it, if so why not treat it in your tank, running your lights, protein skimmer, carbon, GFO, etc., as this will help keep all your beneficial life on, an in it alive. I like using live rock, because of all the extra, and beneficial life on, and in the rock. It's fun to watch the rock while the tank cycles, and usually the system will cycle very quickly. :fish1:

 

[d0ughb0y]

I start with dry everything. Rock, sand, rubble, etc.
I them add all of the macrofauna and other critters that I desire. Helps me keep control.
I also dip and qt everything that I add.

I'm with you on this. I would never use live rock as is. either dry rock, or sterilize the heck out of live rock (which you can get cheap or free from people breaking down tanks). Anything I did not put in the tank, I don't want, beneficial or not. Bacteria will eventually grow on the rocks.

Should've just saved some money and bought dry rock. :thumbsup:

on a side note I was watching a guy on youtube do coral dips and amazing what little hitchhikers come along on corals. He had some bristleworms, brittle stars and a few other nasty things. :crazy1:

I now always get fresh cut frags. too many issues with hitchhikers on frag plugs. not worth the risk.

 

[windlasher]

Everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks they are right. I don't have a problem with this. I have a problem with someone throwing an opinion out there and calling everyone who disagrees with him pansy. Grow up and have an adult discussion without all of the name calling.

You want all that in your tank, great, go for it. Some of us don't.

And no, it doesn't make sense that he paid for live rock plus shipping and then proceeded to kill most of the life. I've started every tank I have owned with dry rock. The hitchhikers (good or bad) have come in on colonies that I have purchased.

I had a mantis that I couldn't trap which beat the crap out of some of my coral beds every night and injured some fish. I had to tear down the tank to get rid of him. IF the OP did identify Bobbit worms in there, then why risk it. I wouldn't want that in my tank, hence the starting every tank dry.