Cleaning live rock

D

Desert Oasis

New member
Hi, I am brand new to the world of reef aquariums. We bought the tank and everything before we realized that I was going to go head over heals for a reef system. We are trying to do this right, but I found I don't know what I am to be cleaning off the live rock before I start it curing. I do have it started, but think I need to clean off some things that became visible after sitting in salt water for a few days.

There are these little purple or maroon raised spots, that kind of look hairy or pocky. Not really like an anenome, but then again, I don't know! Do I need to remove these? Let's see if I can upload a picture!:bigeyes:

LiveRock.jpg
 
Hi, and welcome to rc. We are going to need more info on your tank. How long you have had it? Where and how long has the rock been in salt water. Was the rock alive when you bought it. What your water parameters are i/e salinity, ph, ammonia, nitrates. The filtration you have and lights. This is crazy, huh but the more info the better help someone can be. Good Luck
 
Okay, I have a 60 gallon tank that we are just starting. Yes, the rock was live when we bought it. We are trying to do the final cure (the rock came pre-cured, but we figure it still needs a little TLC) before we add anything. Right now, we are just running the filter (600 gph) and the flourescant lights. We will be moving to HOF when we start adding things, but have read that just flourescents are best to cure the live rock.

water chemistry:
currently running about 45 gallons of Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.
Ammonia=0.0
Nitrate=20
Nitrite=2.0
Alkalinity=300
pH=8.4
Specific gravity=1.022

The plan is to cure the live rock till we reach 0 on nitrates and nitrites, then add live sand, some cleaners and a few corals. Then go from there.

But mainly, I just don't know what I am supposed to remove from the live rock. I have read you need to remove Aiptasia and bristle worms. I Googled those, and got a decent understanding of what they look like, but these red/purple spots kind of worry me. I really hope they are not anything bad, because there are a few of them!
 
it might be flatworms i think. hopefully its not that, because those are a pain to get rid of from my understanding. whenever i get live rock i use some kind of safe container and fill it enough to completely submerge individual rocks. then i take a rock and rotate it rigorously in the water until all the loose crap all falls off. do that for each rock then put it in your tank. you might have to change the water out every now and then because your water will probably get pretty nasty. i would suggest when your curring your rack use plenty of power heads and go ahead and install mechanical filtration. clean out your filter media daily and prepair to syphon out and die off that occurs every couple of days. it would be easier to leave your tank bare bottom while curing, but if you have a separate curing container that makes the process even easier.

maybe some helpful links?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=23

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=47

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=163

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=209
 
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well aptaisia are near the top of remove, bristle worms can be bad, but are not nearly the issue that aptasia and majano are.

That picture is a bit tough, because the red is pretty small and hard to see, but just the first inclination I had when I brushed over it, and then went back and tried to get the best look I could, was that it is cyano. Throw some powderless gloves on and go in and tough it. If its smooshy, and comes off like slimy, it's cyano. This is a fairly common, and harmless part of the cycle, as long as it goes away.

Your params seem like they are fine, although just to check your test-kits I would have a LFS check your water. If you only started the tank 3 days ago, I highly doubt that your ammonia is 0, and the bacteria have moved on to nitrites already. I would expect at least a 1.0 here.

You can add live sand right now, actually I suggest it. Your substrate is one place where your bacteria will colonize to break down the nutrients given off by your LR die-off(they will also colonize the rock).

Lastly, it looks like you have Fresh Water gravel in there. If so, get it out, and throw the live sand in right now. Don't freak out when you put the live sand in, the water will cloud up pretty good.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I hope it is the cyano. It is kind os squishy, and doesn't appear to be the flat worm (I googled for a descritption).

I have had the live rock in for a week now. It is starting to color up nicely, but I may be doing the ammonia test wrong.

Okay, this may sound really stupid, but... Can I not mix colored gravel with live sand? How does vacuuming the tank work with live sand?
 
If you dont over feed and have a balanced cleanup crew vacuuming should be very little. If the live sand your asking about is the bag stuff imo buying sand from your lfs or a local guy is a better option. The gravel I dont think will help with filtration because its not porous but if your looking for style then, hey its your tank.
 
yeah, there is not that big of an issue with gravel. The problem, most use sand-sifting organisms(snails, stars, cucumbers, sand-sifting fish) to "turn-over" their sand bed. That is keep it "moving" and keep it from collecting detritus. With large-grain gravel, it might more difficult for your CUC to move around and keep it detritus free. If you want to vacuum/syphon the rocks every week with your WC's, feel free if that's what you want.

I have heard some corals(not necessarily something you really want) are irritated by rocks, and therefore are more often put on the sand, which is much finer. With big gravel, you MAY irritate some of these corals. No finite evidence, just something to think about.
 
Wow!

Wow!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. If the gravel could irritate the corals, maybe I will just keep it in a section of the tank. Also a great point about crabs and shrimp having a harder time filtering through the gravel. I do plan on having starfish, crab and corals, so maybe gravel isn't the best. I will leave the red spots, sounds like they are good.

I love watching the rocks changing fromgrey-brown to green, red and purplish. I even have a sponge that has come to life! How cool! I am just so axcited about all the life on my rocks, wait till I get to the corals and fish!:lolspin:
 
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