I got live rock, now what?

[ej797]

I was able to find 115 pounds of Haitian live rock. I went ahead and grabbed it because it seems to be hard to find now.

However, it is full of gorilla crabs and who knows what else. Also, I have not even began my build yet.

So, what would you with the rock if you were me? Would you give it a bath in diluted muratic acid and let it dry out? Would you keep it "alive" in a trash can with a power head? Is there something else you would do? Please include your reasoning so I can understand why you would choose this path.

I truly Appreciate your time. I'll try to get some pics up of the score soon.

 

[Sharpimage]

bleach bath then let it dry out. Then put it in a tub of heated salt water to make it live again. Get rid of all the crud and crap that you won't be able to later on. Start fresh

 

[dbenyo]

The entire point of live rock is to obtain a diverse collection of bacteria / organisms which greatly improve stability. True live rock does not require a cycle or anything, it is ready to use. We commonly see needing to “cure” liverock because it has been sitting in the hull of a ship with everything dying for 1-2 weeks or a LFS put some dry rock in a tank and is getting seeded without full cycling. So basically if you use this rock you will have more diversity and more natural. If you dry it out and start over it’s the same as buying dry rock and I don’t see the point of even buying live rock to begin with to do this with (unless it was branching Tonga or something not commonly found anymore. The benefit of the latter would be zero pests and a “sterile” environment. They both have advantages/ disadvantages and I’ve started tanks with both methods. I haven’t seen the rock so it’s hard to suggest any recs but if it’s healthy liverock you would definitely be hitting the ground running if you inspected them closely, kept them alive, and got rid of pests now. On the other hand if you want full control over what gets in your tank and you will implement a strict QT, nuke em.

 

[ej797]

I appreciate the responses. I've kept the rock alive for now while I make the decision.

I bought the rock for the rock itself, not necessarily because it was live. I was having a really tough time finding Haitian live rock and this seemed like a fleeting opportunity. I am months away from having my tank up and running so I only have the option of either nuking them or keeping them alive in a trash can exposed to outdoor temperatures for about three months.

I have them in a trash can now with a powerhead so I could take my time to make this decision.

I'm leaning toward keeping them alive and just dealing with whatever pests I may have. Maybe I'll put a trap in the trash can and try to capture as much as I can. I've already seen a bunch of starfish and gorilla crabs. Some kind of worm and an urchin.

Feel free to chime in with your ideas as I have not made my final decision yet.

 

[knukles55]

I like to put this as buying or renting a place for the first time...... would you clean the place before you move in or just move in hoping that the people before you cleaned up and didnt leave any bad critters behind ( tics, fleas, baby roaches and so on.) If you doing a coral tank I would bleach it all and start over you dont want any problems with your corals. Now if your doing a fish only tank I'm not really sure.

 

[dbenyo]

With the additional information that this will be outside for possibly a few months I’d just get started on bleaching it, curing it, and all that. When you are ready the rock will be ready.

 

[ThRoewer]

The problem with pests and nuisance algae is that they ultimately will find a way into your system. They will come on frags, in the stomachs of fish, in or on the shells of snails and hermits, heck, even as spores out of the air (especially if you live anywhere near an ocean coast.
And even deep inside the rocks some algae spores may survive the bleach.
So bleaching the rocks may give you a "clean" start, but it will not keep the pests out.
IMO the benefits of the good stuff on live rock outweighs the risks of getting some potential pests. I can assure you that nearly all the pests I have in my tanks came with coral frags and inverts.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[stagcrazy]

get a fish trap and catch all the crabs.and reuse the rock.

 

[five.five-six]

The entire point of live rock is to obtain a diverse collection of bacteria / organisms which greatly improve stability. True live rock does not require a cycle or anything, it is ready to use. We commonly see needing to "œcure" liverock because it has been sitting in the hull of a ship with everything dying for 1-2 weeks or a LFS put some dry rock in a tank and is getting seeded without full cycling. So basically if you use this rock you will have more diversity and more natural. If you dry it out and start over it's the same as buying dry rock and I don't see the point of even buying live rock to begin with to do this with (unless it was branching Tonga or something not commonly found anymore. The benefit of the latter would be zero pests and a "œsterile" environment. They both have advantages/ disadvantages and I've started tanks with both methods. I haven't seen the rock so it's hard to suggest any recs but if it's healthy liverock you would definitely be hitting the ground running if you inspected them closely, kept them alive, and got rid of pests now. On the other hand if you want full control over what gets in your tank and you will implement a strict QT, nuke em.

the problem with the "œsterile environment" is that without micro bio diversity, you are really susceptible to things like Dino's. Ask me how I know. 10 years ago, when everyone was getting live rock that had been baking on the deck of a ship for 10 hrs, no one ever really heard of Dino's but now that dry rock is prevalent, Dino's seem to be everywhere.


That said, gorilla crabs have to be 100% exterminated or you will regret it and I really don't know how to go about that. I might get hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, most things jump off the rock in record time when hit with H2O3 but it won't hurt the beneficial bacteria deep in the rock

 

[ej797]

What do you guys think about sterilizing this rock since it has known pests and then seeding the tank with a few pieces of live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater or somewhere similar. I could quarantine the seed rock and watch it closely for a few weeks before putting it in the tank. I am in no hurry. Nothing good in this hobby happens fast.

 

[ThRoewer]

If the "known pests" are the gorilla crabs then I would not take to such extreme measures as sterilization.
Crab traps would definitely be one way to get the crabs out, especially if time is not an issue.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk