Is this the exciting future of Live Rock? Must See!!!
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
liverock
RC Sponsor
Yo
there are none of the invasive type aptasia in the Gulf...those are of indo pacific origin ...and no bubble algae up here either...but I have seen it in the Keys...but not up here.....we are blessed in those categories...
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:
KingTriton1
New member
Richard,
I love your live rock, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Any rock that comes from FL has a good chance of having bubble algae on it. I use to live in Pensacola, Fl and this was always the case with local rock. Aptasia was generally present as well. I think it is rare to find any live rock without these on them as they are pretty common. Not the end of the world or anything, but if you buy more than 10lbs I would say it's pretty obvious that it will be present.
liverock
RC Sponsor
Maybe so...but not so...... have never seen any bubble...here..in the Gulf ever..as for aptasia, yes there is one of the species here...but not the invasive type. The ones I do see are singles, and do not multiply like the indo ones...in fact I have one in my system for a few years...just keeps getting bigger and bigger...but never propagates. I keep him around just to see how it goes.
If they were an issue my systems would be full of them....and there are none, so they are of no issue here.
As for bubble algae...not in 45 years of diving here in the gulf have I seen any, ever....but it does occur in the Keys. so I guess we can agree to disagree...lol
Now if you go to the local wholesalers....their tanks are full of the invasive aptasia....why?...because they come in on the corals they import, and they are constantly battling them.
And remember ..I am the guy who dives and brings in tons and tons of rock, I know!
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:
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KingTriton1
New member
Richard,
I actually bought some 20lbs of live rock from you that came with bubble algae. This rock was put into a brand new tank without any additional rock for other sources. Although it didn't appear until I let me nitrates get out of hand in my quarantine. I can only share my particular experience, however at the end of the day the rock was worth it.
Keep up the good work :thumbsup:
I actually bought some 20lbs of live rock from you that came with bubble algae. This rock was put into a brand new tank without any additional rock for other sources. Although it didn't appear until I let me nitrates get out of hand in my quarantine. I can only share my particular experience, however at the end of the day the rock was worth it.
Keep up the good work :thumbsup:
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KingTriton1
New member
I've heard of Emeril crabs and fox faces sometimes work. However no success on my end, even with lower nutrients. Everyone has different experiences though. I'm not trying the persuade anyone against TBS live rock as I still buy live rock from Richard and for good reason
Emerald crabs will eat it. That is always my go to animal to fight that problem and they are good scavengers to boot. Aiptaisia I have a file fish that does wonders and eats pellets, mysis, and everything else. Best fish ever and I will even go to my LFS and buy a frag with it for him/her as a treat.
I think with Richards stuff you just need to be aware of what "can" catch a ride and plan accordingly. There is nothing wrong with any of. The so-called pest(s) to include bubble algae or Aiptaisia. We can add things to counter that look nice and don't take away from the overall look. I have bubble hair and even blue cloves but to me it looks natural and that is part of the bio. Type I'm after.
If I was doing sps or something else then I. Would start with Richards first and then work my way through it over the next couple of months to see what I. Want to keep, counter, catch,remove or re-home
Looking forward to obtaining some of this stuff once I finish planning my 40'supgrade.
Emerald crabs will eat it. That is always my go to animal to fight that problem and they are good scavengers to boot. Aiptaisia I have a file fish that does wonders and eats pellets, mysis, and everything else. Best fish ever and I will even go to my LFS and buy a frag with it for him/her as a treat.
I think with Richards stuff you just need to be aware of what "can" catch a ride and plan accordingly. There is nothing wrong with any of. The so-called pest(s) to include bubble algae or Aiptaisia. We can add things to counter that look nice and don't take away from the overall look. I have bubble hair and even blue cloves but to me it looks natural and that is part of the bio. Type I'm after.
If I was doing sps or something else then I. Would start with Richards first and then work my way through it over the next couple of months to see what I. Want to keep, counter, catch,remove or re-home
Looking forward to obtaining some of this stuff once I finish planning my 40'supgrade.
Sorry if I'm being a nuisance, but this is my personal bete noir. None of the dozens of emerald crabs I have added to my tanks over the decades have ever had any effect on bubble algae. Could be I'm mistaken. Maybe they eat leetle, beety tiny ones at night while I'm not looking. But I've never seen a reduction in bubble algae after adding these crabs, and the only things I have ever seen them eat are LPS polyps.
For the record I'm also opposed to hermit crabs unless the goal is to reduce the snail pop as snails seem to be their primary source of protein, but that is piling on crabs I think.
So as a recently declared candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, that's my platform: we need to build a wall between evil crabs and our reef aquaria.
Mike
I wish dogs didn't come with hitchhiking fleas and ice cream didn't come with hitchhiking sugar and beer didn't come with hitchhiking liver poison. But I like dogs, ice cream and beer. Everything in life comes with a caveat. Some are just worse than others. Some algae on live rock is certainly not enough of a caveat to consider not using real ocean live rock, IMO. But hey, to each his own. If you don't like fleas, fat, a bad liver and algae, don't buy it, consume it, or get into the marine aquarium hobby. 
I don't think nuisance nor do I think it is just you. I can just tell you what my personal experience has been when putting them in. For a bit I had two 29 gallon bio cubes of which one had a really bad problem with bubble algae while the other one didn't. I wasn't sure if it was because this one had a deep sand bed or different LED combination / manufacture (Phillips vs. Cree). In either case at times the bubbles would be everywhere to include free floating.
Syphon / pull out what I can, grab a few off rocks, add in two emerald crabs, within a couple weeks to a month the problem was gone. These are the funky green/light green in color with red dots/color on their fore arm / large claws joint area.
But I have read that sometimes they don't just like peppermint shrimp don't or only eat a little. That is why I have the file fish
rmcaum
New member
I have had 120 pounds of Richards older rock and never had any bubble algae. My tank with dry rock has a little but that came in a coral frag. I did have one aiptaisia that I let live for a couple of years and it never propagated. I eventually killed it just because I felt like I owed it to it. As far as long term success with the life, many of species last months to a year, as they thin out the hardier sponges and cup corals become more prevalent. I still have lots of sponge but in less variety. One of the three great tree sponges I got is still alive two and a half years later. It is starting to fade. Still well worth it.
moondoggy4
Team RC
Great thread, I read through the whole thing. Not sure if I want to go dead Pukani or live,leaning towards the live right now.
