idiosyncraticeee Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I have a question about hitchhikers on live rock and I'm hoping that somebody can help me understand it better. For a long time I've been disappointed in the lack of interesting hitchikers on my live rock (no mini-brittle stars, no mini-feather dusters, no copepods). I decided to buy some live rock from a LFS to see if I could increase the amount of interesting stuff on my rock. I bought 2 good size pieces (larger than softball) of cured LR and have had them in the tank for a month. I've looked and looked and have never seen anything on them. Are my expectation too high or is it bum rock? Thanks. Tank: 90 gallon display, 30 gallon sump (10 gallons of which is a refugium) Fish: Purple and Yellow Tang, Leopard Wrasse, 2 clowns, firefish, flame hawk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 how old is your system? A lot of my "interesting" growth came after tank was up for 6 months or better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idiosyncraticeee Posted December 27, 2009 Author Share Posted December 27, 2009 The system is about 12 months old and half the live rock came from the system I had before that was started 12 months before that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 hmm....that's odd. I don't know dude... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Could you see this stuff on the LR before you bought it from the LFS? Out of 4 LFS I've bought LR from only one had hitchhikers (In that case the rock was actually in the display tanks rather than a separate LR tank). The rest had good coraline growth but no hitchhikers that I'm aware of. The most hitchhikers I've had actually came from LR I got directly from other tanks that were being torn down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 It all depends on what comes on the rocks when you buy them. If you see them on the rocks when you buy them then you have them. If you dont see them then there is a chance that there are tiny organisms or creatures deep inside the rock. I used to see feather dusters all over my rock. Inside all the crevases and holes there was dusters growing. Sponges and tunacates also. If they are there in the rock then there is a chance when your tank matures they will show up but no guarantee. It you want to increase your biodiversity and increase the life in your tank I recomend makeing sure you have vigorous current and stable parameters. I also recommend culturing your own phytoplankton and doseing this everyday. Phyto is the building blocks of all things in the sea. Its like the first rung in the food chain ladder. Use it any your pods will increase along with all the micro crustations and tiny little critters. If you really want some live liverock get some from tampa bay saltwater. I called these guys and ordered some gorgonias a long time ago. Still have some. They came with yellow ball sponges and liver smonges. I asked him to throw in some crabs and he added about 4 or 5 different tiny crabs. All his rock is aqua cultured as he takes rocks out to a leased section of ocean on a huge barge like 200 thousand pounds at a time and dumps the rock off and leaves it there to get covered in life and it really is some killer liverock. I only ordered a small amount because its pretty spendy way to get liverock but back then I was pretty new to the addiction and moneys were no object early in the hobby for me. http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html If you havent seen his video about his liverock you should watch it. It also shows him out in his boat collecting his rock and bringing it back to shore. There is a good chance that if you order from him that he will dive for your rock the next day as he did this for my searod gorgonias. The video is somewhere on his website. He changed his website again and I liked the old one better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idiosyncraticeee Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 When I was at the store I didn't see anything on any of the rocks. However, whenever I look at rock at any LFS I rarely see anything on any of the rocks. I like the idea of dosing phytoplankton. I think you are right, this would probably encourage some of these more subtle lifeforms. I also checked out that Tampa Bay Saltwater. Looks like a pretty interesting setup. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 If you want the most life you will want to get uncured live rock and pick it up the same day the LFS gets it in. You don't want it sitting around in there LR curing tanks. I've never seen a LFS cure rock the way I do at home. You might find better rock online but I wouldn't buy rock from Florida. My premium fiji rock from liveaquaria.com had all kinds of life when I got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 My rock has never looked full of life when I got it but within a few weeks it started to show and after a few months I had a lot more. Also, CUC and fish will sometimes eat all the life before it shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Just because ya dont see anything dosnt mean it's not there. do you have a fuge? Have ya looked at your tank with a flashlight late at night after the light's have been off for a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoss Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 I got a lot of hitchhikers from some rock rubble and rockpool sludge that I bought from Premium Aquatics years ago. Still have some of them including some random bivalves and some cool sponges. I will agree that most of the rock I see in stores seems pretty devoid of hitchhikers, on the other hand, my rock flower anemone came in as a hitchhiker from some rock I got at Seahorse. I think it's really just the luck of the draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badguitarist Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I wonder if the flame hawk or leopard wrasse are eating anything interesting that comes in on the rock? just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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