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Live rock


Mitrillion

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Just worth sharing a negative experiance I've had-getting "live rock" from someone is what brought in an unwanted pest to which there is no in tank treatment for (until recently I may have came across one :) ) no natural predator that will eradicate it, so it sits in my tank killing snails and it was the cause of killing 4 clams before I found out I even had it.

 

Short story unless I was building a system that was for predators or things people don't like, Mojanos, aptasia etc I'd never get live anything Rock, sand etc from any reefer

 

Just a heads up and something to consider

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I agree, thought I was doing a good thing keeping all the live stuff on the live rock.

 

My issue was insane amounts of phosphate leaching from the dirty old rock.  It was terrible.  

 

Bleach and muriatic acid for any used live rock in my future.  Then I would feel pretty good about re-using it.

 

Good luck on the hunt!

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IME I try to get rid of the critters, but leave the bacteria in tact. I do this by "cooking" the rock. I just feed the cooking tank pure ammonia to keep the bacteria alive, and any pest critters, they don't make it through.

 

The anaerobic bacteria in the rock is what converts nitrate to 02. If you do decide to bleach the rock, just plan to compensate for the nitrate removal another way. 

 

JME

 

Curious, Brad, what pest did you end up with?

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So would u guys recommend established dry rock?

There isn't such a thing, if it's dry, it's dead. I would either fill your tank with all dry rock and seed with some bacteria cultures or do all dry and just get a small piece from someone to seed the dry.

 

I haven't bough live rock since I started way back when. Pests come and go on corals too but as others are saying, limit the potential sources as corals can be dipped and rock can't (without killing the good stuff of course).

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As I always say, Reefrocks.net still has the cheapest, nicest mined rock.  $85 for 50lb box shipped to your door, that's $1.70 per pound!  Same mining area as marco rocks but he is cheaper and will custom cut stuff at no charge (say you need plate cuts or something...).  He also sells 40lb boxes of sugar sand for the cost of shipping ($15ish per box).  Out of the 800lbs of rock I've bought over the last few years, I had the best experience with Steve Hauble at Reef Rocks.  Of course, the rock that came out of Oxx's tank was an experience too!

 

If you are going to buy used, depending on the source "cook" it, bleach it, or straight nuke it (pressure wash/bleach/acid bath) pretty much in that order depending on severity of the issues.

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