drying live rock

[Liam61097]

I'm planning on setting up another reef tank and I was wondering if there was a way to clean live rock without destroying the helpful bacteria. Also I have heard washing it off or drying it out to get rid of hitchhikers will either work?

 

[BallinCrew10]

Drying it out will kill everything on it including the bacteria. It will take your LR and make it very expensive base rock.

 

[Gti_Leo]

yeah not worth it, but the thing is the die off can be used to cycle the rock again and build the life back

 

[cmor1701d]

Are you moving LR you already have from tank1 to tank2?
Set up a few 5 gallon buckets half filled with sw. Swish the rocks through a few buckets to knock off the accumulated debris and add to the new tank.

Hitchhikers? From your own tank?
Is this new LR coming from an lfs or Internet retailers?

Then cure the rock in tubs outside of the DT. Most hitchhikers are beneficial.

Check out our article on curing live rock

 

[nxb161]

Are you just trying to get rid of hitchhikers or a dirty algae problem? You can try putting it in a tub like you're going to cure LR, but set some traps for crabs, and monitor it at night for bristle worms, can be removed with tweezers...etc..

 

[Liam61097]

ya I'm trying to get rid of hitchhikers from a lfs if there are any but I want to make sure I don't get another unwanted "free" bristleworm

 

[nxb161]

my 20G has LOTS of them, they are everywhere at night when the lifhts are out. I think they're neat, but I know others are freaked out by them. Hopfully I'll be getting a CBS for that tank tomorrow, I hope he doesn't eat them all.

 

[mr_X]

a coral banded shrimp may eat a few tiny worms, but it won't touch the large ones. cutting back on feeding is the best way to thin out a herd of worms. a large population of bristle worms is a sure sign of overfeeding.

bristle worms are good for your system. it's unnecessary to remove them. i can't think a reason you wouldn't want any, unless you just think they are "icky".

 

[nxb161]

yeah, I've never had them before, but I got a tank with LR from someone, and that is just filled with them. I think I've only had it for a month or so, the tank was filthy, so I believe it about the over feeding. I trashed the sand, but kept all the LR as is. Not really worried about the bristle worm, I'm just more careful when I reach in.

 

[Liam61097]

the bristle worm I had gotten on my lr was huge it must had grown for a month or two after I got my lr and it must of ben pretty big before hand, I'm just suprised I didn't notice it until a bit ago

 

[Gti_Leo]

they can be pretty ugly especially large ones, if they stayed small i'm sure no one would care or even notice them

 

[thincat]

My bi-color psyudocromis ate all my bristle worms.