Aiptasia
- Thread starter BalaShark
- Start date
*laughingc That's kinda funny... I just finished a dose of aptasia-x about 5 min ago!
Never heard of using red-legs. Where did you hear about that? If it checks out I'd give it a try!
At this point I'm almost ready to remount all my corals and cook the rock... almost
. The only thing stoping me is I have a bunch of sponges that I've had for years that came as hitchhikers. Not too sure how they would do if I cut them off...
Chris
Never heard of using red-legs. Where did you hear about that? If it checks out I'd give it a try!
At this point I'm almost ready to remount all my corals and cook the rock... almost
. The only thing stoping me is I have a bunch of sponges that I've had for years that came as hitchhikers. Not too sure how they would do if I cut them off... Chris
*laughingc That's kinda funny... I just finished a dose of aptasia-x about 5 min ago!
Never heard of using red-legs. Where did you hear about that? If it checks out I'd give it a try!
At this point I'm almost ready to remount all my corals and cook the rock... almost. The only thing stoping me is I have a bunch of sponges that I've had for years that came as hitchhikers. Not too sure how they would do if I cut them off...
Chris
Never heard of using red-legs. Where did you hear about that? If it checks out I'd give it a try!
At this point I'm almost ready to remount all my corals and cook the rock... almost
. The only thing stoping me is I have a bunch of sponges that I've had for years that came as hitchhikers. Not too sure how they would do if I cut them off... Chris
Google "Aiptasia red legged hermits" for one. I order my aptasia-x in 14oz bottles. Just got 2 delivered for $77. Don't remount any corals. The aptasia is not just in the rock, it's in the sand, water, everywhere. Cooking the rock will cause the live rock to become dead rock, and once you put it back in the tank, you'll have a huge cycle, likely killing whatever is left.
That's not a bad price, they are $60 cnd each at my LFS. I'll have to take a look online...
Just want to make sure we're talking about the same "cooking". I'm refering to essentially an extremely long cure in a dark container. Theory being they wouldn't get light and anything they could feed on would eventually die causing them to starve.
I am more than aware they are everywhere. I run bare bottom on that tank and am going to be switching over to a new system in the next little while. I'd rather have base rock than deal with this infestation... I just don't want to lose the sponges. When I do move the corals and clams over I was thinking of a freshwater dip to handle any larvea. Don't know if it'll work but worth a shot...
BTW, there are LOTS of tanks now a days that have virtually no live rock and maintain very finicky corals with reasonable fish loads. Yes the rock adds biodiversity but for the filtration aspect, anything with a large surface area can accomplish that. Not to mention, with the absurdly unnatural amount of coralline growth that is so prevalent, most tanks wouldn't even have proper diffusion into the rock.
I truly believe other than aesthetics and diversity, LR is not needed. It's just been drilled into everyones brains right from the get go that's it's become "necessary".
lol, that reads like a rant... isn't ment to.
Chris
Just want to make sure we're talking about the same "cooking". I'm refering to essentially an extremely long cure in a dark container. Theory being they wouldn't get light and anything they could feed on would eventually die causing them to starve.
I am more than aware they are everywhere
. I run bare bottom on that tank and am going to be switching over to a new system in the next little while. I'd rather have base rock than deal with this infestation... I just don't want to lose the sponges. When I do move the corals and clams over I was thinking of a freshwater dip to handle any larvea. Don't know if it'll work but worth a shot... BTW, there are LOTS of tanks now a days that have virtually no live rock and maintain very finicky corals with reasonable fish loads. Yes the rock adds biodiversity but for the filtration aspect, anything with a large surface area can accomplish that. Not to mention, with the absurdly unnatural amount of coralline growth that is so prevalent, most tanks wouldn't even have proper diffusion into the rock.
I truly believe other than aesthetics and diversity, LR is not needed. It's just been drilled into everyones brains right from the get go that's it's become "necessary".
lol, that reads like a rant... isn't ment to
. Chris
I have never heard of red legged hermits eating aiptaisia.....though maybe they do just that mine don't seem to touch it. Hermits of course have their own issues.
Chris give us some suggestions for things that will provide the same surface area as porous live rock to house beneficial bacteria and will accomplish the same filtration in the same space? I know bioballs will of course but then they also trap detritus and become a nitrate factory over time if not maintained. I think that live rock is usually recommended and "drilled" into our heads as it is the most efficient providing esthetics along with functionality.
Chris give us some suggestions for things that will provide the same surface area as porous live rock to house beneficial bacteria and will accomplish the same filtration in the same space? I know bioballs will of course but then they also trap detritus and become a nitrate factory over time if not maintained. I think that live rock is usually recommended and "drilled" into our heads as it is the most efficient providing esthetics along with functionality.
I think I might give the red legs a go... I've never had problems with them in the past (knock on wood) so worth a shot!
Base rock for one. All I'm saying is there is nothing special about the filtration capacity of live rock. The same effects could be had with other techniques. A great example would be the supposed nitrate reducing qualities, how many tanks have we all heard about that have excessive nitrates (for the sake of the disscussion say 40ppm +) with the 1lb/gal rule of thumb? The reason being it's *rock* lol. There is only so far that the anoxic zone goes into the surface, from what I've read it's less than a few millimeters (0.0394" or just over 1/32 = 1mm) deep at best. There seems to be a mentality that the whole internal area is a zone for nitrate reduction. An exmple of something that could actually do a better job would be an Autotrophic sulphur denitrator or an ATS, or Cheto based refugium. There is also the new Zeo based systems that appear to have alot of potential (I just don't know that much about them... yet ). So far as surface area, everytime I flip through a fish magazine there are adds for scintered (sp?) ceramic "rocks", or there are things like man made Lava and Tuffa (natural is not recommended because of possible contaminants). Then there is always plain ol' everyday aragonite sand, the surface area of even an inch depth of oolitic would put a tank full of LR to shame.
I guess this type of thing has always made me wonder... Really we are talking about some of the oldest, most readily available, most adaptable bacteria on the planet. While yes we should be conscious of it's needs and yes it has importance in our tanks, I really don't think it's *as* important as what we make it out to be. I think it falls under the heading of "build it and they will come" regardless of the media. If we ensure there are both aerobic and anoxic (and some would even argue for aenorobic) areas then the *need* for LR is only an aesthetic one. I think some are starting to get that too, there are alot of tanks being set up with nothing but baserock or artificial (concrete) or even epoxy/sand coated foam "rock", usually a mix of the three.
I would like to apologize, "drilled" might not have been the best term to use. It's just the first that popped into my head.
Chris
::: goes to fill coffee cup... Anyone want some while I'm up :::
Base rock for one
. All I'm saying is there is nothing special about the filtration capacity of live rock. The same effects could be had with other techniques. A great example would be the supposed nitrate reducing qualities, how many tanks have we all heard about that have excessive nitrates (for the sake of the disscussion say 40ppm +) with the 1lb/gal rule of thumb? The reason being it's *rock* lol. There is only so far that the anoxic zone goes into the surface, from what I've read it's less than a few millimeters (0.0394" or just over 1/32 = 1mm) deep at best. There seems to be a mentality that the whole internal area is a zone for nitrate reduction. An exmple of something that could actually do a better job would be an Autotrophic sulphur denitrator or an ATS, or Cheto based refugium. There is also the new Zeo based systems that appear to have alot of potential (I just don't know that much about them... yet ). So far as surface area, everytime I flip through a fish magazine there are adds for scintered (sp?) ceramic "rocks", or there are things like man made Lava and Tuffa (natural is not recommended because of possible contaminants). Then there is always plain ol' everyday aragonite sand, the surface area of even an inch depth of oolitic would put a tank full of LR to shame. I guess this type of thing has always made me wonder... Really we are talking about some of the oldest, most readily available, most adaptable bacteria on the planet. While yes we should be conscious of it's needs and yes it has importance in our tanks, I really don't think it's *as* important as what we make it out to be. I think it falls under the heading of "build it and they will come" regardless of the media
. If we ensure there are both aerobic and anoxic (and some would even argue for aenorobic) areas then the *need* for LR is only an aesthetic one. I think some are starting to get that too, there are alot of tanks being set up with nothing but baserock or artificial (concrete) or even epoxy/sand coated foam "rock", usually a mix of the three. I would like to apologize, "drilled" might not have been the best term to use. It's just the first that popped into my head.
Chris
::: goes to fill coffee cup... Anyone want some while I'm up
:::
Last edited:
Okay now that makes sense. When using the term "live rock" I am thinking of any rock that is essentially populated with these beneficial bacteria. In my mind base rock, tufa, concrete and other manufactured etc rock once it becomes populated with the bacteria in my mind is essentially "live rock" The term live rock to me isn't just rock harvested from the ocean's reefs....though some rock such as Marshall Island etc is very porous and branchy and therefore giving this rock more exposed area to be covered than the same "size" piece of concrete hence it's preference and also the fact in my mind it looks better. You are right also that there are many items that can be used to provide this filtration benefit.