Freshwater dip or raise salinity?

[cyder_15]

Hey guys,

I know that a freshwater drip of live rocks will definitely bring the unwanted pests like crabs, manti shrimps and worms out. However, this will indefinitely take away the nutrifying bacteria in the live rocks as well. Therefore I am trying not to use that method even those the crabs in my tank are really getting out of hand as they are attacking my lps.

However, I wonder if any of you have tried raising the salinity to a super high level like 1.040 and above to get rid of all these pests. Will it be just as effective and also will this kill the useful bacteria in the liverocks as well?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

[giantbicycle]

yes, Hypo salnatiity will work but u need to wait for the wrigly stuff to crawl out..as for crabs..they are more prone to hypo

experience

[cci[RR]us]

Are you really sure that freshwater dips definitely force out the unwanted pests?

I soaked my live rocks in freshwater for 30 minutes and some only came out. When I took the "half-alive" LRs out, I still find some bristleworms hiding in the holes. They are commandos.

It really depends on your luck. Some LRs may require more "nuking" than others as the pests are more resilient. Bros have tried ways such as boiling the LRs, sunning them, bleaching them, etc, in a bid to exterminate the pests. This effectively kills the pests (sometimes they die inside, so not a good idea), and this also effectively kills the live rocks.

[cci[RR]us]

yes, Hypo salnatiity will work but u need to wait for the wrigly stuff to crawl out..as for crabs..they are more prone to hypo

experience

I think the thread poster wants to increase salinity, not lower them:

However, I wonder if any of you have tried raising the salinity to a super high level like 1.040 and above to get rid of all these pests.

So I don't think this is called hyposalinity.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...posalinity.html

Hyposalinity is adjusting the salinity of the water to somewhat less the that of natural sea water. "Hypo" comes from Greek and means under or below. For the treatment to be effective the salinity needs to be lowered to 12-14‰ which is equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.009 (d20/20) at normal tank temperatures (26-28°C - 79-82°F).

[FuEl]

Why buy liverock when you are going to kill them? You would have been better off starting with artificial rock.

[Qxnviolet]

Why buy liverock when you are going to kill them? You would have been better off starting with artificial rock.

I second that....The reason i bought LRs was because i wanted the organisms in them. Not to mention the coralline. I didn't even bother to do FW dips. Just tried my best to clean off the unwanted algae, sponges and as much worms as possible. The rest i just hand catch them whenever i see them during my cycling phase.

[tivoli]

Hi all,

my experience is half an hour in fresh water will not kill off all bacteria

maybe some.

The reason why we all need to fresh water dip all live rocks is because you

do not want to get these two pests:

[tivoli]

neither do you want to have this.

[Tanga]

neither do you want to have this.

This is the reason why I don't like live rocks it's because of all those pest. I'd rather buy dead rock and make it alive again without the need to worry about all those pest and algae. For carolline algae it will grow if your water parameter is within range. When I 1st started this hobby bought live rocks cover with carolline algae but after a while the rocks become brown. But once my water parameter stablelize it started to grow back. Really don't understand why worry so much about carolline algae where there are other problem that need more attention.

Sorry folks just 0.02cents

[cyder_15]

Hi guys,

Firstly i want to apologise for making the mistake of using the word hypo which confused you guys. I want to raise the salinity not reduce it, so i guess the term hyper should be used instead.

Secondly, I dont think any of you have answer my question on whether increasing the salinity will actually kill off the beneficial bacteria and coralline algae.

I agree with brother tanga that the pests will ultimately get out of hand and pose a problem which i am having right now. Therefore, i want to fully eradicate this problem so that whenever i buy more expensive corals, I dont have to worry about these unwanted pests causing harm to my livestock as well have corals.

Cheers

[tivoli]

yo friends,

in my experience, putting the live rock in high salinity or fresh water

will kill off pods, worms, bacteria near the surface of the rocks ....

But the bacteria in the depth of the rock will survive....

I have dipped live rock into acidic solution of vinegar for a few mins ...

The coralline algae still survive but with some die off ... but majority still

survive.

Cheers

[cyder_15]

yo friends,

in my experience, putting the live rock in high salinity or fresh water

will kill off pods, worms, bacteria near the surface of the rocks ....

But the bacteria in the depth of the rock will survive....

I have dipped live rock into acidic solution of vinegar for a few mins ...

The coralline algae still survive but with some die off ... but majority still

survive.

Cheers

Thanks bro.

Anyway i did that and the crabs came out.

Did a major rescape and i hope thats the end of those pests fo rme

Cheers

[cci[RR]us]

I washed my live rock on 9 Apr 06 and managed to flush out 2 worms with tap water. Below are the "live" stuff inside the liverocks.

Today, 20 Apr 06, I took the same LR out again and rinse with water as it was quite dirty. Then I noticed something was inside, so I poured some hydrogen peroxide (mild bleaching agent) to force the stuff out.

I left the LR in a pail and after 20 minutes....

I found 2 small worms and a freaking huge monster worm, along with a small crab. Wow, I didn't expect my LR to be that lively.

To appreciate the sheer size of the mommy worm, you will need a 20 cent coin :

I'm not sure about you, but I feel much better now know that my LR is less "alive" than ever. And yes, I should have went for dead rocks. Drats.

Something tells me that there are still some more of their buddies inside. Until next time...

PS: What should I do to the pests now that they are contained in a bowl?

[cyder_15]

haha brother i am glad you did that man. Its so darn irritating knowing that theres something harassing your corals and LS but you just cant seem to get it out. I am really happy that my live rock is not so "alive" anymore haha.

Cheers

[cci[RR]us]

Yep. And fyi, I saw the worms attacked my snails before. My snails were lucky to shrug off the worms, literally, by shaking their shells violently.

Good luck!

[bluezing]

i am one of those supporters of making your live rock less lively...

haha...

its not a gd feeling to know all these hitchhikers are in ur tank.

definitely 95% of liverocks contains these stuffs...crabs being the most common

[bluezing]

neither do you want to have this.

that is 1 mean-looking MTF!!!!!

[Xtrader]

Hi,

I'm new and about to start a tank. So should I use Live or Dead rocks?

Thanks in advance

[Alvin Tan]

Hi,

I'm new and about to start a tank. So should I use Live or Dead rocks?

Thanks in advance

IMO...live rocks..

[May&Bruce]

def go for live rocks, but do expect there to be some unwanted free-riders on the rocks. Look for them during the cycling phase and get rid oif them as soon as you see them.