jump starting liverock ?

[warren thomas]

hi i have my 46 bow filled with a 50/50 mix of cured liverock and large dead baserock about 75pounds total i am trying to get some life into all this rock so when i treat my 55 with 100lbs of LR for flatworms that if any life dies on it my other batch will pick up the load . i just put 2 damsels in the 46 to help cycling but at night even the good LR in the tank never had much for life like copods and ect. should i buy some fresh rock from paragon to get things going ? my 55 is full of life but i cant take a chance of exporting flatworms to my 46 . thank you .

[minh_han]

This is a tough question. Flatworms are frankly everywhere, and there are a million different opinions on how to get rid of them. I know that Paragon has flatworms b/c I've asked them. Mike at Paragon says that he just keeps one or two flatworm eating fish in each tank and it does fine. Problem is that it's a hit and miss thing. One fish from the same species might eat flatworms, and its brother might not. Do a search on flatworms and you'll find a gazillion threads. I got one or two flatworms in my tank from the past meeting, I think from the xenia frag. I had dumped half the water into the main tank when I noticed the flatworm on the bottom of the bag. I quickly took the bag out and dosed it with quinine. I had hoped that it killed them all, but it's tough to be sure. The next two days, I pulled out two flatworms from the tank, and I haven't seen any since.

[Bruce]

Warren,

I would think that all the live rock in the world won't do nearly as much for an ammonia spike from the flatworm treatment as back to back water changes (20- 50%) and running charcoal. From what I've read, if you siphon out as many worms as possible before you treat, follow an aggressive dosing regime (at least twice), and remove corals / inverts / fish that are obviously going to die from the treatment, then your tank should make a good recovery with the water changes.

So my suggestion is that if you want "pretty" live rock, then buy some at Paragon, but I don't think it will help your situation.

Let us know how you make out. It would be good to have a flatworm erradicator expert in the group.


Bruce

[warren thomas]

im acually going to treat with flatworm exit in my 55 and leave the rock there to do my water changes and charcol this way i can give it time to be sure they are all gone there is no worms in my 46 gallon tank and that is the rock i want to put in the 125 . im asumming that when all said and done my rock in the 55 will be in bad shape or no life i hope not but who knows . i want to treat my corals and put them in another tank with the fish as a precaution well acually the fish can go in the 125 by then . i just wish i could buy a jar of live stuff like copods and all the other stuff you see crawling around the rocks it maked me feel good to see all that stuff . hmm maybe i have issues ! lol well thanks for the replys !

[kwtowmaster]

I belive that if you go to G.A.R.F. .com you can buy garf grung ,it 's sand & rubble from the bottom of there live rock .It's loaded w/ critters & crabs .I think it's $5 a lbs.I dont know if that helps you.

[Dazed1]

Originally posted by kwtowmaster
I belive that if you go to G.A.R.F. .com you can buy garf grung ,it 's sand & rubble from the bottom of there live rock .It's loaded w/ critters & crabs .I think it's $5 a lbs.I dont know if that helps you.


I got the same from Paragon, 5$ a pound. Its more like rubble and small stone's along with bigger particle's of sand. Since I just picked up about 3-5lbs, i didnt get any hitchiker's :(

[ciwsmk15]

I have always dipped new corals,( no matter who I buy them from) into some RO water for 30 seconds. It is sure to kill the worms as their simple biology can not hadle a quick change in salinity. Some will literally explode. I bought a mushroom rock once that was loaded with flat worms. Dipped it for 30 secs and never saw one in my tank. I learned this trick from the late Charlie Gentile from MarineInverts in Milford, and I swear by it. Once you have the little critters, you are fooked if they start to spread. A friend of mine tore his whole tank down and is starting over due to a plague of worms.

[ciwsmk15]

Warren...If you shoould need some pods and other lil critters let me know. I could hook you up with some macro from my rafugium. Always lots hanging on. I am in Stratford and could meet you at one of the LFS some time.... Let me know once you square your worms away...

[warren thomas]

that would be great ciwsmk15 .after my wifes birthday this week i ll make a big push for getting my tank done i just need the pump and i can put every thing together. what kind of light does that macro need to live?i was thinking on a reverse light setup .

[ciwsmk15]

I have my 25 gal refug running rvs lighting with a single 55w PC and it has been plenty to get good growth going on the Macro.