Coral dipping question

[oceanboy]

Just bought the coral rx dip but was wondering, does the dipping remove positive hitchhikers too? Stuff like good algaes, amphipods, good stuff that colonize and grow over the live rock, etc. I bought "real reef" manmade rock so my rock doesn't have any of that good life that live rock would have. Would dipping the coral eliminate my chances of having my rock become more like live rock?

 

Thanks! Aquarium journal coming very soon btw

[burtbollinger]

Yes...re: bugs

 

you can intro that stuff by more controlled methods

[Mariaface]

It does, and you want it to.

 

A better option might be to purchase chaeto that was farmed in a closed system or sand from one, where the microorganisms exist but the risk of pests is minimized by not introducing unquarantined/undipped animals. 

 

A 'best' option would be to do research, pick the microorganisms you want to see, and purchase them. Tisbe pods, hair worms, algae, amphipods, snails, etc. 

[oceanboy]

1 hour ago, burtbollinger said:

Yes...re: bugs

 

you can intro that stuff by more controlled methods

 

42 minutes ago, Mariaface said:

It does, and you want it to.

 

A better option might be to purchase chaeto that was farmed in a closed system or sand from one, where the microorganisms exist but the risk of pests is minimized by not introducing unquarantined/undipped animals. 

 

A 'best' option would be to do research, pick the microorganisms you want to see, and purchase them. Tisbe pods, hair worms, algae, amphipods, snails, etc. 

 

Thanks! Do you think I should get these things from my LFS (sand/chaeto from their display tanks)? I have a seemingly reputable store near where I live (absolutely fish in NJ). As for the tisbe pods, hair worms and algae, where should I look for those? I don't believe the LFS sells them. Do you buy them online?

[Mariaface]

6 minutes ago, oceanboy said:

 

 

Thanks! Do you think I should get these things from my LFS (sand/chaeto from their display tanks)? I have a seemingly reputable store near where I live (absolutely fish in NJ). As for the tisbe pods, hair worms and algae, where should I look for those? I don't believe the LFS sells them. Do you buy them online?

 

Absolutely Fish!!  They're amazing, but I don't think I'd personally ask for sand/chaeto from a tank I don't know about. I bought chaeto from a Nano-Reef member once, since I had gone through their entire build thread, knew exactly what fish/corals had been in it, what medications they'd used to treat any previously found pests, etc etc. In a local fish store, I don't exactly know which tanks are plumbed together, which ones have a low level of copper going, which ones just had corals/fish introduced and may be carrying pests that simply haven't shown up yet... and so on.

 

That being said, odds are if you visually inspect a small amount of sand/chaeto and don't find a pest living in it, you're not going to get said pest? If you ask AF about their tanks and it all sounds good to you, go for it!

 

For pods and algae, I love reefcleaners.com. John also sells awesome chaeto, so you'll get pods that live in that culture anyway  If I want tisbe pods specifically, I'll order from someone/someplace that cultures them. I last picked some up at Reefapalooza this year.

 

For hair worms, please help me pressure @metrokat into selling a couple/few ounces of her sandbed at a time. I keep offering to trade for the same fiji pink I have lying in a sealed bag, but she won't bite!   Really, though, if you can find a fellow reefer with a hair worm issue, you can probably get away with paying for shipping and take them off their hands. Or the expensive route would be IPSF?

[oceanboy]

3 minutes ago, Mariaface said:

 

Absolutely Fish!!  They're amazing, but I don't think I'd personally ask for sand/chaeto from a tank I don't know about. I bought chaeto from a Nano-Reef member once, since I had gone through their entire build thread, knew exactly what fish/corals had been in it, what medications they'd used to treat any previously found pests, etc etc. In a local fish store, I don't exactly know which tanks are plumbed together, which ones have a low level of copper going, which ones just had corals/fish introduced and may be carrying pests that simply haven't shown up yet... and so on.

 

That being said, odds are if you visually inspect a small amount of sand/chaeto and don't find a pest living in it, you're not going to get said pest? If you ask AF about their tanks and it all sounds good to you, go for it!

 

For pods and algae, I love reefcleaners.com. John also sells awesome chaeto, so you'll get pods that live in that culture anyway  If I want tisbe pods specifically, I'll order from someone/someplace that cultures them. I last picked some up at Reefapalooza this year.

 

For hair worms, please help me pressure @metrokat into selling a couple/few ounces of her sandbed at a time. I keep offering to trade for the same fiji pink I have lying in a sealed bag, but she won't bite!   Really, though, if you can find a fellow reefer with a hair worm issue, you can probably get away with paying for shipping and take them off their hands. Or the expensive route would be IPSF?

Hey thanks so much for all the advice! I've heard good things about reefcleaners before and I'll check them out for sure. I wanted to make my tank look more natural with all those pods and algaes and stuff and felt I was missing out not using real live rock, but this is really helpful! thanks again  

[Mariaface]

Happy to help!   

[metrokat]

On 8/10/2017 at 2:47 PM, Mariaface said:

For hair worms, please help me pressure @metrokat into selling a couple/few ounces of her sandbed at a time. I keep offering to trade for the same fiji pink I have lying in a sealed bag, but she won't bite!   Really, though, if you can find a fellow reefer with a hair worm issue, you can probably get away with paying for shipping and take them off their hands. Or the expensive route would be IPSF?

Whaaaat. You want me to disturb my filthy sandbed. Okay, maybe we should do a nice water change together. With like a sand bed siphon and all.

[seabass]

5 hours ago, metrokat said:

Okay, maybe we should do a nice water change together. With like a sand bed siphon and all.

I can just picture that. 

[metrokat]

17 minutes ago, seabass said:

I can just picture that. 

OYA?

[seabass]