Live rock question

[polarbear]

I'm buying about 40lbs today from another reefer and was wondering how I should go about putting it in my tank. I have never bought live rock from another reefer just the store. Do I need to put any medication in the water with the rock before putting it in my tank to make sure there is no bad stuff on it or is it just something I have to chance?

[allan]

I would dip it like it was a piece of coral, were I to have the same concerns. At the very least a fresh water dip in cold RODI. Flat worms typically do not enjoy fresh water.

You will probably experience a mini cycle as well.

If it's truly a concern I would put the rock on your porch for a few weeks. Spray it with water periodically to get rid of the die off material. I recently put some rock out for weeks to get rid of the texas trash. I was horrified to see the polyps starting to inflate after reintroducing it to the tank. May have been waterlogged dead material, but taking no chances I peeled off the remnants.

Doing this will stay the bacterial filtration for a bit, but it would also kill the possibilities of unwanted pests.

[Europhyllia]

by the time you nuke it like that you might be cheaper off just buying nice dry rock?

[johnsutter71]

You know I have fresh watter dipped every piece of live rock that I've purchased and still managed to have stow aways. This year I have aquired a pencil urchin, 2 star fishes and a few bristle worms even after dipping. One of the starfish was a SPS eating variety and the other which I just found last week was a brittle star fish. They were both babies but I got rid of them in a hurry.