Why is everyone so afraid of hitchhikers? I've had my fair share of hitchhikers, and they were definitely a pain in the rear. By no means were those hitchhikers the worst thing that ever happened to my tanks, nor the biggest pain in the rear either! :lol:

I am talking about algae and seaweed type hitchickers for types I don't want in my tank. bugs, mantis, ect are fine, but a good culerpa (sp) or halmidia break out is not an easy thing to get rid of. it took me 4 months of pulling picking ect to rid my tank of an infestation of grape culrupa (sp) that almost smothered my tank. somthing I would never want to go through again. short of that I would not use used or fresh liver rock with out at the very least cooking it for about 4 to 6 months to make sure the kind of stuff I don't want is gone. if you have the time and the facilities for this cooking is about the best method, then you can just sead it with scrapings of coraline algae from some one elses tank.

Steve

I personally wouldn't use anything but fresh rock. I've got 1 or 2 really nice pieces in my frag tank that I'm going to dry out and store, but the rest is getting sold. If/when I go to a bigger tank, I'll order fresh uncured rock and use that with existing rock. For me, the hitchhikers are the best part of rock :)

Its the aptaisia, majano, flatworms and such that I hate getting. Deffinitly not the end of the world but still a pain in the butt.

same here i like all the hitch hikers after all its a part of the ocean and what were trying to recreate. when buying liverock i just scope out the pieces i want for anything i dont want.ive gotten some cool surprises from uncured liverock that had just came in alot more than i have pests that i couldnt get rid of ;)

ya we have all said this for the last what 12 years now... but if you go back, all you see is posts on "how do I get rid of this", "it must have come in on my rock... now what do I do"

I have gotten a few nice surprises.. 4 mantis shrimp, mushroom, polyps and a couple SPS..

I think for me using dry rock is because I have a idea for the next tank and I only want spicific things in it so if I don't add it I don't want it there..

Steve

I think dry rock is a bigger pain in the [butt] than anything you guys have listed here. First and foremost, I want the rock to be a good filter system from day one.

I have waged war on pretty much every type of algae in existence; some memorable ones were Valonia, Caulerpa, Halimeda, and Lobophora. My nano is having a Caulerpa and Halimeda issue right now even.

The only thing I've had to battle in 10 yrs was a giant snail/clam eating worm. In the end, after all the fun, I just pulled that one rock out. Worm gone. I've always left any crab or shrimp in the tank. I got isopods once, too me 20 minutes to get rid of them. Not a big deal.

don't know how it could be a pain in the but. only takes a few days for backeria to establish and then not long after that to adjust to your nutrent levels. I can see if you dried you rock with a lot of organic matter on it then you will have a tone of organic die off, but if you are setting up a tank anyways you sould be prepared to take your time. in reality unless you are setting up an instant tank with enough live rock that you will not ever see a cycle then the time fram between live rock and dry rock will be virtual identical. it is only the first could days of the bacteria population that will be different because the rapid growth of bacteria will explode after that.

if you are waiting 6 weeks for a cycle, or more then the only difference will be astethics... in other words lack of coraline. in the right enviorment this will be resolved quickly anyways especialy if there is no algae competing for nutrents.

I set up my 94gal with 230lbs of cycled rock and I set up my 25 with all dead rock... never had algae problems in the 25, or unwanted things like mushrooms and polyps (did I mention I will never have muchrooms in a tank again :twised:)

with in 6 months you would never be able to tell the difference in terms of coraline and color..

but I do respect that some people want fresh rock and like the surprises that come with it.. when I set up the first tank I used to look for new stuff every day.. but the 8 years of fighting unwanted stuff has tainted my views for my own tanks. in fact the majority of the rock I use in my tank setup I am in the midst of planning is going to be home made but I am mixing in chunks of dry rock with it in an atempt to make a natural looking surround and bottom for the tank. it is an idea right now and I may throw it in the garbage after I make it if it turns out like crap, but well see.

Steve

6 months?? Jeez, I'm thinking of upgrading by the time 6 months hits :) I just set up my 50g in the baby's room over the weekend. Added rock, 6 hours later the fish and SPS went in. No way I'd ever wait 6 months!