New tank , old rocks

fishguy597 · 03/03/2018, 12:59 PM

I am getting ready to start up a new tank in the near future. I have vermit snails all over my rocks. In September of 17 I pulled a bunch of rock and nuked it with bleach and acid. I checked the few rocks I didn't nuke and took off all snails or so I thought. Now I have a bunch of tiny ones popping up all over. I can't say I want these going into my new tank . At the same time I do not want to start over with all dead rock. Just trying to get a consensus, thanks.

jda · 03/03/2018, 07:30 PM

"Cook" the rock in a dark container for a few months. This does not mean heating it up, rather starving the nasty stuff. There are lots of threads on how to do this. You can cook it in 1.018 and the bacteria and stuff will live and it will stress the inverts to die/starve faster.

This could take 6 months, but that is less time that trying to get phosphate out of dry rock and then reseeding it.

I have some - not many... so I know the hatred that you feel for them.

fishguy597 · 03/04/2018, 11:14 AM

Can you direct me to a thread talking about cooking the rock to kill the vermit snails? I've gone through a few threads . All I've been able to find was basically what you described. I did not see anything with that low of sg. Everyone was around 1.026. This method seems to be more for N & P reduction.This does interest me but doesn't seem to do anything about the vermits.
People were trying to use this to remove aptaisa as well with mixed results. The way I see it with the pod and amphoid population growing wouldn't that just give the snails more to feed on? It seems like the snails throw out a web and retract it almost like a spider to feed.
If it's going to take 6 months to do this I can't help but wonder if im better off using bleach and acid to kill everything and trying to reseed it with live sand or perhaps some LR. I guess there would still be a risk of reintroducing it back into my LR.
Im just trying to get a quick way to get my sps into the new tank once running.

DesertReefT4r · 03/04/2018, 12:07 PM

You have 2 choices to solve this issue. 1 cook bleach and cook the rock, then reseed it and cycle it. 2 buy new rock and start over fresh.

jda · 03/04/2018, 12:10 PM

I have never had anything live after a 6 month cook in lower salinity water. ...just bacteria. The coralline comes back quickly, so I guess that some of that lives.

fishguy597 · 03/04/2018, 12:34 PM

I've got nothing but time. Getting new tank Friday. By the time I get extra supporting for the floor ,electrical, plumbing, redo the room it's going into. Im figuring September any how. Decisions, decisions...
JDA can you go lower than .018 without effecting the bacteria? Did you still have pods,sponges,and amphoids after cooking?

jda · 03/04/2018, 12:38 PM

All of that came back.

You can get all of that, as well as the nasty stuff, on the first frag plug that you introduce.

I do not know how low that you can go. 1.018 works for fish only and the bacteria and coralline does fine, so that is all that I would do. The snails did not like 1.018 as much, though... only Mexican Turbos would live for long.

DesertReefT4r · 03/04/2018, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jda

All of that came back.

You can get all of that, as well as the nasty stuff, on the first frag plug that you introduce.
.

This is why I started removing frags from plugs and dipping in Revive and a red bug treatment like Bayer, Interceptor or Ivermectin. Kills all unwanted inverts and greatly reduces any unwanted introductions. I also try to buy corals from shops with clean healthy tanks. There are many LFSs I would not buy any rock, fish or corals from. Always i spect very well before buying.

03/03/2018, 12:59 PM	#1
fishguy597 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Minooka Il Posts: 912	New tank , old rocks I am getting ready to start up a new tank in the near future. I have vermit snails all over my rocks. In September of 17 I pulled a bunch of rock and nuked it with bleach and acid. I checked the few rocks I didn't nuke and took off all snails or so I thought. Now I have a bunch of tiny ones popping up all over. I can't say I want these going into my new tank . At the same time I do not want to start over with all dead rock. Just trying to get a consensus, thanks.

03/04/2018, 12:07 PM	#4
DesertReefT4r Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Mesa Az Posts: 771	You have 2 choices to solve this issue. 1 cook bleach and cook the rock, then reseed it and cycle it. 2 buy new rock and start over fresh. __________________ Tank history 29g tropical ,55g cichlid tank, 20H softy reef, 29g mixed reef, 20H brackish goby & puffer tank, 55g mixed reef, 6g Nanocube softy lps reef, 40B sps reef, 75g sps reef, 75g sps reef in bu Current Tank Info: 75g sps reef build in the works.

03/03/2018, 07:30 PM	#2
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	"Cook" the rock in a dark container for a few months. This does not mean heating it up, rather starving the nasty stuff. There are lots of threads on how to do this. You can cook it in 1.018 and the bacteria and stuff will live and it will stress the inverts to die/starve faster. This could take 6 months, but that is less time that trying to get phosphate out of dry rock and then reseeding it. I have some - not many... so I know the hatred that you feel for them.

03/04/2018, 11:14 AM	#3
fishguy597 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Minooka Il Posts: 912	Can you direct me to a thread talking about cooking the rock to kill the vermit snails? I've gone through a few threads . All I've been able to find was basically what you described. I did not see anything with that low of sg. Everyone was around 1.026. This method seems to be more for N & P reduction.This does interest me but doesn't seem to do anything about the vermits. People were trying to use this to remove aptaisa as well with mixed results. The way I see it with the pod and amphoid population growing wouldn't that just give the snails more to feed on? It seems like the snails throw out a web and retract it almost like a spider to feed. If it's going to take 6 months to do this I can't help but wonder if im better off using bleach and acid to kill everything and trying to reseed it with live sand or perhaps some LR. I guess there would still be a risk of reintroducing it back into my LR. Im just trying to get a quick way to get my sps into the new tank once running.

03/04/2018, 12:10 PM	#5
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	I have never had anything live after a 6 month cook in lower salinity water. ...just bacteria. The coralline comes back quickly, so I guess that some of that lives.

03/04/2018, 12:34 PM	#6
fishguy597 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Minooka Il Posts: 912	I've got nothing but time. Getting new tank Friday. By the time I get extra supporting for the floor ,electrical, plumbing, redo the room it's going into. Im figuring September any how. Decisions, decisions... JDA can you go lower than .018 without effecting the bacteria? Did you still have pods,sponges,and amphoids after cooking?

03/04/2018, 12:38 PM	#7
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	All of that came back. You can get all of that, as well as the nasty stuff, on the first frag plug that you introduce. I do not know how low that you can go. 1.018 works for fish only and the bacteria and coralline does fine, so that is all that I would do. The snails did not like 1.018 as much, though... only Mexican Turbos would live for long.