Newbie Rock Question

[Travis]

I am starting a new 30 gallon tank and I need some tips or ideas on my setup. I am buying 50lbs of base or dead rock. I know this will take a few months to establish. My questions are will buying some LR from the LFS help this cycle or should I keep it all clean and new? Is it ok if I cycle the rocks in the tank? Will I need a skimmer to do this? Also should I bleach the new rocks for a couple weeks?

Thanks in advance

Travis

[Tangster]

Just seed the new system with a few pounds of good quality L/sand or rubble

[Otty]

I would bleach it if you don't know where it came from. Better to start out safe then being sorry later on. You won't need a skimmer unitl that tank is about 5 or 6 months old, nothing there to skim on a new tank.

[reef_guru]

if the 50 lbs of rock came off a shelf and not out of the water there wont be any unwanted critters imbedded in the rock. if the rock came from an open source of other rock mixed with water, the option is yours, you could nuke the rock or take your chances later on. if you its nuked or shelf rock there are packages you can use that can jump start the process. tangster might be able to hook you up with a bio package. afterwards there are also critter packages to get so the rock and sand comes alive.

the skimmer can be used during the cycling process, watch your ammonia levels, if they go over 1 ppm that can be deadly for most livestock. if it gets to 1 ppm a water change will not delay the cycling process. cycling a tank is used with the live rock in the tank, basically the cycling process is the rock getting used to the minimal amount of water that is in the aquarium, the die off will occur which produces the ammonia. if your gonna bleach the rock a couple weeks is way to long. in a matter of a minute whatever is there will be dead depending on the concentration. tanks can cycle within a couple days upto months depending on the initial bio load introduced to start the reaction.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by reef_guru

tangster might be able to hook you up with a bio package. afterwards there are also critter packages to get so the rock and sand comes alive.

Were can I find these items?


Edit: Also what is this purple up and would this be a option for what I am doing?

[reef_guru]

your gonna need a bacteria starter for cycling saltwater live rock, there are many companies that have a dry powder that ignites the cycling process. there are also many ways to initiate the cycling process, this is just one of them. another way is to introduce live rock from another area, or introducing the ann cycle in some form. some ways are faster than others.

[Otty]

You won't need the Purple-up. Mother nature will give you corralline when you keep the tanks parameters stable for a while. Purple up has a lot of iodine in it.
If you have someone around that you trust you can get 2 cups of their sand to start the bacteria in your tank, but only if you know they have a heathly tank. I would refrain from getting it at the lfs.

[reef_guru]

check this site out
: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :
look at the liquid n-reducer among other things

[Camilsky]

Hey!

One more tip! Remember to choose right rock! I've bought coral tuff rock that was supposed to be marine water friendly, and after 1 month I had to kick out 50lbs out. It was releasing silica and generating red, clay-like gunk.

Cheers!

[clownfish]

Lace rock is a good choice. Like one of the 3reef bros said, if the rock is pretty much dead off a shelf, you won't face any problems at all, trust me 'cause that's what I did, I bought a bunch of dead lace rock and no probs. whatsoever. I don't have corals yet, I'm not ready for that task, but once I'm ready I'll make sure, just like these guys have told you, that my water parameters, calcium, etc, are right for coraline to grow. Good Luck.....BTW, try Doctors Foster & Smith for killer prices on LS and other marine supplies....I just got a 15 watt UV sterilizer for 74 bucks!