Help with LR addition.

I have a 35 gallon tank, set up, running with fish , and crabs, it's been running for about 6 months now. I originally just wanted fish only, so the tank has artificial rock (for looks only) in it now. But reading the threads on 3reef, I have realized that if I want to anything down the road with my tank I need live rock, not to mention the filtration is much better. If I add live rock to my tank now will it cycle again and kill everything in the tank? I wanted to start off with around 30 to 40 pounds or rock, and go from there as I get the money. Any help would be great.

 

When you buy rock, you have a choice of base rock, live rock or premium rock. Base rock has no living organisms or algae on them so you have to culture them yourself with the coming years; live rock is cured, which has beneficial bacterial growth and premium is the same as LR, but with a lot of coralline algae (advanced stage).

It will not kill anything off in your tank. When you buy live rock, it contains lots of beneficial nitrifying bacteria that will help filter your water even further. If you buy live rock that has dead bacteria, then you have a problem. It will introduce ammonia and will screw up everything in your tank, unless it's really mature and stable.

What I recommend you do is, wherever you get your LR, be sure to smell it. It has to smell fresh, like the ocean. If it smells like fart or like a rotten egg, the rock has serious death on it. It shouldn't smell foul at all, but have a fresh oceany smell.

btw, even if it's artificial, it may have growth on it already, dont throw it out.

Hope that helps!
-Rick

 

You may get some strange looks from the LFS if you start smelling the rock!! If the rock is already cured then it would be safer, however that does come at a cost.

Good advice, rickzter, karma to you!

 

You could always buy uncured LR and cure it your self in big tubs. Search the forum and you'll find a whole bunch of threads about curing LR.

Marc.

 

gmccntryboy, make sure that you dont add to much live rock at one time. in a 35gal i would start off with about 10# for if you add 40# you could and most likely will have an ammonia spike.

 

Sounds good to me!! I'll go with good cured rock, and start off with about 10 pounds. Whats the time frame on live rock as far as how much to add at any givin time. Like if i add 10 #'s this week should it sit in my tank a week, a month, or does it matter?

 

usually in a couple of days(4 or 5) you should be good to add another 10#.

 

I added one big piece every other week and added small pieces every now and then. But then again, that's just because I was dead broke.

 

If i were to buy lets say 30 pounds of LR and added 10 pounds at a time would it be ok to set the unused rock in a container full of saltwater (with a powerhead and air running) to add later in a couple of weeks. Like add 10 now, and then another 10 out of the container in a week or so and so on.. Or will it have to much die off, before it was all in my tank? I was thinking of buying in bulk 1 to save on shipping, and 2 most sites online have a min. order.

 

That's how the LFS keeps its, why not. I would just use cycled water instead of prepped water. If you are going this route, fill a tub with your old tank water when doing a water change and add the new LR to the tub. Circulation is a good idea. Try to keep somekind of filtration in there too, like a whisper filter to keep the water clean and free of debri. Add some cheapy snails to keep the rocks clean while you wait.

The only difference is that it's used as their primary or secondary filtration. To be honest, I would just go ahead and add it. If you are concered with death, the only thing that might die is the coralline as it needs light in the blue spectrum. You can buy Kent Marine's rock prep to scrub every dead organism off and ensure a clean rock is added to the tank.

Let us know what your plan is and how it goes.