Live rock rubble for fuge

I have a 55 with approximately 55 pounds of live rock hat has been up and running for over 1.5 years. I ordered 10 pounds of cured live rock rubble for the fuge i'm finally able to get up and running. I would think I still need to put the rubble in a bucket with a powerhead and monitor to make sure there is no mini cycle. Is this correct or would that small of an amount not cause a big problem. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Just curious, what is your mindset to add this to your sump? If things have been working for the past year and a half do you think adding 10 pounds of rubble add much filtration to your system that would outweigh the added area to allow detritus to settle in?

I wouldn't worry about a mini cycle i would make sure you aren't getting any pests or junk you might not want. I'd let it circulate and possibly do a hyper salinity dip to make sure you aren't getting hitchhikers.

 

I've had the sump for a while just now adding cheato and the rubble. I don't think the rock will add much filtration. I was going to add the rock because of other opinions I have read. Probably not necessary but I figured it couldn't hurt.

 

I would do a bucket run with it just to be safe. At that time you can also keep an eye out for hitchhikers. The hyper/hypo salinity dip isn't a bad idea either.

 

Thank you, any other advice is welcome.

 

Absolutely.

FTR, I don't consider shipped LR to be cured upon arrival. There will always be some die-off during transit which will ultimately create an ammonia spike. When adding to an established system, I usually recommend using dry rock unless you can cherry-pick what you want from an LFS.

 

Unfortunately the rock at the LFS is not as porous as what I ordered.

 

Even if it was a WYSIWYG deal and you receive exactly what you ordered, you'll still have the die-off. If your LFS doesn't have what you want in LR, dry rock would only take a week or two in your sump to become live, and it's a lot less expensive. Not saying you can't make this work, just agreeing that you should recure the LR outside your system once it's been shipped, and offering an easier alternative for the future.

 

I thought about buying a piece of dry and busting it up. I used mostly dry when I set it up and seeded with some live pieces. I was hoping that there might be some stuff on the rubble that I ordered that my other didn't have. My luck it will probably be the stuff you don't want lol. Of course my way of thought doesn't always make since. Not to mention I was inpatient and ordered before asking for feedback.

 

Did a water change and saving the water for the LR to cycle in.