ordering live rock

No the heater wont burn/melt your tote. My sump is a rubbermaid and I have heaters, pumps, etc in there. The heaters don't get hot HOT like a stove. They just warm up to keep your water temp up.

 

heater shouldnt hurt anything, they really dont get that hot and the water acts as their insulator, just dont shove it up against the side, i usually lay mine across the rock gently. or get one of the hard non-glass heaters and just toss it in the rock infront of the powerhead, you just want to make sure it stays above 76 degrees.

if your ambient can take care of that then go for it

I'd let it cure for at least 2-3 weeks just to be safe

If you have a small peice of live rock in your display tank or sump thats really well covered in coraline you may want to toss that in after a week or two also, that could help with seeding but coraline does need some light to survive so that may be best left for when it goes into the DT

 

good to know thanks everyone. i will let you all know how it goes. not to mention gotta love that RO! loads of info that i needed

 

i forgot to mention i am getting live sand with this order too. its free live sand not sure how much im getting but should i place it in the tote too?

 

you can, it'll cure the same way basically but adding sand is a little touchier than adding rock sometimes, alot of people I've read either say
A: Leave an established healthy sandbed alone
B: if you have to add to it, push your existing sandbed to one side of the tank and lay your new sand beside it, not on top or inter-mixed

I've never had to add sand after the tank was already established so maybe someone else can chime in on that part

 

oh wow! i never knew that. it seems sand is very touchy...good to know thanks. yah does anyone else have any input?