There are dead corals mixed in with my live rock, what are they for?

[AnnetteG]

They seem quite ugly to me, but I have everything in a heated tank with a filter running, until you guys tell me if I should use them or not. There are several shells too.

I'm going to buy some live sand today - should I buy enough live sand for the whole tank, or can I get by with play sand on bottom and live sand on top of that?

Thanks!

[Subliminal]

You can mix live and dead sand, but i'd get reef grade sand from the petstore instead of play sand, if i were you.

Take a pic of the dead coral for us. It's probably every bit as porous as the live rock (if not more) and would be great host for your bacteria/life.

[Cheech]

Personally, seeing how you have live rock in the tank, I wouldn't even spend the extra money on live sand. The live rock will eventually seed the sand and make it live anyway.


I also personally feel that reg. play sand should be fine (If the money you'd be spending for reef sand can be put to better use)

[Subliminal]

The only reason I mentioned reef sand is that it's aragonite based and therefore will help buffer the pH of the tank. Most play sand contains silicates and will give you more diatom blooms than you'd probably like....and then it also doesn't have the buffering capacities.

But, of course, there's many ways to skin any cat.

[Reefscape]

I agree with the above, i would always recomend, and personaly prefer the use of aragonite reef grade sand than playsand...On the coral skeltons, they will eventually harbour bacteria and will aid in the natural filtration of the system, although nowhere near the level of live rock..and they will also eventually be covered in coralline too...

Niko

[judgemax]

are ya sure the corals are dead? not to sound stupid, but I had a piece, that i thought was dead, and after I moved it to another tank, it started regenerating itself!

[AnnetteG]

I really don't know, I just have everything the guy gave us with the tank in water right now because he said it was all "live".

I have another question. I keep seeing posts about people finding all sorts of critters in their live rock, but I don't see anything really, except something that looks like little white worms, but they're not moving. I guess it's live as far as bacteria goes, since the guy had it in his tank running with fish up until Sunday night when we went and got everything, but I'm curious about all those shrimps and crabs and things other people say they have in their live rock.

Thanks!

[Reefscape]

I really don't know, I just have everything the guy gave us with the tank in water right now because he said it was all "live".

I have another question. I keep seeing posts about people finding all sorts of critters in their live rock, but I don't see anything really, except something that looks like little white worms, but they're not moving. I guess it's live as far as bacteria goes, since the guy had it in his tank running with fish up until Sunday night when we went and got everything, but I'm curious about all those shrimps and crabs and things other people say they have in their live rock.

Thanks!

Its always different when it comes to hitchhikers on the rocks...the worm things you refer too could be tube worms, and what you are seeing is the calcerous tube...

You wont really know the full extent of what is on or in the rock untill its all in the display tank and settled and you find yourself watching it for hours on end looking for things to move..lol

Niko

[AnnetteG]

Whaddya think? It's only half full of water right now because that's all the saltwater I have till I get some salt later today. SG at the moment is 1.023. I haven't tested anything else. I get an employee appreciation discount today at work, so I'll be stocking up on all the goodies!

[judgemax]

my suggestion would be to use the corals, that you think are dead, You have one, I have no idea what its called though, that is exactly like my "faker" lol, ..you can always pull them out later, if they aren't growing, but it took mine almost two months, once moved to start showing growth. now, its one of my fav. its the branchy looking thing, if that helps anyone identify it for either me or annette!;)

[AnnetteG]

I am just not ready for SW guys. I've been reading all day and my little brain is just too boggled. I have 2 little boys here to take care of as well and I just am not ready to deal with all this SW stuff. I don't even know what all these things are this guy gave us with the tank, there are so many pumps and powerheads and whatnot. I would rather spend my money getting my tanks established well with plants and cool decorations and fish. I know some day I will join you all in the salty world, but I'm just not ready yet. At least I know my limitations! :)

Anyhoo, if you're in Houston and you want a good deal, email me!

[Reefscape]

Such a shame to hear your not going ahead with this system...some day perhaps..AM sure someone will get a good deal from you on the stuff you brought...

Good luck in the FW system you do

Niko

[srossnz]

You mentioned dead coral will not be as beneficial as live rock. It's next to impossible for me to get liverock in NZ so what i did was got a bunch of dead coral and a few small live rock pieces. I thought the live rock pieces would 'seed' the dead coral converting it to live rock. Does it do this but at very poor efficiency? Do I have anything to worry about using dead coral as my live rock? thanks!

[livingword26]

If you are going to go with freshwater live plants, you better do some research on that to. They can be more work than saltwater tanks. If you do go with live plants, stick to the low light setup. They are easier to maintain than the high light tanks.