PISCES79
05-21-2009, 12:30 PM
I have a new 90 gallon tank that I am setting up little by little and now I am down to my fijii rock. I do not intend to add fish anytime soon because as we all know...that rock is VERY expensive!!!! What I am wondering is will it be possible for me to fill my tank with water and just add rock as I can afford it (before buying fish of course) or will this somehow interrupth the cycling process?
As long as you know the rock your getting is cured it won't cause a problem. When looking at live rock at the LFS do a smell test on it.. smells bad=uncured. Otherwise join the club.. probably 90% of us add rock as we can afford it, not all at once.
I don't know many people who can buy all the LR they need/want when they initially start, there is nothing wrong with adding it as you go, as long as you are buying cured LR or have a place to cure rock.
Def give it the smell test. It's probably going to have a small hint of a fish/stinky smell, it's faint. If it smells like a nasty fart, or smells as soon as you get it out of the water, you can count on it being uncured. I've also noticed (I've never cured my own rock, so someone correct me if I'm wrong) that uncured rock in a tank, the water will almost look like pee water.