View Full Version : Live Rock
Well, just got my live rock in! Hooray! Didn't look like much in the box, but once it was in the tank, it's enough. Doesn't look very impressive now, but I know that in a while it will look cool. Couple quick questions though.
-I received my rock wrapped in wet newspapers and cardboard, surrounded by plastic. Is this typically how they send rock through the mail? I guess you can't put it in bags of water for obvious reasons, but it seems it wouldn't stay moist enough for much of anything to survive this way. :sad
-I dipped my rock in a bucket of salt water siphoned from my tank first, then placed it in the tank, to kind of "rinse" it first. I know some people say they scrub their rock, but it seems that once again, this would knock off/kill what little may have survived on the rock. Think it matters either way? :confused:
-Lastly, I know that because of die-off you get huge spikes in ammonia, etc., which you want to minimize the impact of by doing frequent water changes. Once all the rock was in my tank and arrainged, the water was pretty cloudy, so did a 10% water change and that seemed to help quite a bit. I was thinking of ~10%ish every day for the first week, then maybe bi-weekly for another week, then just monitoring the levels and changing once a week if levels are good. Think this is enough, or how did you all do it?
Thanks again for all the help. :D
cant say that i can help on this, but im gonna be going through the same thing in about a week or so, but, do you have any fish in your tank right now? and what size is it?
That is just the way that it comes, no problem. If I get rock from the LFS I transport in water every time , but through the mail it is wrapped in newspaper, should still be moist when it comes. :argh can't remember, I think mine had also heat packs in the box. I did washed mine before putting in the tank, but never scrubbed it. In my 200 tank. The most I added at one time was 100 lbs of live rock when there was already 70 lbs in there before. I actually never had any spike what so ever any time I ever put rock in my tank. A good thing to do would be to smell the rock when you get it. If it smell bad then that is bad to put into your tank right away, better to cure it for a while first. My rock always smelled OK so I guess it was cured good in Figi before it came here. I did a big water change anyway.
mogurnda
02-04-2004, 9:18 AM
Both Gulf View and Tampa Bay Saltwater ship theirs in water. Much less die off, very small ammonia spikes.
When I got my rock, I made a huge batch of seawater and did 10-25% water changes every few days for the first week. Maybe just keep an eye on your ammonia, and do a change if it gets much above 0.5.
Thanks everybody!
Caz, my tank had nothing but sand and water in it, before the live rock. :) It's a 60 gallon, although, with the sand, rock, and equipment in it, it only holds about 40 gallons, so don't know if they lied to me in the LFS when I bought the tank. :rolleyes:
Kurt, supposedly the rock was "cured" before I bought it, and everything was moist, just not dripping wet or anything. No heat packs or anything though, which kind of worries me. It didn't smell bad, but it wasn't a smell I'd want to use in a Glade Plug-in or anything. :D Smelled like... The sea.
Mogurnda, I was thinking of going through them, only problem was that they're way across the country, and the place I ordered from was cheap and only a few hours away, so shipping was cheaper than the gas driving there and I got it the day after it shipped (http://www.oceanproaquatics.com/shop/product_info.php/products_id/130).
Once again, thanks you guys. :D I'll keep an eye on things. It's only day two now so I haven't seen anything cool like starfish or crabs. Hopefully though it had enough still alive on it that it will function well and be awesome to watch.
Marvin
02-04-2004, 11:19 AM
Hey as40,
Next time, I think it would be better if you got a bucket of SW and picked it up yourself. Even though the drive might be an hour or so, you get to see the rock before you get it. Also, you don't have to worry about recuring it cuz it would be in water all the way. Probably save you time and some money with water changes and all.
I just bought some rock at LiveAquaria and had to cure if for 2 weeks. If i knew about oceanproaquatics, i probably would have driven up there myself.
...did you take any pics?
Hey Mogurnda is it much more expensive when you order shipped in water? Should be much better that way. I do not have access to USA suppliers, no one there ships to Canada. Because of the wait in Customs I guess. Anyone know of a Canadian supplier that ships in Water?
mogurnda
02-04-2004, 12:28 PM
Kurt,
According to their shipping information (http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/shipping.html), TBS will ship internationally. Possibly even to the wilds of Skatchwan.
Here's how it worked for me. I had it shipped to the closest airport by air freight, and picked it up at the terminal. They give detailed instructions on how to go about this, and it was kind of fun. The shipping cost was about $35 per 100 lbs.
If you have any questions, they are very responsive to email.
Marvin, I think you probably are right... Now that I think about it, though I would have blown around $40 or so on the round trip, it probably would have preserved more of what was on the rock. And come out about even with water changes. :shake: As for pics, I'm still working on getting to the digital era. :rolleyes:
As soon as I can get someone to take some for me, I'd love to post them and see what people think. :)
When I got home from work this evening, I did ammonia and nitrite tests, and sure enough, both of them were through the roof. So I did a 25% water change. Hope it will be lower when I get home from work tomorrow. If not, will do another 25% change. But that will get real expensive real quick (not to mention tiring) so hopefully won't have that last for long. How long does die-off go on, before enough starts regenerating to control the ammonia/nitrites? :scratch:
BTW - Tests read as follows (before water change):
ammonia 4.0
nitrite 2.0
I just read on this post (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23377) that "some curing is too extreme--the ammonia levels are allowed to become lethal, and the surviving critters are pretty sparse." I didn't intend on my levels being so high, and reacted as soon as I got home from work yesterday, but do you think it was too late? Are those levels considered lethal if left for a day? I plan on testing and changing another large percentage of the water tonight as well when I get home from work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm worried that I just spent a lot of money to get dead rocks. :sad
mogurnda
02-05-2004, 3:11 PM
Lots of water changes is about the best thing you can do for the moment. Try to keep ammonia under 1 ppm. And make sure that you get rid of anything that looks like it's dying.
OrionGirl
02-05-2004, 3:14 PM
Sorry--that line isn't very specific, is it? Actually, there are some places that cure rock by putting it in a tank, and letting it just sit there for a few weeks. No water changes, no circulating system, nothing. This results in a LOT of die off. Doing the changes and keeping the levels low--below 1 is ideal, but at least within the range of the test--will be enough to prevent massive die off, IME.
Thank you both very much... That reassures me quite a lot. Oddly enough, I have a large snail that still is alive in the tank, though I've read they don't do well in high ammonia levels. He came with the rock. Must be about 2" in diameter, big round shell. Don't know what kind of snail he is yet. I definately have circulation in the tank as well... And, with 25% water changes daily until it gets under 1ppm, then 10% every day after until it gets under 0.5ppm, should be fine?
mogurnda
02-05-2004, 4:00 PM
Sounds pretty good. Once the NH3 levels start to go down, they should drop relatively quickly.
Well, did another 25% water change last night. My back is tired. Those 5 gallon jugs are the only way to practically transport large amounts of water, but they're heavy, and lifting them to dump the water into the tank is not easy! My tests before the second water change were as follows:
ammonia - between 1 and 2ppm
nitrite - through the roof! the highest that my test registers, 5ppm
The ammonia being down from the 4ppm yesterday reassured me a bit, and I'm sure after the second change, it's down even lower. I know though that the nitrite is not a good thing either though, and I need to work to get that lower.
Tonight when I get home from work I'm going to test again, then do another 25% water change. Hopefully that will be the last 25% change I'll need to do in a row. My protien skimmer, which was breaking in for the last week and a half or so, has finally kicked in and last night was producing its first foam.
BTW, my big snail appears to be "munching" on the live rock. Don't know if it's my imagination, but the area he's been hanging out around seems barer than it did a couple days ago. Do you guys think this may be a problem? Should I bring him into the LFS?
mogurnda
02-06-2004, 2:09 PM
My experience has been that live rock comes in pretty fuzzy, and a lot of that goes away. Are you losing coralline, hair algae or what?
I think fuzzy is an excellent way to describe it. Hard to tell what was under the fuzz; there is a lot of very short, dark, furry hair-like algae covering a lot of the rock. There are pockets of color here and there; where the snail has been hanging out, the rock is just bare and white (nothing left). I only noticed this morning how bare that area looks, so I can't tell you for sure if he was eating more than the fuzz on the rock. I'm just worried that he'll eat to much. Don't want him to strip the rock or anything.