Live Rock Question

[kieranmhewitt]

I have just set up a 40g tank and would like to have some live rock can I just add a couple of kilos to help it cycle. I have a large eheim filter and skimmer and wasnt planning on using Live Rock to do all the filtration. So would just a few kilos still be beneficial.

Thanks
Kieran

[OrionGirl]

Any live rock will be beneficial, even if it isn't enough to carry the full load. However, you'll want to keep in mind that the mechanical filters will become clogged with algae, stony tube worms, ect pretty quickly, meaning much more maintenance. than a similar FW setup.

[kieranmhewitt]

Thanks for that I will try some Living Rock I dont mind a bit of maintenance and besides I used have some heaving planted fw tanks which clogged the filters quite quickly.

Is there any guide as to what I might expect to find in Living Rock and also will my lighting be sufficient as I have a Hagen Marine Glo and Hagen Power glo lights 20w each for the critters to survive.

Thanks
Kieran

[OrionGirl]

Some of the critters will survive just fine, while a few others will die off. The algaes might suffer--corralline may bleach, but grow fine otherwise, but sponges, snails, limpets, tube worms, ect will be fine with your lighting.

For identifying hitch hikers, I love http://reefs.org/hhfaq/ They have great pictures and descriptions, and good links for the critters where there may be many different kinds popping up that look similar.