Live Rock

Kodiak

Kodiak

Lovin it
Aug 13, 2007
516
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Columbus, OH
Heard live rock is a good way to cycle a salt water aquarium. Just trying to get some information on how much, a pound, what kind, and all that i need to know before i get some. I have a power head to blow water over it, but if you could help give me as much info as you possibley could on them it would help alot.


:headbang2: :headbang2: :headbang2: :headbang2: :headbang2: :headbang2: <--- me when i got the FW tank turned into SW.
 
The usual on the amount to get is 1lbs-2lbs per gallon. The usual types to get would be fiji or carribean live rock. You want it uncured if you are going to cycle with it. If money is an issue you can do 50/50 for live rock, and the other half base rock which will over time become live. But generally your cycle will go faster with all live but, if you have patience, it can save you some money. A good site to by liverock is www.liveaquaria.com. There carribean live rock is cheap as far as live rock goes. And you get more to the pound because it is more porous than other types of liverock. If you dont mind my asking, what are your tank specs? Also if you have any more questions just post them.
 
I dont have the measurements... ill check, 22w x 11h x 8 d thats about.

its a 30 gallon. i have a fluval 205 filter, which does 40g. i have a 400 ghp powerhead. I am also interested in how i should set it up.

Also at the lfs, how will i know if it is uncured or not.
 
YT above pretty much covered the live rock side for types etc etc...The best way to tell if its cured is by the smell of it...When you smell cured live rock, they should be nothing to smell except saltwater..Uncured live rock smells rotten and you can smell it straight away...so...no stink = cured..

With regards to your filter and powerhead, you have a total of 510 GPH water turnover there available to you, which gives you about 15 x (times) water turn over per hour in the tank...

When we refer to water turn over, we mean how many gallons of water, per hour, can be circulated around the aquarium.

For tanks that are not housing corals I.E a Fish Only (FO) system or a Fish Only With Live Rock ( FOWLR ), your water turn over is acceptable as the recomended ammount is 10 x turnover per hour, and your currently about 17 x per hour...

If this is to become a reef, i would suggest either swapping the powerhead for one that give you about 750 gph or add another 300 gph powerhead, as the recomended water turn over for a Reef system is about 25 x turn over per hour or more....

As to setting them up...all you really need to do is set them so they give random water direction in the tank. What this is circulate water in different directions, which creates a current in the tank and ensured that water is circulated in ALL area's of the tank so we dont have any dead spots..A dead spot is somewhere that has either zero flow ( due to live rock placement or some object ) or very little..When we have a dead spot, food particles and detrius will settle in this area and produce nitrates, rather than being kept in the water column and removed by skimming or filtration...

I hope this has helped a little, any questions about this, or any other question that arises, then shout up...

Niko
 
Thanks alot for the time to anwser those questions, it was very helpful. Now i think the marbles are falling into place. im on to something!

I also just put some larger gravel from my old FW into the SW to help stimulate the nitrogen cycle, along with some raw brime shrimp (all i had) and some flake food. not too much, but a decent amount.
 
ok, no probs....i would remove the gravel, its not needed...The brine shrimp itself will not really generate a great ammount of Ammonia for the cycle. What you are best doing is to get a raw Shrimp/Prawn from a local fish mongers, wrap it in a fine mesh cloth or pantyhoes and drop it in the tank...let it rot away...this will then produce a good count of ammonia for you and will aid the tank, when the cycle has finished, it will of a good level for when the bio-load starts....

Niko
 
Just got 7 lbs of live rock today, it looks great. readings this afternoon were nitrate/nitrite/ammonia=o

PH= 7.6

I heard that the live rock will spike the ammonia, ill try to get some pics. My specific gravity was a bit high, how can i lower that? also how could i raise my PH or is it ok?

There are a few, little coral like things on the live rock, like little tubes with things that stick out, when u put ur hand in the tank them suck up into the little tubes. there are also other coral type things on the live rock, they look awesome, will they spread or die? how do they eat, what are they?

I plan to get about 5-10 lbs tomorrow, and maybe a domino damselfish.

Please help me out, im gonna try to get pics by tomorrw :headbang2: no promises.
 
Live rock won't necessarily cause an ammonia spike. If it is cured fully you may not notice any spike at all.

How high is your SG? You might just need to add some top off water.

Your pH is a little low. What kind of salt are you using?

The retracting species in the tubes could be feather dusters. Best chance of an accurate ID is to get photos of anything you are curious about.

Are you certain you want a damsel, especially a domino? They are aggressive and if you are wanting a peaceful to semi peaceful tank I'd not put in a damsel first...probably not at all.
 
i used, salt called instance ocean.

If a damselfish is agressive i dont want it, i would like a peaceful commuinity tank. What would be a hardy fish to help cyle.

If those are featherdusters, will the die, spread or what will happen. There is also a few more, like little cups, greens and different colors.
 
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