Adding Dry Rock to tank

[Yellow05gt]

Ok so I have a 210 gallon system with only about 100lbs of live rock. I have another 60lbs of dry rock curing right now for about a week or so. Should I wait to put it in the tank or would it be safe to put in now? The tank has been up for 11 months. Plus I have another 50 lbs of dry rock on the way for it as well. Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[thegrun]

If the rock doesn't have a lot of dried on organic material on it you should be fine to add it directly to your tank. You may want to test the water the rock has been soaking in for nitrates and phosphates. If either is high I would soak continue to soak the rock in saltwater making large frequrent water changes to get the phosphates and nitrates to leach out of the rock before you add it to your system. If the rock does have dried organics, cycle it first before you add it to your DT.

 

[gone fishin]

^^^^ what he said.

 

[Yellow05gt]

Would it be a good idea to run an extra protein skimmer on the tank I'm using for the rock to help discard anything hat doesn't need to be in the rock?

 

[Betta132]

Sure, why not. Not sure if it's needed, but it'll probably help.

 

[rdrbssr11]

Depends what type of rock. I know at this point I fully trust Marco rocks to be able to just drop in as ive done it before with no increase in nitrates/ammonia/phosphates, but there are other vendors that may not be able to do the same with their rocks.

 

[jay.fishman]

I would check the water the rock has been curing in first. If everything looks ok, then go ahead and add it to the DT. If the water params are off, then either wait longer while running a skimmer if you have it, or slowly add pieces of the new rock to the DT over a number of days/weeks. The DT should be able to handle a gradual addition of the rock.