And now for something completely different...

[SouthFla]

...well, at least to me :fun4:

A quick back-story: So I was out on the water recently removing illegal abandoned and "œghost" fishing traps from our Biscayne National Park (largest Marine Sanctuary in the USA). The traps, being submerged in our bay for months/years had SPECTACULAR life growing on them. Each was a mini reef with algae, sponges, shrimp, crabs, corals - more invertebrates than I could name. All I could think about as we scraped as much life off the traps back into the water and threw the traps away, was MAN how I'd LOVE to have that crazy biodiversity in my aquarium"¦.

Fast forward a few months. My latest 125G cichlid tank has been fully switched over to start up a reef tank. I have my system completely set up, and will start filling the tank with RODI and Reeflakes tomorrow, and get my Chaeto in my sump and carbon in my reactors and salinity adjusted over the weekend. On Monday I'm driving down to the (Florida) Keys to the oldest offshore live rock aquaculture site in Florida, and picking up 100lbs of uncured life-packed live rock. The rock will go from the ocean and into my coolers submerged in water for the 1 ½ hour drive back home. I would imagine (hope!) there will be little to no die off from the myriad of critters that will come on the rock"¦

Now I've ALWAYS started my reefs with dry rock, fishless-cycled with ammonia, and strictly controlled the inhabitants. But after my recent "œtrap pull" and seeing all of that spectacular biodiversity, I wanted a tank full of that life-the good, the bad and the other. It's just so interesting to me! I don't care about traditional pests (yeah, I know-just wait til I get Ap/Bryo/killer crab/monster worm/yadda yadda), I just want all of that "œstuff." I don't want a LPS/SPS/Fishless only tank. I want a real live "“rock tank. What will I get? What can I keep alive? What will I love? What will I regret? Am I crazy?

So this is definitely new territory for me, especially as an OCD control-freak! It admittedly might end up in a spectacular train wreck. Or it could be my favorite tank ever. Maybe I'm just crazy"¦

I do have one thought or question tho-I assume best case scenario w/little to no die off is that I shouldn't have much of a cycle, right? The rock will already be loaded with the bacteria I need, and barring massive die off in transport I should be up and running? Not that it matters, as I'm not planning on adding anything (fish/corals) in the immediate future. And I'll obviously start monitoring all levels immediately, but since this is such a different way to start and stock a tank for me I'm just a little unsure of myself"¦

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I'll post up some pics when I get the rock next week in case anyone's curious :thumbsup:

 

[runninlow]

i think you should be fine, sounds pretty awesome. so i would be expecting tons of pictures.

 

[jmm]

This is the way we started reef tanks in the early '90's. The rocks were crawling with critters. Close observation could see new stuff for hours and hours. But.

There was die-off. Lots of it. The house, even the yard smelled for a couple of weeks. The remaining critters were exceptionally hardy to survive the ammonia spike. Some of the die-off must have been caused by stacking the rocks or turning them the wrong way in relation to light. It makes for a very interesting and diverse tank.

 

[SouthFla]

...Some of the die-off must have been caused by stacking the rocks or turning them the wrong way in relation to light. It makes for a very interesting and diverse tank.

Good thought, certainly makes sense-I don't want to p#ss off the family by stinking up the house! Think I'll try some good cured base rock to help keep more of the uncured stuff better exposed to light and flow :thumbsup:

 

[sde1500]

For straight from the ocean live rock I think it's suggested to keep plenty of water on hand. That way you can keep the ammonia levels down through frequent water changes. Keeps things from dying as the tank cycles.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I got my rock during a super low tide where I was able to walk about 800m from the shore and take my pick of what was there (it's legal where I live). I then put the rock into a tub of salt water in the back of my car and drove the 15min home. My test kits haddnt arrived yet but about 2 days later when they did there was 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and <5 nitrite. So you can get lucky and avoid a cycle but I would say you are likely to have one, it should just be very small and short.

I did get alot of hitchickers though both good and bad. The ones I remember off the top of my head are a dark purple/black Mantis shrimp (who has been seen twice in 9 months but has also doubled in size between sightings :O), a tiger pistol shrimp, a few porcelain crabs, one tiny sand coloured crab with black claws which hasnt grown in 9 months but is seen reguarly, some aptasia, sponges, lots of micro brittle sea stars, some small feather duster worms, a couple of spaghetti worms, a chiton, lots of snails (which I have recently found out are oyster eating snails but they havent touched my clam or coral so I have just been removing them as I see them), about 50 small red clawed crabs and a tiny unknown octopus which has also only been seen twice in 9 months (which ate about 48 of the red clawed crabs as I now only have 2 largeish red claw crabs left).

I really enjoyed starting my first reef tank with live rock and there is certainly alot of critters which have been great to learn about and watch. But my next tank will be started with dry rock hahaha

 

[nivram]

And now for something completely different...

Post up some pics when you get your rocks.

If you ever want to hang out Nd chat with local hobbyist. Check out the Florida marine aquarium society. We have a forum here on RC and usually meet up in Plantation.

 

[slief]

This is the way we started reef tanks in the early '90's. The rocks were crawling with critters. Close observation could see new stuff for hours and hours. But.

There was die-off. Lots of it. The house, even the yard smelled for a couple of weeks. The remaining critters were exceptionally hardy to survive the ammonia spike. Some of the die-off must have been caused by stacking the rocks or turning them the wrong way in relation to light. It makes for a very interesting and diverse tank.

So true.. I still have the live rock in my tank that I bought back in the early 90's. It's next to impossible to find healthy live rock like that these days short of a few sources and it's terribly expensive. Heck, it was nearly $5 a pound back then for some of the best Walt Smith rock you could buy and it was crawling with life.

OP, I think you will be very pleased with the results and given the freshness of your rocks, you can expect very little die off from the rocks provided the rest of your system is healthy and water parameters are good.

 

[rgulrich]

Still running the original Tonga I picked up "back in the day" when it came in pretty darn fresh. "Rinsed" it in some premixed saltwater to remove any sediment and such, the put it in the aquarium. Ran it with a lot of skimming and carbon the first few weeks with a few water changes in my old 180-no ammonia spike. Still have some of the coral that grew from chips and plays that started as a single small polyp.
That's one of the first things that got me so interested in this hobby...the biodiversity on something as simple as a piece of rock.

 

[SouthFla]

Update w/Pics for the curious

Update w/Pics for the curious

So I drove an hour south of my home down to the Florida Keys, and met with Kara and Philip, owners of "KP Aquatics." AWESOME folks :bounce1: Philip had collected my rock from their offshore lease site a few days prior, and we spent 30 minutes picking out ~50lbs of cured base rock and 75lbs of uncured live rock. I transported all of the rock back underwater in coolers; here are some pics of the uncured stuff as I was putting it into my tank:

Pretty awesome rock, lots of creepy crawlys, tons of feather dusters, brittle stars, macro algae and encrusting invertebrate growth. Here's the rock in the tank:

The rocks have been in 48 hours in-my skimmer is producing some moderate skimmate, and so far I'm not showing any ammonia. I'm also feeding phytoplankton to the tank for all the feather dusters and sponges. I tried to put the rocks facing the way they were in the ocean (obvious by the low-growth undersides), although I have NO idea how much of the growth I'll be able to keep alive, or how much may die and spike my ammonia, or what kind of "monsters" are hiding within (here's a dreaded but BEAUTIFUL nudibranch):

I've also seen some bubble algae, which I've mostly removed, and some suspect crabs. But that's OK. My kids are LOVING this great big science fair project. Must have spent an hour after lights-out using a red filtered flashlight looking at all the stuff coming out...Anyway, I've got water ready to change, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[lespaul339]

That rock looks beautiful! Lot's of cool stuff on them!

 

[Lucky Lefty]

Beautiful rock!!

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I love that rock and this is really a cool tank to setup. So are you keeping that nudibranch or going to toss it?

Have you come across any crabs or shrimp yet? I could sit for hours watching the life on that rock.

 

[SouthFla]

I love that rock and this is really a cool tank to setup. So are you keeping that nudibranch or going to toss it?

Have you come across any crabs or shrimp yet? I could sit for hours watching the life on that rock.

Thanks guys :thumbsup:

Nah, I'm keeping everything for now-I'm sure I'll regret some kept things later, but we're just having too much fun finding new stuff!

Right now among other things we've seen 2 pretty good sized porcelain and emerald crabs, two pistol shrimps, one crazy-colored but creepy bristle worm, 1 good sized crab (red, bumpy) I've yet to ID and many smaller unknown ones. There's also quite a few snails and hermits in the mix....

The other FTS view:

 

[rt67ghy]

Very cool set-up. Love the rocks and a very interesting project. Are you planning on adding any more life or just let things grow in the tank?

 

[SouthFla]

Very cool set-up. Love the rocks and a very interesting project. Are you planning on adding any more life or just let things grow in the tank?

Thanks! Yep we'll certainly add more critters once the tank has stabilized, but exactly what I don't know yet hehe...

 

[seamonster124]

Anxious to see the future of this tank. Very interesting. I started with 100% dry rock but this is very exciting too.

 

[SouthFla]

Anxious to see the future of this tank. Very interesting. I started with 100% dry rock but this is very exciting too.

LOL me too :lol2: Could be a complete train-wreck with massive die-offs and chemistry disasters and/or uncontrollable evil Hitchhikers, or the coolest tank I've ever had :spin2: My seat belt's on and the pedal's to the floor :spin1:

It's pretty cool seeing all the feather dusters, and the crazy amount of filamentous worm tentacles and brittle star arms that come out at night is spectacular. I'm feeding phyto and crushed NLS pellets on alternating days for everyone, so if my rocks aren't up to waste processing I'll know soon! I am starting to show some NO3 (.25ppm), but no NH4 or NO2 so the "ready-to-go" bio-filtration is doing something!

 

[LoneStarReef]

Looks great! I plan on doing something similar by ordering from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I hear their rocks are teeming with life. Plus I like the idea of all the critters stirring up the top layer of my DSB. Can't wait to see more pics of your tank as it matures!

 

[Ron Reefman]

This is very cool and I have wanted to do something very similar for a long time. We snorkel in the Keys a lot and although we can't collect LR, we do look at (and under) a lot of LR while we snorkel. The life under the rocks can be absolutely spectacular!

You mentioned trying to keep the rocks with a similar orientation to when it was in the ocean based on lack of life on the underside. But what we have noticed when snorkeling is that is often more growing on the under side of LR than there is on the top! I'm sure you could tell the difference though. Undersides are a lot more sponges that don't like the sun and the tops are 'stuff' that does.

I have a 75g hex tank that is attached to my 75g reef by way of a shared 8' x 2' x 18" refugium/DSB/sump. I intend to do a Gorgonian display tank with 5 to 8 different species we'll collect on our next Keys trip. I'd love to use some of the uncured LR like yours in with the Gorgonians. That would be so cool. However, since it's tied into my 180g mixed reef with 200+ lbs of rock and several thousand dollars of coral, I'm not willing to take the risk. I'd set up a separate tank, but I already have 4 (the other pair is a 65g shallow reef and it shares a 125g refugium/sump with my frag tank) and I'm not about to press my wife's love that far! She loves snorkeling even more than I do, and she is fine with the tanks, but they aren't anything she wants to work on and she thinks 4 is more than enough!

So please, please, please keep up this thread and post updates and photos. Or at least be ready for me to ask questions of you on a regular basis.

One last point. After you are sure the tank has done whatever kind of 'cycle' or non-cycle it's going to do, maybe a couple of Gorgonians would fit in as a natural element in the tank?




I'm hoping to have enough Gorgonians to allow me to keep a Flamingo Tongue or 2 in the tank. Here is a shot my wife took just 50 yards off the beach in the Middle Keys.




Or you could add some local zoas like these.




Or a shallow water Rock Flower anemone.




Or even a deep water and much more colorful Rock Flower like these.



This is the kind of stuff I keep in my 65g shallow reef. I'd love to have one of the bigger, sun loving sponges in the tank as well. But so far that has proven to be next to impossible. I've also tries a couple of the really big spaghetti worms (translucent green/blue tentacle with an 24" to 36" diameter reach) but the first one died in a few days and the second only survived 4 months, so I'm trying to figure out a better home for one. A tank like yours might just be the answer.

Keep up the good work.