Anohter oversight, quick question about live sand

L

Lehman

New member
If you read my other thread you might know that I ordered my LS and LR and it will arrive tomorrow morning. This is my first SW tank setup so im learning as I go. I have read a few articles about cycling and curing live rock but I read an article and its the first time ive seen this and it says DO NOT put the live sand in the tank which you plan on curing the live rock in. I was going to do this and now I am kind of in a bind since I planned on putting the live sand and live rock in my nano and letting it cure. I do have a 20g container and an extra pump, heater so I could cure the live rock in that but I also have 28lbs of LS coming that im not sure what to do with. Would it be ok to go ahead and put the live sand in the aquarium by itself while the live rock cycles or am I up **** creek without a paddle? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I also ordered my live rock and sand from Sea Life Inc, who I highly recommend, and put them in the tank at the same time. This probably was not a good idea, as the curing process did kill a lot of what I payed for in the live sand. If you're going to do this, you might as well buy "dead sand." After a few weeks my tank cycled, the sand rebounded and there seems to be plenty of life though. I'm sure that some of the stuff survived and that critters from the rock helped repopulate the sand bed.
 
lots of stuff in LS will survive a cycle, but hey no worries at this point. just throw em both in and let it cycle. if anything at least LS will speed up your cycle the same way cured LR does.
 
The reason for not putting the sand in while curing is because things fall off as they die, but LS should help speed the process. So no worries, just use some aquarium gloves to pick anything out. And clean your filter regularly.
 
Agree that it can all go in the tank together.

Ideally the sand goes in the tank and the rock goes in the tub for a couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks aquascape the tank. By then most die off on the rock will be over and you can just shake the crud off the rock before putting it in the tank.
 
I have cycled many tanks, all with live sand together with the rock. I think it's a Good Thing.

I'm a big Bob Fenner fan, so I heartily recommend stopping by www.wetwebmedia.com, and picking up a copy of The Conscientious Marine Aquarist. Learning by trial and error (read as: killing things) sucks mightily.

Have fun,
Dan
 
I have to say receiving the live rock was pretty dang cool. There is a good bit of coral growing on the rocks and there were about 10 little baby serpent stars in the water I was cleaning the live rock off in. I dont know much about coral and SW in general but 2 things look like zoanthids/zoas or whatever and another thing has over a dozen different arms but goes into hiding when I turned the light on briefly. There were also a few hermit crabs/snails but i dont think they made it. No signs of a mantis hitchhiker though. I just went ahead and put the sand and live rock together in the 2 tanks. About 12-13 1lbs in the 12 and 5lbs in the 5 gal which at first I was going to use for snails/hermits for the mantis tank but Im seriously thinking of getting 2 N. Wenneraes now. Is there any possibility of some of the stuff surviving the cycle or can I figure on everything dying?
 
If you keep the ammonia and nitrite down with water changes during the cycle, you can salvage most of the corals/zooanthids.

Only one mantis per tank! That's what you'll end up with, at least.

Dan
 
Yeh I know only 1 per tank but I also set up a 5 gal. tank along with my 12g that was just going to be used for snails/hermits/other food for my N wennerae but am now considering getting another mantis to put in it. I plan on doing 50% water changes weekly so hopefully that will be enough to keep some things alive. Looks like I have several zoas, at least one anemone, a couple of feathery looking things, and 2 purple corals what appear to be gorgonians(sp?) Im sure I am missing some things though.
 
I second water changes to minimize the ammonia and nitrite spikes. I never understood why people bought live rock and then killed off the life they paid for by allowing a spike in ammonia.


BTW, the rock sounds awesome. Where did you get it ?
 
I bought the rock at sealifeinc.net and highly recommend them. Its the same rock TBS sells from what I hear and they sell it for 3.50lb. He responded to all my questions really quickly and shipped my rock out super fast. I placed my order late Tuesday and the rock was shipped out on Wedensday and arrived to me around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The rock had almost zero die off when it came to me and was loaded with life. Like I said there is coral all over it and just this morning I woke up to another zoa/mushroom or whatever they are called sticking about an inch out of a hole. The one thing in the rock that has a bunch of arms goes away when i turn the lights on I am not sure what it is. The arms are almost hair life and id say there is about 20+ of them. Im sure I am missing some other stuff and wil find more as the rock has been in the tank less than 24 hrs. Sorry for the descriptions but I am not sure what most the stuff is called as its my first experience in SW tanks.

Anyways, will 50% water changes weekly be enough or do I need to be more aggressive with the changes?
 
I bought the rock at sealifeinc.net and highly recommend them. Its the same rock TBS sells from what I hear and they sell it for 3.50lb. He responded to all my questions really quickly and shipped my rock out super fast. I placed my order late Tuesday and the rock was shipped out on Wedensday and arrived to me around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. The rock had almost zero die off when it came to me and was loaded with life. Like I said there is coral all over it and just this morning I woke up to another zoa/mushroom or whatever they are called sticking about an inch out of a hole. The one thing in the rock that has a bunch of arms goes away when i turn the lights on I am not sure what it is. The arms are almost hair life and id say there is about 20+ of them. Im sure I am missing some other stuff and wil find more as the rock has been in the tank less than 24 hrs. Sorry for the descriptions but I am not sure what most the stuff is called as its my first experience in SW tanks.

Anyways, will 50% water changes weekly be enough or do I need to be more aggressive with the changes?
 
I think it would be better to do 20% every 2-3 days. I personally dont like changing more than 20% out at a time with salt water. But im glad you are enjoying the hobby, mantis shrimp are very neat little critters.
 
I forgot to ask one more question that I had. Alot of places I have read said to leave the lights off during the curing process to help stop algae growth but to me this only sounds like it woul hurt my chances of the coral surviving. What do you guys suggest when it comes to this?

Oh and I cant wait to order my mantis. Ive been browsing this forum for a while now and finally decided to take the dive and I am sure this is a hobby I will stick with as long as I am able to.
 
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