Beginner's guide to Live Rock

Wow how time flies!! Just read all ten pages. First I must thank Palmetto the Ricordea Junkie :D for starting this thread.(I understand the addiction)

I'm starting a 54 gallon and really can't wait to see the hitchhiker and kill a few as required. Thanks for the Info!!

Larry O
 
Thank you to all the people that obviously have an awful lot of experience for taking the time to reply to such a useful thread! Your patience and guidance are much appreciated :) After several years of setbacks, saving, and dreaming, my LR will arrive tomorrow and I can't wait to get things rocking!

The funny thing is, I have absolutely no desire to add anything new to the tank for a very long time. I just want to stare at all the biodiversity I hope will survive what I understand will be a stinky soup! Now I just need a way to explain to my kids that I don't actually WANT any pirate ships or SpongeBob decorations in the tank...!
 
Hi Zoophile
[welcome]

Go to [rk] and show them our Tanks of the Month photo's and they may see why.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11258596#post11258596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
Sara,

Scrub as much as you can off before using vinegar. You can also soak it in a 1 part bleach to 3 part water solution overnight. Then rinse it well and allow it to dry for a couple of days. That removes any bleach residue.

shpack,

Most likely cause is diatoms growing on the rock. Very common on a newly set up tank. They go away on their own in a week or two but are usually replace by green algae. Water changes will help speed the process and adding some snails can also help.

Ed,

You don't want Aiptasia in a tank that doesn't have it. It can be really hard to remove. First use a paste of pickling lime to kill it before adding it to the uninfested tank. Commercial products like Joe's Juice are also used. Dosing these with a turkey baster, directly on the anemone, is a good way to apply them and you won't need the baster until next November anyway. :D
Click to expand...

Tom, I have one aiptasia that is growing under a large toadstool mushroom. If I use Joe's juice on it will it effect the mushroom in any way?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11274103#post11274103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lordhelmet
don't get the juice on the mushroom. it will burn it. just make sure all powerheads and pumps are off.
Click to expand...

thanks--in that case I think I better wrap it (the mushroom) first--its really close.
 
Yes it is the high pH (over 12.4) that makes the stuff work. It will burn coral tissue and any thing it makes prolonged contact. Heck, I have a scar on my wrist from a lime burn I got while freeing up a stuck lime slaker.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11249341#post11249341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefGirlSara
This thread is great - I've read a lot of it, but can't find what I'm looking for. I hope no one minds me bringing it back again.

A while back I read something about using previously 'live' rock that used to be completely covered with coralline, and has since been removed from the tank, dried, and stored safely. To re-use this rock, I was thinking I'd just drop a few pieces at a time in a tank I have set up as basically a QT with some good live sand and LR in it already.

My question is, since it had so much coralline on it before, do I need to do anything to it first to get the dried coralline - which is now white and powdery off of it, or will it be fine to leave it as is?

I have about 25 lbs of it.
Click to expand...



i might be baron von frankenstein
:rollface:

BUT.......

i removed about 40# of lr that had majanos on it
4-5 weeks ago... bleached it sundried it... then let it sit in an enclosed rubbermaid container for several weeks in ro/di - w/ heavy dose of dechlorinator...

it was interesting because
there were little specs of coralline algae on the bleached white rock... i ***-u-ME it is coralline algae (what else could it be?)... they are purple specs all over the rocks... i forgot about the rock until couple days ago - stuck about half in my fuge of the reef and the other half went to fowlr tank... (admittedly was concerned about adding it back to system)...

alas no problems since!!!

perhaps these purple specs
are new coralline from sitting in the darkness dont know... but if the majanos made it threw the bleaching process then they are 'FRANKENSTEINS' !!!
:hmm4:
 
My scenario:

Started my 34 gallon Red Sea Max on 12/19/07. Live sand, RO water (with a little Prime, because I'm paranoid about chloramine), salt, and buffer. Four damselfish are struggling, but since my diatom bloom is receding, they are much better. They had a couple days of labored breathing while staying on the bottom of the tank after being happy for about a week and a half. Now they are swimming around again, so I added some blue legged hermits and an emerald crab.

I brought back some Haitian live rock from my trip down in south Florida, and it has been curing 1 week.

My curing method for ~50 lbs:
Day 1 - after scrubbing off the crud, I put it in a 25 gallon tub with salt + 20 gallons RO water + buffer (I don't listen to the complete darkness rule; it gets ambient light from old T5 fluoros about 8 feet away - I think I'm safe).

Day 3 - another diligent scrubbing with a toothbrush, complete water change, same combo, added heater set at 78F

Day 5 - some scrubbing, complete water change, same combo

Day 7 - complete water change, same combo

Seems to be working alright. It's getting less and less smelly as time goes by. Luckily I work at a LFS and can cure it there, right next to the RO unit, and while on the clock to boot.

Anyway, the rock still smells kind of funky. Definitely not something I want to toss in my tank immediately. Or is it? I have read that cycling a tank with uncured live rock is a way to go, and can be more beneficial in the long run, but take about a month longer than a "normal cycle". But since I added the sand the water first, I'm afraid the rock will let off too many nutrients if I were to have added it at say a two-week hash mark. I know that those nutrients can get deep into the sandbed, causing trouble down the road. But would it be at all beneficial to add my rock after about two weeks of curing and finish the job in the tank? Or fully cure the rock for 3-4 weeks, then add it to the tank?

I'm just debating on whether or not it's worth the ammonia spike that will accompany it. Will this set me back, or possibly move me forward?

I'm just looking for opinions.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11531755#post11531755 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zatko
My scenario:

Started my 34 gallon Red Sea Max on 12/19/07. Live sand, RO water (with a little Prime, because I'm paranoid about chloramine), salt, and buffer. Four damselfish are struggling, but since my diatom bloom is receding, they are much better. They had a couple days of labored breathing while staying on the bottom of the tank after being happy for about a week and a half. Now they are swimming around again, so I added some blue legged hermits and an emerald crab.

I brought back some Haitian live rock from my trip down in south Florida, and it has been curing 1 week.

My curing method for ~50 lbs:
Day 1 - after scrubbing off the crud, I put it in a 25 gallon tub with salt + 20 gallons RO water + buffer (I don't listen to the complete darkness rule; it gets ambient light from old T5 fluoros about 8 feet away - I think I'm safe).

Day 3 - another diligent scrubbing with a toothbrush, complete water change, same combo, added heater set at 78F

Day 5 - some scrubbing, complete water change, same combo

Day 7 - complete water change, same combo

Seems to be working alright. It's getting less and less smelly as time goes by. Luckily I work at a LFS and can cure it there, right next to the RO unit, and while on the clock to boot.

Anyway, the rock still smells kind of funky. Definitely not something I want to toss in my tank immediately. Or is it? I have read that cycling a tank with uncured live rock is a way to go, and can be more beneficial in the long run, but take about a month longer than a "normal cycle". But since I added the sand the water first, I'm afraid the rock will let off too many nutrients if I were to have added it at say a two-week hash mark. I know that those nutrients can get deep into the sandbed, causing trouble down the road. But would it be at all beneficial to add my rock after about two weeks of curing and finish the job in the tank? Or fully cure the rock for 3-4 weeks, then add it to the tank?

I'm just debating on whether or not it's worth the ammonia spike that will accompany it. Will this set me back, or possibly move me forward?

I'm just looking for opinions.
Click to expand...

IMO--remove the damsels--they have suffered enough :eek2:

put the live rock in the tank and let the curing of the live rock cycle the bacteria. any big ammonia spikes then do a water change
 
GREAT THREAD--
It is my understanding that even if you buy LR with the nice yellow and orange coralines these won't survive the shipping/curing process and at the end of the day this will be replaced with purple shades of coraline. My question is..... why only purple? Why not yellow/orange too? I understand there is a product called "purple-up" used to promote the purple coraline growth. What could be used as a "yellow-up" ? What will grow the yellow/orange shades?
 
I have about 40 lbs. of live rock curing in a brute garbage can. It has been in there for about 10 weeks and I can't seem to get the nitrates down to zero.The phosphates were detectable and I put Phosban in a bag in and that took care of that .There are 2x 1200 pwr heads for flow , water is heated to 78. I have been doing 100 percent water changes ever week. The water tests good after the water chg. but after a few days the nitrate rises again. I want to add the live rock to a system that has been running for about 4 years and I don't want to have any problems. What am I missing here?
Keith.
 
Sorry if this question has already been asked but if I buy liverock with coral already on it from a LFS does it still have to be cured.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11803096#post11803096 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thomalop
Can base rock become live rock?
Click to expand...

yes but it takes about three months to happen. You mix it with your live rock and that seeds it.
The draw back is that you have to wait three months rather then 5-6 weeks for your system to have enough cycled bacteria to handle the bioload of a fish
(depending on the percentage of live rock to base rock you add in the beginning)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11803113#post11803113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Keith Thomson
I have about 40 lbs. of live rock curing in a brute garbage can. It has been in there for about 10 weeks and I can't seem to get the nitrates down to zero.The phosphates were detectable and I put Phosban in a bag in and that took care of that .There are 2x 1200 pwr heads for flow , water is heated to 78. I have been doing 100 percent water changes ever week. The water tests good after the water chg. but after a few days the nitrate rises again. I want to add the live rock to a system that has been running for about 4 years and I don't want to have any problems. What am I missing here?
Keith.
Click to expand...

the rock is still curing--and the garbage can with only power heads is not as effective as bringing nitrates down to zero as are protein skimmers and refugiums
 
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