Beginner's guide to Live Rock
- Thread starter Palmetto
- Start date
Don't heat cook it or you'll end up with base rock. Cooking rock means just letting sit in seawater without feeding for a month or two.
Heres my question.. I live in the Caribbean where LR is available to me from the ocean, is it ok to use this as LR for a new 65gal tank that I will be setting up in a month or so? And I want to cycle my tank w/ the LR. There are no local SW pet shops in my area. I do have a permit to collect LR, SW Fish and Invertabrates. Do I have to cure and I want to avoid pest like the mantis shrimp I already have 1 in my 30 gal SW tank. Got him at an inch now he's 2 and pain in the you know what!
MisterAtlantis
New member
Is Indonesian rock a good choice, have seen an online vendor selling "premium" rock at £10 per kilo,besides soaking in high salinity for 15mins and curing is their anything else that neds to be done.
Andy
Andy
I'm about to set up a 125 gal tank and have a source for live "base" rock and some "base" sand. I'll probably mix in some dead rock and sand. Would it be worth spending a little $ and get a few nice examples of live rock and/or sand with critters on them? I live in Birmingham, Al and can drive to Atlanta which I think has a couple nice stores but I'm sure I'll pay top dollar for the stuff. Is it better to order online and take my chances and have to cycle the rock. That seems like a lot of work.
Hi Winnige
[welcome]
Base rock and sand are dead rock and sand. Base rock is just LR that has been allowed to dry out and is no longer covered with bacteria, algae and other living organisms. You must seed it with LR to reactivate it. Curing LR is not all that hard. Get a few tubs and some salt mix and let nature take its course. The only major labor is changing out the water every few days and testing ammonia levels.
[welcome]
Base rock and sand are dead rock and sand. Base rock is just LR that has been allowed to dry out and is no longer covered with bacteria, algae and other living organisms. You must seed it with LR to reactivate it. Curing LR is not all that hard. Get a few tubs and some salt mix and let nature take its course. The only major labor is changing out the water every few days and testing ammonia levels.
Thanks.
OK. I have my terminology wrong. I am supposed to be getting some live rock from a friend who is cultivating it in his tank. I will then mix that with some dead rock. I assume this live rock I am getting will have bacteria and some algae on it as well as the sand but I doubt it will have the biodiversity found on rock taken from the ocean, right? I also assume the rock I am getting can go strait in the tank with no worries. Would it be worth buying a few show pieces of rock with a bunch of critters on them from an aquarium store?
OK. I have my terminology wrong. I am supposed to be getting some live rock from a friend who is cultivating it in his tank. I will then mix that with some dead rock. I assume this live rock I am getting will have bacteria and some algae on it as well as the sand but I doubt it will have the biodiversity found on rock taken from the ocean, right? I also assume the rock I am getting can go strait in the tank with no worries. Would it be worth buying a few show pieces of rock with a bunch of critters on them from an aquarium store?
Yes it can go directly into the tank but give it a week or so to acclimate. Always check ammonia levels after any LR is added to the tank (you don't need to do that with the DR 
). Getting some show rock is always nice as you can see what you have on it before you buy. One or two large rocks can really complement a tank and their population, over time, does migrate to the other rocks.
). Getting some show rock is always nice as you can see what you have on it before you buy. One or two large rocks can really complement a tank and their population, over time, does migrate to the other rocks.thank you this has been very helpful!! i just started a 55 gal tank i added 38 lbs of cured premium live rock and 20 lbs of live sand along with a mixture of gravel... i have yet to test my water but i was told that i will not be getting ammonia or nitrite spikes, is that true?
Not if the rock is truly cured. You probably will see some nitrates as the tank matures.
Overgreen
New member
Well someone asked this question but I couldn't find the reply to it so i'll ask again. I bought some liverock (around 75 pounds) while I was out of town. A friend found it for me. It was already in a well established tank for around 4 years. They took it out and put it in 2 tubs with 3 small powerheads to keep the water moving. It was in the tubs for around 4-5 days then I brought it home and set it up. I used the water that came from the tank and was also used to to keep the rocks wet while in the tub. I also used to sand that came from the old tank. I guess my question is that its been in my new tank now around 4 days now and I think everything has died off that was with it. Am I doing everything i'm suppose to be doing. I put some chopped up shrimp in there and I saw one snail eating it but I think hes since died because I haven't seen him again. Also all the pretty pink and purple that was on the rock is disappearing. I've got 2 powerhead 3's and a t5 light coming so I know that will help it when I get that stuff in there. I have the 3 small powerheads that are barely moving the water around, I guess just enough to say its moving the water and I've got a small metal light with a single bulb in it over the tank now. I did put some more fresh clean salt water from the LFS in there and it has cleaned up really nice. I'm completly new to all of this so I just wanna make sure i'm pointed in the right direction.
Aquarist007
New member
The idea here is to let live rock cure in your tank which dead stuff comes off and then stimulates the natural bacteria to "cycle" and grow. These bacteria change harmful ammonia to nitrites , nitrates and then nitrogen gas. This is called the nitrogen cycle or the biological filtration of your tank and the live rock is both the catalyst for containing the bacteria and causing that bacteria to grow in numbers so eventually can handle the bioload of creatures you add to your tank.
This takes about 3-5 weeks and can be easily monitored by use of a test kit that measures ammonia and nitrates.
You "should" see a spike in ammonia with it then dropping of, followed by a spike in nitrates
When both your measurements become zero or undetectable your tank has cycled
That said
I would remove the sand and replace it with new argonite--after 4 years it has probably soaked up alot of nitrates and phosphates and lost alot of its buffering capabilities.
Secondly take out the dead chopped up shrimp--they will just cause higher ammonia spikes that your system can't handle right now
Thirdly I would do an immediate 30 per cent water change and repeat daily if you see spikes in ammonia
[welcome]
This takes about 3-5 weeks and can be easily monitored by use of a test kit that measures ammonia and nitrates.
You "should" see a spike in ammonia with it then dropping of, followed by a spike in nitrates
When both your measurements become zero or undetectable your tank has cycled
That said
I would remove the sand and replace it with new argonite--after 4 years it has probably soaked up alot of nitrates and phosphates and lost alot of its buffering capabilities.
Secondly take out the dead chopped up shrimp--they will just cause higher ammonia spikes that your system can't handle right now
Thirdly I would do an immediate 30 per cent water change and repeat daily if you see spikes in ammonia
[welcome]
Overgreen
New member
I've been monitoring the levels and they did get high for a day then now are back down to normal levels. Now i'm using the colored sticks so I know its only just close but I am seeing them go down. Ammonia got high and has gone back down but none of them are at zero. I guess its just the unknown that I dont know and thought I might mess something up worse. I'll get some sand and planned on changing out the water. Thanks for the speedy reply.
Aquarist007
New member
no problem--you are welcome.
Plan on further spikes in ammonia and nitrates when you take the old sand out.
After reading your original post again I might suggest that you drain out and save as much as the salt water as you can untill you can remove and or vacuum the old sand bed out.
Overgreen
New member
Ok i'll try that. Its looking really good, really clear now after I put new water in and got some light on it. I know it will only get better once the new lights and powerheads come in. It kinda looks like some of the rocks have like a dust film on it and I think its because the water isn't being moved around enough.
Aquarist007
New member
get your self a turkey baster---lightly baste the reef rock to get the detrius back up into the water where it can be filtered out.
Once your tank is cycled and you have fish ect in it---it is a good idea to use that turkey baster once a week to lightly baste the surface of the substrate and the reef rock. I have never vacuumed the substrate in three years. The turkey basting and the inverts that inhabit the top layer of substrate keep it nice and clean.
I have just purchased a full reef setup including 80 lbs of live rock. Since we getting ready to put carpet in the room where the aquarium will sit, I have asked the seller to keep the rock in the aquarium for two or three weeks until I get the carpet installed. I have already picked up the lights, so the rock will not light for up to three weeks.
Is this a problem? Will it harm the organisms on the rock?
Is this a problem? Will it harm the organisms on the rock?
