Beginner's guide to Live Rock

I see this post is pretty old butit had alot of useful information and I appreciate it! I do however have some questions still.
Is there anyway to identify what kind of rock you have?
I have aprox 70lbs of live rock curing in a 30 gal tank with a basic filter and a powerhead meant for 90gal aquarium so it has great circulation doing 75% water changes every other day cause amonia spikes are off the chart on a daily. Curing in the garage in the summer months so water is mainting a 80 to 82 degree though heater is in place for evening cooldowns. Is this ok for curing this amount of rock?
Also is that enough rock to start my 150 gal tank with if I plan to use live sand as well?
Thanks so much for any help and any additional advice on starting this new hobby would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again!
 
lots of good information here
I am just setting up a 220gal fowlr at this stage but maybe go back to reef style because here in Bangkok fish and corals are really cheap..only everything else is expensive for saltwater aquariums
have some live rock only 10 pieces cause that is all they had but will be getting more next week to place in the sump ..the rocks I purchased had been cured and I purchased 4 pieces of branch coral that was lying on the shop floor for a few weeks...looked all dried out ...thinking it was safe to put into new DT after high pressure washing in RO/DI water and giving it a scrub but nothing would come off ...has some seaweed that has come back to life and over a week can see how it now looks like it is growing
there is some really nice pieces there and hope they will survive
cycling has started with No3 up to 20ppm and Po3 upto 1.0ppm
skimmer BM200P is producing 25mm of brown krap per day
can anyone give me some info on what this growth is on the branch coral and willit survive cycling



C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Pictures\samsung phone\samsung phone 133.jpg

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Pictures\samsung phone\samsung phone 135.jpg

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Pictures\samsung phone\samsung phone 135.jpg
 
This thread has been dead for a couple years. You may have better results posting a new thread. Also, nobody can see pics on your pc. Addresses to a C drive will go to the user's hard drive. Try hosting them to a site such as photobucket and adding the URL from there. Good luck!
 
lots of great info here
I am just setting up a 220gal fowlr at this stage but maybe go back to reef style because here in Bangkok fish and corals are really cheap..only everything else is expensive for saltwater aquariums
have some live rock only 10 pieces cause that is all they had but will be getting more next week to place in the sump ..the rocks I purchased had been cured and I purchased 4 pieces of branch coral that was lying on the shop floor for a few weeks...looked all dried out ...thinking it was safe to put into new DT after high pressure washing in RO/DI water and giving it a scrub but nothing would come off ...has some seaweed that has come back to life and over a week can see how it now looks like it is growing
there is some really nice pieces there and hope they will survive
cycling has started with No3 up to 20ppm and Po3 upto 1.0ppm
skimmer BM200P is producing 25mm of brown krap per day also have live rock rubble in skimmer area
can anyone give me some info on what this growth is on the branch coral and will it survive cycling also there are a few other pieces that have red and green colours
am about to add live sand to refugium this sunday
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You didn't mention what your ammonia is. The key to keeping life in or on the rock is the ammonia levels. If they spike really high and you want to. Preserve the life do a water change
 
Hi guys, I bought live rock the other day and added it to my tank as I heard that it releases ammonia to help cycle the tank. Today is day 3 and I just tested the water, still 0 ammonia. The lfs I bought it from didn't tell me if it's cured or not so I'm not sure what to do now. Any idea what can I do?
 
arron said:
Hi guys, I bought live rock the other day and added it to my tank as I heard that it releases ammonia to help cycle the tank. Today is day 3 and I just tested the water, still 0 ammonia. The lfs I bought it from didn't tell me if it's cured or not so I'm not sure what to do now. Any idea what can I do?
Click to expand...

Whats your tank size and how much live rockd o you have in there? Also what kind of sand did you use. You can try adding some mysis shrimp cubes or a dead shrimp to let it rot inside the tank and release some ammonia to get it started
 
I've always added live rock, cure it and add a fish or two to complete the cycle, but with our new tank I decided to try Dr. Tim's "One and Only" and his ammonia.

I added dead rock but used "live Sand". After three days the sand cycled, then put in the ammonia and One and Only. It again cycled in three days. I put our first fish in(quarantined) 3 days later. I was amazed and happy with his products !

I have a log for the first 2 weeks if you're interested in reading it.

You will get a high nitrate level, but it should wined down every day after. It's natural.

I will never use another fish to add ammonia.

I believe he has it for 27% off today. I highly,.....recommend it !

Here's his link.

http://store.drtimsaquatics.com/

Kevin
 
stevensmd said:
one thing mentioned in this thread about changing water during the curing process...I wish I had made MORE water changes the first week..I also bought "pre-cured" rock from mail order and it still took about 12 days to cure....the first week is the most crucial..that is where ammonia and nitrite are going to max. If you don't make several water changes that first week, that poison is going to kill stuff on your rock. I wish I would have known that prior to. still learning.
Click to expand...
What do you think about this please? I have not done a change in first week. Am I screwed?
 
JMorris271 said:
What do you think about this please? I have not done a change in first week. Am I screwed?
Click to expand...

Have you tested ammonia?

Have you added some mysis or a dead raw shrimp?

If you aren't getting an ammonia spike, it's that the rock is more than likely already cured.

Add a piece of raw shrimp and test for ammonia in a week or so. If you get a spike, get the shrimp out and test for nitrite and nitrates. IMO that's the only way to be sure. If the ammonia drops quick, and nitrates spike quick, your rock was ready. If it takes more than a couple weeks, your rock wasn't cured.
 
New to the hobby

New to the hobby

Couple quick questions:
1. Seems like there are many for and against water changes during cycling a new tank. Should they be done?
2. When putting the LR is the tank, are there benefits to using an adhesive to keep the rock in place or should that be avoided?
 
Really no need to unless your nitrates are very,.....high.

Nothing wrong with either.

If you want a really cool scape that can't be done with creating with the shape of the rock, go ahead and epoxy them. But, remember when you're using the epoxy, it won't stick to the wet rock very well, so push the epoxy into crevices, holes, small gaps etc, so it wedges in-between them, like a anchor.

If you can achieve scapping that is real solid, I like this way better as it's much easier to move them if needed. Especially with SPS corals.

You can also drill holes in the rock and use plastic bolts, screws or acrylic rods to hold them together. Most of this type of application has gone on the wayside because of the new epoxy's. (like halides vs LED's)
 
Hope I'm able to bump this thread

Hope I'm able to bump this thread

I have found both good and bad reports on using adhesive to secure rocks. How would you use adhesive for live rock? Wouldn't it HAVE to stay in the water or it would have die off? You cannot cure the adhesive with it wet, so how does this work? Thanks!
 
Lots of good info here. It took me a lot of searching in various places to learn all the info in this post. Very helpful. Might make a good sticky.
 
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