Converting Cichlid Tank

[davisgtp]

Hello im in the process of converting my 55G cichlid tank into a reef tank. I currently have a 30g reef that is about 2 years old. My question is should i clean the Texas Holy Rock that is currently in the tank or should i leave it as is. Basically will it speed up the cycling process or cause any issues if i leave it dirty.

 

[Percula9]

You can't use that rock for a salt water tank.You have to scrap everything except equipment and start fresh.

 

[Percula9]

Not the same bacteria.Salt water will kill the freshwater bacteria.

 

[Grimreaperz]

Yeah that rock looks a bit smooth to be in saltwater....bacteria dying would speed up the ammonia built up but you may want to look into dry rock or reef saver rock....LR is expensive and can come with headaches....I would personally be very weary where you get LR from. And make sure you know what you are looking for when buy it....I have been dealing with nightmare after nightmare from. The rock I bought.....didn't know what I was looking at at the time and the LFS just wanted my money...

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[tinfoilsoldier]

You will probably be fine either way. Depending on how you were thinking of cleaning the rock it might help some with the amount of fouling from the dying freshwater bacteria.

If you have the time, and some LR from your smaller reef or starter bacteria, and do some water changes while cycling it should turn into some awesome holey reef rock.

Like people said, that rock seems to be dense so you will probably want some sort of additional filtration matrix/media for more bacteria to grow on.

 

[Walla2GSP]

Texas Holey is limestone, so not ideal for reef tanks, but you could do this two ways if you want to use this rock as it will slowly release calcium, magnesium, and carbonate into the water column which is beneficial with saltwater tanks. You can bring the salinity up slowly over a period of a couple months and let the brackish bacteria eat the dead freshwater bacteria and the saltwater bacteria in turn eat the dead brackish bacteria, or break everything down and acid bath the limestone and re-seed the tank with new saltwater bacteria strains.

 

[davisgtp]

Yeah that rock looks a bit smooth to be in saltwater....bacteria dying would speed up the ammonia built up but you may want to look into dry rock or reef saver rock....LR is expensive and can come with headaches....I would personally be very weary where you get LR from. And make sure you know what you are looking for when buy it....I have been dealing with nightmare after nightmare from. The rock I bought.....didn't know what I was looking at at the time and the LFS just wanted my money...

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I plan on using the holy rock as base rock. I'm going to pull the live rock out my other tank as well. Should I keep it scrap all the sand.

 

[OrQidz]

Hopefully it will work out - I would be a bit worried about the rock being loaded with phosphates from being in FW cichlid tank that could leach back out and fuel algae problems.

 

[Grimreaperz]

Hopefully it will work out - I would be a bit worried about the rock being loaded with phosphates from being in FW cichlid tank that could leach back out and fuel algae problems.

+1 ultimately you the OP will do what he is going to do but yeah I personally have never seen this type of rock but doesn't look fit for SW reef use....

Hopefully it will work out - I would be a bit worried about the rock being loaded with phosphates from being in FW cichlid tank that could leach back out and fuel algae problems.

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[davisgtp]

Thanks for all your help, I'll go the safe route and clean the old rock first