coral only tank need live rock?
- Thread starter Johnb123
- Start date
organism
code monkey
I just tried a minimal live rock farm and overall it's not doable. You lose a ton of bacteria buffer as far as breaking down food, so you might have mini ammonia spikes every time you feed. If you're planning on not feeding then your water will get way too clean as all of the nitrates and phosphates are removed by your skimmer and eventually your corals will starve to death.
Basically the deal is that you need to feed something to avoid dangerously low nitrate levels, but you also need a bacteria buffer to break down that food which you'll find in the live rock. Stability is the most important part of a saltwater system and the majority of that comes from your live rock, so with less of it you have less healthy corals and as a result slower growth.
Basically the deal is that you need to feed something to avoid dangerously low nitrate levels, but you also need a bacteria buffer to break down that food which you'll find in the live rock. Stability is the most important part of a saltwater system and the majority of that comes from your live rock, so with less of it you have less healthy corals and as a result slower growth.
ExpensiveHobby
Member
If you have a sump do what I did for my frag tank. The frag display is just egg crate but the sump has rubble rock. You really should have rock in the for the reason everyone else mentioned.
South City
New member
You can place some of this in your sump and it will provide a home for the bacteria that you will otherwise be missing if you don't place any rock in your tank.
Forced 2 Farm
New member
how many pounds of live rock would the 8x8x4 block be equivalent to?
South City
New member
The big block gives you 23,000 square feet of surface area. I can say for certain it's equivalent in live rock. I suppose to some extent, that would depend upon how porous the live rock is that one is using.
Another benefit of the big block is that it's thick enough to provide an anaerobic environment near it's center. You could potentially culture bacteria in the center of that block that would convert nitrates into nitrogen gas.
Another benefit of the big block is that it's thick enough to provide an anaerobic environment near it's center. You could potentially culture bacteria in the center of that block that would convert nitrates into nitrogen gas.
South City
New member
There has been a lot of discussion whether or not the marinepure products leach aluminum that is harmful to tank inhabitants. Still an open question since there doesn't seem to be any conclusive proof one way or the other to decide the issue for certain.
I'm of the opinion that it's okay and isn't releasing deadly aluminum into my tank. Marineland products are in use by thousands of reefers. The way I see it, if there was a systemic issue where saltwater was breaking down the aluminum silicate into dangerous components, it wouldn't take long for those thousands of users to notice the ill effects and report on them en mass. You don't see that.
I have a 36 gallon bowfront that is primarily softies and I have been using the Marinepure products for nearly 9 months now.(that's a pretty small volume of water which isn't going to do much to hide any negative water chemistry issues) The softies in my tank are thriving and I've seen no ill effects whatsoever. That seems to be the experience for most. Take that for whatever it is worth.
I'm of the opinion that it's okay and isn't releasing deadly aluminum into my tank. Marineland products are in use by thousands of reefers. The way I see it, if there was a systemic issue where saltwater was breaking down the aluminum silicate into dangerous components, it wouldn't take long for those thousands of users to notice the ill effects and report on them en mass. You don't see that.
I have a 36 gallon bowfront that is primarily softies and I have been using the Marinepure products for nearly 9 months now.(that's a pretty small volume of water which isn't going to do much to hide any negative water chemistry issues) The softies in my tank are thriving and I've seen no ill effects whatsoever. That seems to be the experience for most. Take that for whatever it is worth.
