Live rock only?

[BoisBlancBoy]

If I started out with 80% dry rock and the rest live what equipment would I need to keep the rock alive?

Would I need less equipment since I don't have corals or fish?

What I'm thinking of doing, if its possible, is to house my rock while I'm slowly getting the nessecary equipment for a fully functional tank.

 

[tonypittman]

To keep rock alive you just need a container, heater, and a powerhead to keep the water moving. So, yes, you would need much less equipment than if you had fish/corals.

 

[Reefin' Dude]

just feed the tank. the amount of bacteria is determined by the available food. no food, then the bacteria will just die away. it does not take a lot of food. even just a touch of pure ammonia or a pinch of food every week.

as for the amount of equipment. all you need is some powerheads to allow the LR to process phosphates (yes, dry LR will be full of phosphates) properly while you get the rest of your equipment. "cooking" live/dry rock of phosphates is never a bad thing to do.

G~

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

How about light? Any small creatures hitching a ride on the live
Rock show up?

 

[biggles]

If you wish to keep as many photosynthetic hitchhikers alive as possible then some form of reef lighting will be required. I just started cycling 50lbs of LR and i have a 2x39W T5 fixture over it as it has lots of life on it.

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

I have (2) 4' dual bulb T8 fixtures. Will these work?

 

[biggles]

They will work fine for the LR, run all four tubes and good luck.

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

Ok great. I was thinking 2 actinic bulbs and 2 full spectrums? Good choice or not?

Should I have the lights on a 12 on 12 off cycle?

 

[biggles]

If it was me i would use 3xdaylight and 1x actinic but i'm no lighting expert. I run mine for 10 hours, you should be able to support a lot of lower light organisms and can use a plastic tub if the tank isn't ready yet. I'm assuming you want to get the cycle underway to avoid waiting longer when everything else is ready - that's what i am doing btw.

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

Well my reasoning behind all this is I'm switching my 240 from fresh to salt. I just started picking up rock. But I figured once I get enough rock, substrate, RO etc I could at least house the rock and get that going while I'm saving up for other components.

Just better in my mind to look at a tank with colorful rock than it to sit empty I guess.

What's different with the daylight bulbs versus full spectrum?? Lighting is the most complicated thing for me so far.

 

[biggles]

I just mean't the actinic won't contribute as much beneficial light as whiter lights in the case of macro algae and other 'stuff' on your rock. You use whatever you feel is best but you aren't really after what looks best to your eye just yet, more what will keep the rock in better shape, i hope you know what i mean. I have always cylced this way with good results but there are many other ways that work, a heater and circulation and you're away.

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

Thanks I know exactly what you mean. I appreciate the explanation.

 

[aquanooby]

This is how I planed on starting lol since then progress has been much more rapid than I had planed lol 1st got the new t5ho lights..then powerhead took water to test at my lfs my brother was with me, lfs told me your cycle is complete water looks great.At this point all I got was two peppermint shrimp to add to cuc lol I was gonna hold off longer before adding anything else. Well since my bro heard cycle done a couple days later he brought home a clown..smack head o well here we go. he did pick out a good looking fella. I just added a gsp due to the heartiness of them. all is well in tank all doing good. nothing else going in till I get sump and skimmer

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

Ok when placing my power heads a circular motion is ideal right? So the water travels around the rock?

With only rock, how much turnover should I have?

 

[jaa1456]

Turnover is not extremely important, with just the rock. I use a maxi jet 600 when I put rock in a tub. Also I would add an air pump, most people never add one but I think it helps out. Gets rid of the bad gases faster and I usually run my lights on the tubs for roughly 4 hours.

 

[Reefin' Dude]

the more random the flow the better. you want the flow to be able to remove any bacterial flock produced by the LR away from the LR. this bacterial flock is phosphates being removed from the calcium carbonate matrix.

G~

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

So by random I would need ocsilating power heads or wave maker?

Could someone explain bacterial flock to me a little more in depth please?

 

[Reefin' Dude]

yes, that would help.

bacterial flock is the dead bacterium that is pushed out of the LR by living bacterial colonization. bacterial pressure if you like. a while back someone coined this bacterial pressure as turgor. i am not sure it ever caught on. if you were to put a piece of LR in a bucket of heated SW with flow, in a week you will see detritus on the bottom of the bucket. most of that detritus is bacterial flock/mulm from the LR. this is also known as "cooking" the LR. the process of using bacteria to purge phosphates.

G~

 

[BoisBlancBoy]

Fantastic thanks for the explanation.

Here is a simple question. If I have just set up my tank can I immediately add LR without curing it? Obviously without fish in the tank.

#2. If my tank is established when I go to add more LR should I cure that first or can I add it directly? I'm assuming I might want to cure them always in case of pests?

 

[Reefin' Dude]

that all depends on what you think the important part of LR is. for me it is only the bacteria. anything else on LR is risk of unwanted hitchhiker. some prefer the unknowns. before the DSB craze of the late 90's the expensive LR was the LR that had been sitting in tubs for weeks, in essence "cooking". back then it was just called curing. then the DSB craze came about and people thought all of the "life" on LR was good, so then the fresh stuff became expensive. making it harder for those of us who did not want hitchhikers and wanted LR that was clear of phosphates to find good LR. the problem is that all LR that is made out of calcium carbonate is going to have phosphates. the rock mined from land may actually have more phosphates than LR that is pulled from lagoons. it all depends on how good the flow is and how long the mined LR was in the ocean getting "seeded".

back in the day when only fresh LR was available we would put the LR in a bucket without any circulation. this would cause the water to become slightly anoxic and force larger organisms out of the LR for easy removal. mostly crabs, and other crustacenans. though the occasional starfish would also show up.

G~