live rock talk

[rochestertank]

new tank going well. I have a huge sump, etc. Anyway, I read that live rock prevents nitrate levels from hiking (my levels were tested by lfs 2 weeks ago and they said they are good- even ph- and i'm not having any problems) so I am writing to learn a little about live rock. as of yet, i have none. i have a good lfs near me i can get some at but i was wondering if you guys can fill me in on what to get first and so on. i always go slow so i doubt i'd get more than 1 piece at a time until i know what i'm doing a lot better. i'd prefer the kind(s) that multiply to save a little cash and it is of upmost importance that all of my fish and invertebrates are happy and healthy. thanks.

 

[bheron]

you really do need live rock, IMO, for good filtration. LR is termed as Biological Filtration, because its the home for tons of tiny bacteria that, literally, clean your water! They produce what is called a "cycle", in which harmful waste (poop, food, etc) in the form of poisonous ammonia is broken down into nitRITE and then into NitTRATE, which is less harmful. It doesnt prevent nitrate levels from hiking, but does prevent the other two. Nitrite still needs to be addressed.

Essentially, you'll need enough live rock to house enough microbacteria to properly filter your water! As a rule of thumb, for a mature tank, you'll need anywhere from 1-2 pounds per gallonin your tank - 55-100 lbs in your case. that can run a pretty penny, so its ok to wait and buy it slowly, looking for deals here or on the net or locally. just be sure not to add too much livestock that will overload your system and be too much for your LR to handle.

I could go on, b/c there's so much more. Check out this thread, one of the best out there...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848

 

[One Eyed Bunny]

Live rock typically acts as a biological filtration system for your tank. The bacteria / organism that grow or hitchhike on each piece are able to process nitrates and use or "eat" other debris.

Any kinda of live rock is really fine. Some "premium" live rock have more beneficial and exotic organisms on it than your not-so-"premium" stuff. However, to save money, you could simply buy 2 or 3 lbs of this stuff and have it "seed" the rest of your live rock and base rock.

Now, base rock is merely bare, completely cured rock. There's a minimal amount of organisms on. However, to save money people buy this bare rock with a couple pounds of live rock and let the live rock "seed" the base rock. Seeding is the process in which the organisms from live rock spread throughout the base rock and turn it into live rock. You typically pay more for live rock than base rock for this reason. You're buying a finished project instead of the do-it-yourself kit. Also, base rock to turn to live rock takes time. With some tanks and depending on your ratio of live rock to base rock, it could takes months to successfully "seed" 30 - 80 lbs of base rock. It's just like anything else in a saltwater tank, long, but ultimately rewarding.

Now, when you first start adding live rock in an already established tank, you do have to move at a much slower pace than if it were a bare tank. With each piece of live rock you had you'll have small spikes in nitrates, nitrites and possibly amnonia. So, like you were saying, a couple pounds at a time should be stressful, but not stressful enough to harm any of your precious fishies.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Bryan,

You must have gotten that thread mixed up with the one I wrote on training Parrotfish to talk. I can't seem to teach the LR to talk no matter how hard I try.