'making LR' pristine conditions

[Modemagic]

Since my freshwater shark and algae eater finally died after 7 years, I decided to use the tank to make some live rock. Basically I wanna take a bunch of dead rock, and use a piece of live rock to seed it with. My question is what are the best conditions to seed the rock? Would it be better to put sand down in the bottom of the tank or just run it bare-bottom? Are there any lighting requirements for it? Possibly keep a damsel or two in there along with a couple snails or crabs??

Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[reefnetworth]

84 degrees
Calcium 425-450
Alkalinity 3.5-4.0 / 9-11
Magnesium 1325-1350

O3 Actinics 12 hr cycle

a decent to great protien skimmer

no sand needed

live stuff after nitrogen cycle is complete. use fish food to cycle your tank...please!

Damnsels are hard to catch and very teritorial fish.
grazing snails and hermits will help keep rock clean.

as much flow as you can have, the more the better to seed LR, but not so much your fish cant swim :lol:

patience, it takes a couple of months for LR to seed DR.

JDM :smokin:

 

[Modemagic]

I'm not worried about catching the fish... this tank will ONLY be for seeding DR for my other tanks.

I wasn't sure if the snails and hermits would eat too much stuff off the rock and slow the process down or not.

 

[tibbs2]

You just need the bacteria to grow so you can have as many snails and or crabs that you want.