Question about live rock

[Capsle]

Morning Reefers,

So I bought my live rock off a guy who had just redone his aquascape. He had the rock over 3 years and is cycled.

I picked it up last week and I now have it in a plastic bin with 2 small pumps in it. Salinity is at 1.025 and I haven't tested for anything else. I've noticed a few Copepods and amphipods swimming around and I believe that coraline algae is spreading (I think this is good). Also sponges are going as well.

I know I will have to cycle the tank anyways when I get it setup.

I've also noticed these which I think are hydroids, correct? If they are I need to remove them?

My other question is how long can I keep the live rock in there and do I need to do any maintenance on it?

I'm waiting for the damn diamond hole saw to drill out my bulk heads in my Display tank. Was supposed to be 3-5 days shipping but that was a lie. It's more like a month!

I'm a little upset about it as I have everything ready to go but waiting on the damn bit. [emoji35]


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[Shawn O]

If you're talking about the thing at the bottom of the pic, it's a type of tube worm/feather duster. It's a small filter feeder. Harmless. I have about a half dozen hiding in the holes of my LR, never been a problem.

How much live rock did you get? If you got 1-2lbs per gallon of tank you will not likely have much of a cycle. The rock is already live and cycled. The only issue you'll probably have is anything in the new(?) sand causing a mini-cycle. It wouldn't hurt to ghost feed the bucket of rock once in a while to feed the bacteria and pods. Veggie pellets would probably work well enough. As long as you keep the water warm and oxygenated you'll e able to keep the rock in the bucket for quite a while. A small powerhead, heater and air stone would probably do it for you.

 

[Capsle]

If you're talking about the thing at the bottom of the pic, it's a type of tube worm/feather duster. It's a small filter feeder. Harmless. I have about a half dozen hiding in the holes of my LR, never been a problem.

How much live rock did you get? If you got 1-2lbs per gallon of tank you will not likely have much of a cycle. The rock is already live and cycled. The only issue you'll probably have is anything in the new(?) sand causing a mini-cycle. It wouldn't hurt to ghost feed the bucket of rock once in a while to feed the bacteria and pods. Veggie pellets would probably work well enough. As long as you keep the water warm and oxygenated you'll e able to keep the rock in the bucket for quite a while. A small powerhead, heater and air stone would probably do it for you.

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for the info, the critters I am talking about are in the middle of the picture, the brown tube things with the flower type top. It looks like a feather duster but also a Hydroid well at least according to google images.

I have 67 lb of live rock in the bin. only cost me 100$ I got a really good deal, will also be starting my tank off with 40 lb of live sand and about 120 lb of dead sand. I am going for a 5-6" deep sand bed.

I was suggest by my LFS that i put some egg crate at the bottom of my tank and then live rock, then sand. It will prevent the aquascape from shifting. Sounds like a good idea to me. I might get more live rock down the road depending how everything goes.

 

[Remy LeBeau]

Like mentioned above as long as there's plenty of circulation in the bin and you keep the temperature & salinity within limits you could keep that rock in there for years on end if you wanted to. Maybe once a week add a small pinch of flake food and you should be set. GL.

 

[Shawn O]

Depending on the type of rock and your planned stocking you may need to add another 30lbs of rock. I'd suggest trashing the 40lbs of live sand if it's from the 3yr old tank. If it's new live sand (bagged) you'd probably still want to rinse it well, which could "kill" it. Your LR will seed the sand anyway. Fresh dry sand, rinsed thoroughly, will work great with the live rock. My setup (came used) had an inch of live sand in it, saturated with so much crud it stank. Filthy old sand can pollute the freshly mixed SW you're going to add.

That's a feather duster type of critter. You can tell by the curly tube it made, harmless.