all rock is not the same!
all rock is not the same!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12437940#post12437940 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jsolomito
OK, have you ever cycled a tank with NO water changes?
Rock and sand went in Fri. about 3:30 pm. pH 8.4, Temp. 76, sp. grav. 1.023 - 1.024, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all 0. Skimmer was off line for about the first 12 hrs., all powerheads and pumps running continuously (about 2400 gal/hr total) Mon. afternoon (yesterday) Ammonia peaked at 0.75 ppm, nitrite 0.75 ppm and nitrate at 20 ppm. This afternoon, about 24 hrs later, ammonia back down to 0.5 ppm, nitrite down to 0.5 ppm and nitrate holding steady at 20 ppm. Still waiting to do my first water change! Life is popping out all over. Several clusters of fan worms, all the vegetation has perked up, a little gobie type fish has poked his nose out (about an inch long, almost translucent with fine vertical black stripes along his whole body) a shrimp (about 2 inches long, reddish/orange), 3 inch cucumber and at least a dozen snails and hermits. All the encrusting ?sponges? have perked up and some have begun to form what look like little warts or outgrowths. I'll post some pictures later to get help in identifying what they are. The amazing thing is, this is just the baserock! I really haven't been able to identify any major die-off at all. When you sell live rock, you really mean live rock.
Joe
Hey Joe
Probably 90% of the big tanks I stock never have a big cycle...and no water changes......as you have such a large volume of water that adding live rock and sand that is alive........causes ...little ammonia because there is little die off.
Folks are just not used to real live rock and sand, as 99% of the industry is geared to imported live rock and bagged sand.
When you use imported live rock.....it MUST be 'cured', or a better phrase would be 'bringing dead rock back to life', is a time consuming and smelly process. This is because most rock from Fiji is now 'boat' rock, meaning it is harvested, put on a freighter in a dry condition, and shipped to Los Angeles, taking weeks and weeks to get there, so when it gets the there is very little to no life left on the rock.
So this rock MUST be isolated and "brought back to life"...which is what most people have to deal with when using imported rock.
I see Fiji rock every week at the airfreight terminal at Southwest, the guys there are in practice of putting the pallet of boxes as far back in the warehouse as they can, as it smells so bad from being dry for weeks, is simply how the industry works with imported rock.
There is still some rock coming in air freight from Tonga...but also dry, so must go through the 'curing' process also. You just can't ask anything on a rock to stay alive after being out of the water for days/weeks before it gets to you. This is why everybody strives for 'purple' on their imported rock, as you cannot get much to regrow on it but Coraline.
On the other end of the spectrum, is cultured rock from Florida. When I harvest rock, it is immediately immersed in barrels of saltwater on the boat....back to the warehouse where it goes into my holding system.....until I pack it in boxes and bags underwater, and it is shipped to you and usually picked up in a few hours after I pack it.
Thus there is little to no die off......but beware as there is always a chance of getting some sponges that will not make it in captivity, and they will produce ammonia as the die off, but the amount they make, usually is taken care of by your initial cycle, and the bacteria I supply with the Package.
So we are talking two different ballgames here, and two totally different types of rock. Many folks have a preference for imported rock, many have a wanting for cultured rock with life on it....is up to the individual.
But don't be lulled into complacency, as when you get part two of the Package, you could get ammonia spikes, and you have to be ready to make water changes if you have to, or you will stress the rock, which is not a good thing.
Every tank, and every cycle is different. My motto is be ready for the worst, and expect the best, and you will have a happy tank. So as you are experiencing, you have rock with tons of life on it, but little cycle, which is a good thing, but everything you have read tells you to 'cure' the rock, which does not apply to Florida cultured live rock.
One thing you NEVER want to do is to isolate my rock, and try to 'cure' it as it will all die as there is so much life on it. It must go into an established functioning system, or as in your case a new tank, with part one of the Package, which is all of the live sand and 1/2 of the rock, and the bacteria I supply, and the tank is happy from the beginning.....and in a few days you will be ready for part two, and all the critters also.
And the first 1/2 is not baserock, as I use no "baserock" in the Package is all liverock, to me baserock is rock that is dead or with very little life. I supply nothing but liverock for part one and two of the Package...
I hope this little insight into the industry helps......but..
Where is the pictures!!!
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
oh yea..the Gobie is a tiger gobie, cool little fish, is on my critters ID page on the website at
www.tbsaltwater.com , they are frequent hitch hikers on my rock....alone with the good, the bad and the ugly...when you take the reef home and put it in your tank, your going to get what lives on that reef.
As Forest says...having a reef tank is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get, good, bad or ugly!
