The Plan: Base Rock: The Basics: Constructive Criticism Welcome!

[JaNewman]

Hello guys, I have been reading over many threads on this forum and several others before i put water/rock in my new 110 gallon tank. This will be my first reef build ever! I am very excited to get it on its way, but im also an extremely patient man that likes to take things slow and get it right the first time. With that said: The plan is, after much debate to go bare bottom. I want to make my first tank simple, yet effective. I am going with a really basic sump, with no refuge at all, it will contain the heater, a Reef Octopus NWB 150 Classic Protein Skimmer, and the return pump, most likely a mag 7. I am doing a coast to coast full 59 inches of my tank (Inner DIA) over flow. I am doing beans over flow, which is probably going to be the most complex thing this tank will consist of. I will be siliconing some starboard to the base glass of my tank, This star board will be sized and purchased after I purchase my rock. The flow(bring on the powerheads!) will be produced by jabao wavemakers, im going to slam two FS8000(newer design of WP25 in this tank in hopes that it will get the job done. I have done a lot of research on powerheads debating on vortechs/tunze or jabao, in the end I decided to go the cheaper route and with the money saved I will purchase a APEX to help me control my tank ( I am a nerd when it comes to computer technology, i am pursuing a computer science major). With that said, yes the goal is to have corals, sps and some lps mainly, with like three clowns, a kole tang, yellow tang (i know i know these two guy might not work well together but my girlfriend loves these yellow beauts so i will give them a go), some of those cute little jawfish, and a school of those gorgeous Anthias. I really love trigger fish, i would like to get a pink tailed trigger as well, but i have read that triggers can sometimes be cruel or some would say being a BEAST to your corals and clean up crew, i would like some more insight on this however so please don't hesitate to give some . I also want a sick little clean up crew that sticks to the job 85% of the time, the other 15% is their time to have some fun . My lighting, is from build my led, i made the spectrum after hours of research, it should keep my corals and other creatures happy.


I see my tanks as apart of my family, I invest so much time into them it is as if they are a second relationship (i know that sounds really odd lol)



Now that you know a little about my thoughts, and plans for my new tank which i gave to you so you know what i am after for i am new to this forum, i also want you to know as any reefer i am striving for stability.


I have one fear of going saltwater, and that is live rock lol. Not really a fear i just have heard many many horror stories that came from that one simple thing, a beautiful yet deadly live rock. The organisms that could possibly live on that rock, could be great, orrrr....not so great. It is a gamble, now when i am putting a lot of money into something that i truly do care about the gamble just doesnt seem worth it. I love surprises and i love the idea of a unique new friend just popping up to say hi, but when they start over taking my creation, eating my eye candy, and making me sad, then...its just not fun anymore.


With that said, there is a clear and obvious solution to put my mind at ease. That is starting a tank with just base rock. When i say this though, i mean JUST BASE ROCK. I dont want to seed, using live rock. Which is where my question comes into play. Will this work? Will this be okay? My thought process is, sure its going to take a lot longer for my rock to look gorgeous, and do the job it needs to do. It will set me back several months before i can put fish and corals into my system, but i am okay with that. My question is, if i dont seed with live rock, and gradually add crabs with some coralline algae on their shells, Will it spread slowly? I know that when i go to coral suppliers to check out there goods, their frags have a base to them, that has some pretty pink algae on it, wouldn't this spread eventually? Basically what im asking, is can i not seed my base rock with live rock, and still be successful? By successful i mean, will my base rocks some day look beautiful, with some pinks and reds like real live rock does, just pest free? Could it be real! lol.


Now, once i get some nice base rock, i have read that it needs to be still cooked or cured? or both. Im rather confused on that. I know that these base rocks, need to be stripped some how of the Phosphate that is within them at high rates. I really want to know an effective method of doing this in lets say brute trash cans or something. Not in my display just yet. If someone could please give me some insight on this that would be great! It could be as simple as a link to what you may think will work well. I have looked i have found some things, but im still rather confused on this subject.


Lastly, now that you have read my rambling self, could someone with experience let me know if my thought process of going about this whole salt water reef tank is on the right track or not so much.
I love me some constructive criticism.


Thank you all for taking the time to read this post.


Newman

 

[JaNewman]

Bump.

 

[maddmaxx]

gotta admit i didnt fully read everything, just kinda skimmed thru it...

but yes you can start a tank with straight dry base rock. doesnt need to be "live". i did this with over 400lbs of dead dry rock in my 350g system.

if the rock you get is tru dry base rock, you dont have to cook or cure or anything, rinse it and place it in aquarium, and during the cycle period, it will become "live" with bacteria naturally...

and this wont set you back several months. your tank will be ready for fish and coral and inverts within 3-4 after your cycle is complete. once the cycle is complete, it is game on. just can load up on fish to fast. corals on the other hand you can add them in bunches...

yes snails with coraline will help "seed" the tank for coraline algae....

the only time base rock really needs to be thrown into a brute can to remove phos is if the rock is actually dead rock that wasnt cleaned properly before storing. if its true dead base rock, should be fine to thrown in tank and start the cycle...

 

[maddmaxx]

just to be clear, what makes live rock "live", isnt the color of the rock, its the bacteria and organism that live on and within the rock that make it "live"....

 

[thegrun]

Starting a tank with all base rock will not necessary make the cycle duration longer. You will however need to add an ammonia sourest to start the cycle. For many years I used a dead raw shrimp and letting it rot provided the ammonia. The last couple of tanks I've started I just use plain pure ammonia and add enough to raise the ammonia to 2-3 ppm. Using pure ammonia saves you a few days of waiting for the shrimp to begin to decay and that lovely smell that rotting shrimp produce. Using all dead dry rock will not necessarily add time to the cycle duration, and if you use pure ammonia I would be supprized if you were not ready for a cleanup crew, first easy to care for corals and a fish within a month.

 

[JaNewman]

Thank you guys for your feedback, it is nice to hear that using baserock only does not mean it will be a longer process. I have yet to purchase my baserock and was curious as to which supplier carries mined base rock, or the real base rock that wont need to be "cooked"? Macro Rocks or Reef Cleaners? I have read that Macro Rocks do need to be "cooked" because these rocks will produce that bad smell in your house when you first put them in your tank, i guess the cores of the macro rocks are not completely dead or dried out, and these rocks at one time were completely alive.

I was wondering if this is the same case with reefcleaners or not?



Thanks again for the input.


John.

 

[novadan67]

I just set up a small tank with a similar approach. I bought base rock from reefcleaners, and it is totally dry. From what I can tell, there are no organics at all. I didn't "cook" it. I'm happy with the rock, it's pretty light and porous and stacks well.

I did go to my LFS and buy some "seed" pieces of rock with nice coralline and some critters on them. I put them into a 10g quarantine tank and I've been examining them for about a month now. Some pests (aiptasia, majano, nudibranch) were found and disposed of. This rock is staying in my QT until my DT is cycled and I'm reasonably sure that the risk of adding pests is low. That might be an option to consider. Here is my thread with pics of some stuff I found:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2399035

 

[paperdesk]

I wish more people would comment on this thread. I have just about the same questions! I am cooking my dry base rock now and after for days no smell and no detritus. I'm wondering if I'm just saying run time and nothing is happening. Op how are things going for you?