My hubby and I had a 75g reef tank before. And I remember starting it like this as follows: Mix salt and water in tank and circulate,then add the sand,and then the cured live rock and cycle. However we no longer have the tank and have bought a 55g to start over. But some things are different this time. We bought about 20lbs of Atlant. rock locally,with bright sponges,well alot of stuff on it. I asked the keeper if it was cured and he looked like he had no idea about what I was asking. He said it should be put into a running aquruiam. I have no idea if this rock is cured or not. It has tremendous growth of stuff. Next, we have ordered Caribbian live rock 40lbs comming in about 24 hrs. Uncured. So here are my ques. I will be curing these rocks in my tank. Can I put the Carib. with the Atlan. at the same time to cure? And do I add the subtrate after curing the rock or before? It seems that it would be easier to clean out the dead stuff with out the sand. This seemed alot less confusing before. I bought the rocks cured then cycled! I just do not want to kill this rock I am not sure what is on the Carib. yet but the Atlantic is so alive with growth from corline,algae,sponges but is it supposed to if it has been cured? Please adivse I only have a day to figure this out! Thank you 8O
I have never done it this way!(Frightened)
- Thread starter nataliejo
- Start date
Sounds uncured to me. No problem letting it cure in your new tank as far as I know, as long as you are patient and let it completely finish curing before adding any inhabitants. Might be a little smelly in the meantime, though.
It could be better in the long run, as some of the life on the rocks is bound to survive and will contribute to the diversity in your tank.
It could be better in the long run, as some of the life on the rocks is bound to survive and will contribute to the diversity in your tank.
If the person you're getting the local rock from says it should go in an established tank and it's got a lot of delicate stuff growing on it, I'd assume it's cured. IMO if you put all the rock in together and get a significant ammonia spike during curing (likely) you may kill off some of the nice stuff on the local rock.
I would probably hold the local rock in one container (maybe the display tank, if you don't need that for curing the new stuff) while curing the 40# of new stuff you've got coming in another. Having a good skimmer will help a lot in curing the new rock. Strong circulation is recommended as well. It also helps to pick or syphon-off anything that is obviously dead or dieing.
As for when to add the sand - I would prefer to wait. I'd cure the new rock first, then I'd get all the rockwork set in the display the way I wanted it. I'd then wait at least a few weeks as the rockwork will continue to shed a lot of crud for a while. As you said, with no sand, it's much easier to syphon this crud out. After the rock has finished with the bulk of the shedding, then I would add the sand.
JMO & HTH
I would probably hold the local rock in one container (maybe the display tank, if you don't need that for curing the new stuff) while curing the 40# of new stuff you've got coming in another. Having a good skimmer will help a lot in curing the new rock. Strong circulation is recommended as well. It also helps to pick or syphon-off anything that is obviously dead or dieing.
As for when to add the sand - I would prefer to wait. I'd cure the new rock first, then I'd get all the rockwork set in the display the way I wanted it. I'd then wait at least a few weeks as the rockwork will continue to shed a lot of crud for a while. As you said, with no sand, it's much easier to syphon this crud out. After the rock has finished with the bulk of the shedding, then I would add the sand.
JMO & HTH
The reef keeper said that he just got the rock in last week. So it had only been in his tank for about 5days. I just panicked due to all the stuff on it. The rock I got before had just a little pink on it(coriline). This has worms,bright orange stuff,blue well I do not know what half this stuff is. But if he only has had it for 5days does that mean that it is cured already? It was freshly shipped to him.
This sounds a lot like the Florida aquacultured rock-- Tampa Bay Saltwater is one popular vendor; I purchased my rock (50 lbs of it) from Floridaliverock.com (formerly gulf view). I have been very happy so far with it.
Tampa Bay Saltwater has a pretty good website, you might want to look this over for some ideas on how to acclimate your rock (http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com). Typically they will try to sell 55 lbs of rock and 55 lbs of sand in the first part of the package they sell for a 55 gallon tank. This URL (on their web page) tells how they recommend setting it up :
http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/setup.html
If you don't have live sand, then I would agree it will probably be better to wait until after the rock has shed some gunk before adding it; however, if you have live sand I'd add it right away. Be aware in any case that you will have quite a sand storm for awhile-- I'd recommend a new turkey baster to blast off the sand that settles on the rocks.
Tampa Bay Saltwater has a pretty good website, you might want to look this over for some ideas on how to acclimate your rock (http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com). Typically they will try to sell 55 lbs of rock and 55 lbs of sand in the first part of the package they sell for a 55 gallon tank. This URL (on their web page) tells how they recommend setting it up :
http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/setup.html
If you don't have live sand, then I would agree it will probably be better to wait until after the rock has shed some gunk before adding it; however, if you have live sand I'd add it right away. Be aware in any case that you will have quite a sand storm for awhile-- I'd recommend a new turkey baster to blast off the sand that settles on the rocks.
Look, your local rock is probably fine and almost "cured", i.e., you don't have dead stuff rotting on it. Put that in the display. Get the new Carriebean rock in a $7 rubbermaid tank with saltwater and good circulation (and ideally a skimmer). When it's cured put it in the tank with the local one.
If you put the carribean with the local the ammonia spike due to the carribean will kill some of the life on the local (you probably want to keep most of it).
M.
If you put the carribean with the local the ammonia spike due to the carribean will kill some of the life on the local (you probably want to keep most of it).
M.
Thank you very much, I think that I will do just that. I realized that on my rock I have some sort of clam. I do not have an extra skimmer though for the other rock. would a couple of power heads be okay? Also do I need to scrub or clean the rock in the display? It has alot of slime and algae on the rock and everything else so you can hardly see what is under it. And one more ques. The rock being cured,do I need to do a water change and if so how often? Just would like to know your opinion. And thank you all for your responses it is so very much appreciated!
Yup.. and if you dont have an extra skimmer make sure to do water changes.. Personally I'd change half of it every other day... but thats just me. Like the guy said.. lots of circulation
You should be fine to add it to your tank after a slight delay of curing.
B.
You should be fine to add it to your tank after a slight delay of curing.B.
You might want to consider having the skimmer on the worst batch of rock (most likely the new stuff - especially considering there's more of it).
The skimmer and water changes are really means to the same end - you want to keep ammonia levels under control during the curing process in order to preserve as much life on the rock as possible.
The skimmer and water changes are really means to the same end - you want to keep ammonia levels under control during the curing process in order to preserve as much life on the rock as possible.
Thank you all for your advice. To late though about scrubbing my hubby already did! Now there is white slime all over my rock. I assume this is everything dying now. Should I go ahead and take off all of the sponges they are completely starting to die. Also should I go ahead and syphon. off the slime during the water change? Thanks
I agree with that. I have changed my plan though. At first I was going to try and save as much life on my Fl rock with water changes and lights on. But after doing some research, the life on it sponges,cup coral and christmas feathers do not live that long in captivity. So I will not be doing much of water changes while the rock is curing and I am not sure about lighting though alot of different opinions on that. But I wonder if most of my corline will fair better through the curing if I do give it light?
I assume that since you posted here you want my (or somebody else's opinion), so I'll give it to you:
The sponges may very well make it either way, but they have a better chance if you help them. I have four encrusting sponges from my live rock: white, yellow, pink and purple. The white and yellow are OK, nice shapes, but the colors are nothing out of the ordinary. The pink one is very nice and it grows now in 4-5 places in my tank. It's a pleasure to look at. The purple - it's my favourite color in the tank! It's very deep and super nice looking. Unfortunately this one doesn't grow as fast as any of the others.
So... don't dismis the sponges too fast. The cup corals - I have a few on a rock since last August. They grew nicely, although not my best looking corals.
You may be right about the christmas threes though - I have no experience with them.
On top of this, we're not only talking about sponges, cup corals and christmas trees. There are tons of life on that rock (weather you see it or not). There are snails (I have three different types in my tank that came with the rock and practically replaced my clean-up crew), micro brittle stars, amphipods, copepods, worms (all types), etc.
Really, you want as much life to make it - otherwise why bother with live rock? You get the bacterias anyway - you don't need live rock for that.
Ironically, the corraline algae are the least affected by your decision to scrub or not: they'll make it anyway. They'll not grow in the first 4-6 months almost no matter what you do and they'll grow after that also almost anything you do (just keep Alk and Ca up).
Happy reefing,
Mihai
The sponges may very well make it either way, but they have a better chance if you help them. I have four encrusting sponges from my live rock: white, yellow, pink and purple. The white and yellow are OK, nice shapes, but the colors are nothing out of the ordinary. The pink one is very nice and it grows now in 4-5 places in my tank. It's a pleasure to look at. The purple - it's my favourite color in the tank! It's very deep and super nice looking. Unfortunately this one doesn't grow as fast as any of the others.
So... don't dismis the sponges too fast. The cup corals - I have a few on a rock since last August. They grew nicely, although not my best looking corals.
You may be right about the christmas threes though - I have no experience with them.
On top of this, we're not only talking about sponges, cup corals and christmas trees. There are tons of life on that rock (weather you see it or not). There are snails (I have three different types in my tank that came with the rock and practically replaced my clean-up crew), micro brittle stars, amphipods, copepods, worms (all types), etc.
Really, you want as much life to make it - otherwise why bother with live rock? You get the bacterias anyway - you don't need live rock for that.
Ironically, the corraline algae are the least affected by your decision to scrub or not: they'll make it anyway. They'll not grow in the first 4-6 months almost no matter what you do and they'll grow after that also almost anything you do (just keep Alk and Ca up).
Happy reefing,
Mihai
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