Need some help with bacteria

[dannanovick]

Hello all!

So I just recently got back into the hobby after a 9 year break. I finally bought an apt in NYC and am able to setup a SW tank again! So stoked! I am going to be setting up a cuttlefish tank and then after that moving onto a sps setup.

I purchased a RSM 130D and put realreef rock and dry marco shelf rock into the system. I got it setup today and have a little bit of ammonia in the system and some bacteria from the realreef rock but am not exatly 100% confident it has all the bacteria I need.

I never purchased live rock or live sand in this tank and need some from someone who has a healthy tank. I'm always cautious of putting LFS stuff into my tank. I haven't really seen any nice lfs in manhattan with healthy tanks either..

So would anyone be kind enough to donate some Live Rock (with coraline alage) + Live Sand + macro algae ? I don't need much I just need enough to seed. Preferably you would be in Manhattan so I can pick it up via public transportation.

I can trade like 10-20 lbs of dry rock or even give some cash.

Note on the baserock: It came with my tank but had a bad case of hair algae, I acid dipped it a couple weeks ago but didn't use all of it since I had some other rock.

Let me know if anyone can help out in Manhattan!

 

[skene]

You are just starting the tank... you don't need to seed the tank any further if you purchased "reel reef rock". just allow bacteria to do its own thing and increase naturally.
Just continue to test your water for the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Do not forget to feed your tank, as that is what will feed the bacteria.

Read this if you forgot how it all works.

 

[dannanovick]

THe thing with this real reef rock is I got it from ebay, and I'm not sure if everything died during shipping since it was wrapped up in wet papertowels. I know that some bacteria are still alive but I also wanted some live sand with creatures that will help out. Just looking to jump start it a bit since I'm using basically 0 live anything this time around..

 

[skene]

who cares if it died or not. If you know how to be patient... it will not matter. nothing ever good comes out of rushing things.
If you are starting fresh and want a possible pest entering your system... then ask away for rock or sand. I'm sure someone is always looking to unload a pest or several of them.