how important is it?

[tim000]

right now I have 3lbs of LR and 15LBS of base rock. do I have to wait until the base rock turns into LR before I can add corals? or should I add more LR?
thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

'sigh' Tim, how about starting off with some basic information like how large your tank is and how long it's been running. Are you using a DSB? W
I think I can tell you nevertheless that 3lbs isn't enough for anything short of a 3 or 4 gallon tank. It will take time for the base rock to develope the anerobic bacteria populations necessary to contribute to sustaining the system. In order for this to happen the bacteria needs food, so....this means you must populate the tank with other organisms first. Not corals and such but fish, crabs, shrimp. Things that produce ammonia. Blah blah blah. I will not get into the entire cycle as that's somthing that you hopefully are familiar with already.
My advice is to lose the base rock and replace it with live rock, at least partially. Or just add more life rock. I don't know how big your tank is.
Jim

 

[tim000]

thanks for the reply Jim. my tank is just 15g. I plan on moving to a bigger one around x-mas time. would say 8lbs of live rock be good along with the 15lbs of base rock?

 

[Anonymous]

Much better than 3lbs - keep the bio-load light for now. More would be better, but things will work with what you have for now. Hold off on adding any sensitive organisms for a year or so.

You can feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]
Have fun.
Jim

 

[Rich-n-poor]

with a tank that size you can hand pick live rock at full retail and it should still cost less than your first couple corals

There is a good site on nano reefs at

nano-reef.com

mushrooms were my first coral and can tolerate lower lighting and water quality they are always a good start what kind of lighting do you have ?

I run my tank on 1lb live rock per gallon adn most people think that is too low and recommend 2lbs per gallon

How important is it ? if its your only filtration its indespensable

HTH

_________________
what is recession?

 

[Anonymous]

I agree totally. Minimize your bio-load for the time being (about a year). That means keeping one or zero small fish. Any more than that and you risk exceeding the meager biological filtration capability that you currently have. You can speed this up by adding a couple more pounds of LR.

Once the tank is up for 2-4 months, you might add some very hardy corals--mushrooms, or polyps. The tank needs some time to stabilize and get past the algae stages first.

ty

 

[playfair]

My opinion: In a 15 gal tank, the rock is way to important to skimp... Go to your LFS and hand-select a good 15 lbs, and skip the "base" rock all together. Don't cut the corners with the "backbone" of your reef!