3 live rock questions from a newbie

[Nameless]

I'm about to start setting up my first tank, and I've decided to go FOWLR to start, and then morph to a reef tank when things are stable.

My first question is: Can you cycle a tank with live rock in it? One book says live rock works better than fish, one book says live rock works great WITH fish, and one book says don't use live rock at all, because many of the organisms won't survive. So what's the story?

Second, Is it realistic to buy 10% live rock and 90% rock and wait for the live rock to spread to the rest of the rock? Are there ways to encourage growth onto the bare rock?

Third, a semantics question. When people say that in the berlin system you need 1-2 lbs. of live rock per gallon, are they referring to gallons of capacity or actual gallons of water. It seems to me that when you add big chunks of rock, you're taking up space that water normally would. Does the 1-2 lbs. of live rock per gallon take this into account?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm still a newbie....

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Nameless ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

Go ahead and feed the LR--but keep it light--maybe a pinch every other day (I don't know how big the tank is, but it doesn't take a lot of food).

Sand beds have clumped before, but it's not a common occurence. It seems to be a problem for people who use a lot of very fine sand.

Ty

 

[kparton]

I recently finished cycling a 50g tank with 75lbs of live rock and DSB. I got the rock the day after it was shipped to my LFS, so it should have been at its highest level of dying off. My entire cycle only took about 2.5 weeks and my first fish is happy and healthy. I did lose a brittle star, but he was really in bad shape when he was sent to me. Just remember to be slow adding the fish once your cycle is done, the live rock is awesome and all my water levels have remained perfect for the 2 months I've been set up.

Good luck, I actually really enjoyed the setup and cycling of the tank. It gives you lots of time to research fish and corals and make better decisions. Just a warning, it will smell bad for a while.

Have Fun,
Kevin

 

[Gatortailale1]

Cycle your new rock only in tank with powerheads and if plumbed up your normal main sump pump. Do this for 2 - 3 weeks until all readings balance out.

Then take rock out and add your DSB. It will be cloudy for a day to 3 days. Allow tank to cycle and clear. Then test again. If all ok you can then add some hermit crabs and snails.

Then Wait 3-5 days and test again. If all ok you can add your first fish.

Note: Time of rock cure can be shorter if your LFS has precured rock. Use at least one powerhead during curing to create water movement.

Also, use first rock placement as a practice for arrangement once you do final setup. Everyone always wants to change their initial rock setup.

 

[Nameless]

ok, I can do that, but what do I do with the live rock while I'm waiting for the DSB to clear?

 

[tazdevil]

Take LR and place it in a rubbermaid container with the water it cycled in, and heater/powerheads. The container will be useful later on to mix seawater (should be done at least overnight before adding to tank, will prevent salt burns on fish) etc. BTW DONT use RIO powerheads. Lots of bad press in here bout them. I have made the mistake of using them, and am slowly replacing with other more reliable pumps (and keeping fingers crossed in interim).

 

[Anonymous]

Good questions. The problem w/ books is that you only get one opinion presented.

Cycle with live rock (a deep sand bed (DSB) is good to have in place as well). Add other things after the cycle is over. Read up on DSBs (lots of threads and articles on this site)--it takes zero effort to do before you cycle the tank and is infinitely harder afterwards.

You can use a mix of dead rock (base rock) and LR. It will take a goooood long time (that means 12+ months), though, before that base rock starts contributing to the health of your tank. If you have to go that way, it'd be a lot more realistic to do a 50/50 split instead of a 90/10.

If your tank holds 40 gallons, then you want 40-80 lbs of LR.

One last thing--deep sand bed. If you don't do it now, you'll kick yourself later.

Ty

 

[Nameless]

So I could cycle with no fish? Does the live rock create enough waste to cycle the tank in a reasonable amount of time?

Good info. Thanks.

About the DSB, I had a friend that told me his DSB never worked right, ended up solid as a rock and a pain in the butt. I suspect that this was mismanagement on his part, but how do I keep this from happening to me?

 

[fishfarmer]

Cycle with the live rock only. You can also add a little fish food as well if your rock isn't giving you ammonia readings. Test you tank every couple of days or so during your cycle, to see how your ammonia, nitrite, nitrates are doing. It may take around a month for your tank to fully cycle. Don't put anthing like fish, corals, cleanup critters in your tank until the the ammonia and nitrite are ZERO for a couple of weeks or so, nitrates should be as low as you can get them. Nitrates won't be as critical in a FOWLR though but will fuel algae growth. Don't use fish at all to cycle, it is not necessary.

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]</p>

 

[Nameless]

ok, I like the idea of using live rock instead of fish.... more humane and all that....

My next question is, what do the oranisms on live rock eat? and if I'm cycling the tank with just live rock, how do I feed it to them?

again, thank you for your patience with my (dumb) newbie questions....

 

[GMH320]

First, don't worry to much about the 1-2 lb per gal rule, live rock varies in density depending on where it came from, so 50 lbs of one type might be a lot more volume than 50 lbs of another. IMO it is better to fill the tank about 1/2 to 2/3 full by volume, not weight. This gives room later to add corals, many of which come attacked to pieces of rock anyway.
You can cycle the live rock directly in the main tank, but it will produce a lot of crud that you'll probably want to clean out, so I suggest keeping it in a seperate container with strong circulation for a week, then move it into the main tank. How long it takes to cure the rock depends on the quality of it in the first place.
You can start with just a little live rock and it will eventually spead to "dead" rock, but like another post already pointed out, it will take time.
Do a search on this board for places to buy live rock MO. I suggest Gulf-view or Fish supply, there is no comparison to the "so-called" live rock that they try to sell at LFS. Good luck.