Hypo Salinity and Live Rock

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Anyone has experience of using Live rock to maintain water chemistry during hypo salinity treatment?

Are there ammonia breaking bacteria that lives in SG rang of 1.007-1.010 in reference to seawater?

 

[lazibonez]

Wingo-san, I have done hypo before with only live sand. It did a pretty good job on filtration even in 1.009 salinty. Although I have read that salt and fresh water bacteria are different, If you drop your salinity in a course of few days, your biological bacteria will have a chance to adjust and should survive in rocks or sand. But whatever else live in your rock and sand might die off such as inverts.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Wingo-san, I have done hypo before with only live sand. It did a pretty good job on filtration even in 1.009 salinty. Although I have read that salt and fresh water bacteria are different, If you drop your salinity in a course of few days, your biological bacteria will have a chance to adjust and should survive in rocks or sand. But whatever else live in your rock and sand might die off such as inverts.

Alan-san,
Good to hear actual experience.

 

[heuerfan]

Wingo, bacterial will be fine under hypo condition, but need to worry about worms, sponges, etc.. that will die and cause ammonia spike. Make sure you have lots of amquel that will remove toxic ammonia.

I had to hypo my entire tank once, and it was a very, very big mistake because of the amount of die off i had.

Best to hypo without live rock in my experience. Use sponge or wetdry for biological filtration but need to seed it.

Good luck,
Steven

 

[ShaunW]

Are there ammonia breaking bacteria that lives in SG rang of 1.007-1.010 in reference to seawater?

Wingo, the bacteria that can convert ammonia to nitrite can perform that function at the SG you list above.

 

[reefprobe]

Whats the reason you want to do this?

 

[reefkprZ]

Whats the reason you want to do this?

hyposalinity is often used as an effective low stress treatment for marine ich.



OP (for the original poster)
while the bacteria on the rock can survive and perform during hypo any invertabretes and other micro fauna on your live rock will surely die, thats what makes Hypo so effective, inverts cant tolerate it for long exposures (ich being an invert). the live rock will still be biological bacterially viable but it will not contain many of the life forms it had when you begin the treatment.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Whats the reason you want to do this?

need to make an ick free environment to hold a lot of fish and don't wanna make and change water everyday