jump starting new tank

Well I'd been searching various dealers for live rock to get the 55 started, but I recently stumbled across someone who's moving and breaking down their tank. The livestock is all gone but I can get the rock at a great price and it's only about 45 miles away from me, tank is still up and running but hasn't had fish in it for a while so there appears to be quite a few inverts on this stuff.

So if I have this right I should be able to have water pre-mixed to the right salinity and temp and all ready to go, get this stuff, set it up in the tank (no water), and then fill the tank with minimal dieoff right? There doesn't appear to be any sponges on the rock so I wouldn't have to worry about air exposure killing them.

And the second part of this question is assuming that first part would work should I build the rock structure, add water, and wait a while before adding substrate (non-live that I plan to seed later if needed) or can I add the sand around the rock before the water goes in?

And since this will be my first time at anything other than freshwater any other advice or tips would be appreciated. Thanks folks!

 

This is what I would do:

When moving the LR try and keep it in some type of bucket(s) with water from the original tank. This way there will be less die-off. The less air exposure the better.

If the rock came from an established tank chances are there is other life on/in the rock besides sponges so just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

Pre-mix your new water to proper salinity and temp and get a power-head going for circulation.

Place substrate in the empty tank, pour new water in. You may want to use a kitchen plate on top of your substrate and pour the new water into the dish. This will keep the sand from being disturbed.

Now place the LR.

The key part of your question as I understand it is to keep the LR from being exposed to air as much as possible. This will keep any die-off to a minimum.

Good luck.

Oh, by the way.......go slow with this or any new setup. I've read somewhere on this forum that only bad things happen fast in this hobby and this is so true!

 

I plan on going slow, the budget won't allow for much else

Last night I made an order with Foster and Smith for the remaining equipment I needed, so give it a week or so to get here and I'll pick the rock up over turkey day weekend, then it's going to get to just process for a while while it sets in and the bank account recovers as well.

Three more questions if you don't mind:

1. While this is sitting with rock, substrate, inverts, and at this point whatever else comes in the rock what would you recommend for a lighting schedule? I'm using 260 W PC's, half daylight half actinic that can be run on idfferent times. (Moonlights too, but I don't believe they really matter right)

2. What, if anything, should I be adding for food or additives at setup (using RO water) and while it is sitting without fish?

3. Most books I've read recommend not adding substrate until after the LR to avoid dead spots in the bed, would that approach be better than what you said above or am I missing something? Not looking at a deep bed, probably around 2" on average.

 

My LFS recommended adding the live rock 1st, then adding the sand around it, this helps to situate the rock better and then you can just add more rock on top of your base pieces. So I have had: heater, powerhead, small lights (260W is not really necessary for LR) and I keep an eye on temp and salinity, and so far everything looks really good.
I have very clear water, (which won't be the case right away if you add substrate after the LR & water).. so for a nice clear tank right away follow snake's advice.. It took about 36 hours or so for my water to clear up after adding the LR then sand.

But I only have a 30g so maybe your situation is different. Depends if you want to rearrange things after the initial set up or not.

 

1. First off I wouldn't put any inverts just yet. Just keep your eye on your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). Let your tank become stable prior to adding livestock, especially inverts. Lighting is not important at this stage, matter of fact I wouldn't bother with it. It just may promote unwanted algae. Nothing in your tank at this point requires light.

2. Nothing.....you have nothing to feed in the tank.

3. If putting LR first, it would be a good idea to lay some eggcrate under the rock to seperate rock from glass bottom. The problem with that (as I see it) is that the eggcrate may act as a trap for detritus which may make cleaning almost impossible. The way I did it was to place my substrate first covering the entire bottom of the tank, place small pieces of rock on the substrate and then stack big pieces of rock on these small pieces thereby creating a tunnel effect under the big pieces and making certain that water flowed adequately under them.

This is the way I did it and so far so good.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

I recommend cooking the rock. Yes youre most likely going to kill those inverts and other stuff on the rock as well. This way youre sure youre not introducing any nuisance or pests into the tank.

 

Amen on that one. I want to know exactly what goes in my tank.

 

To help with the future hatred of your rock placement in the tank. Dont do what i did and place some here, buy some this day etc etc. Get all you rock you want organize it to your looks then get started. Ive spent days and hours taking out rock, placing rock back in.. oh wait maybe this way! lol. Trust me get it setup first. Take your time no rush!

 

Update - after looking at the rock it just wasn't really what I was looking for. It was all fairly smooth pieces, just didn't look as good as what I've seen in other tanks or at LFS or even photos from internet dealers. Long story short I turned down the deal.

But......... the upside is that in preparation for getting this stuff I have now purchased all the hardware, test kits, etc. at least needed for basic startup. Which means that if I run across a good sale on rock or whenever I feel like racking up the credit card I can go ahead and fire the system up from scratch.

 

What is the point of buying the LR then ?! Why not to buy coral tuff rock !? :-/