need some help with adding a fish and rock

well it seems i will be getting the leaf fish very soon as iu have zoanthids the lfs will take for 30 each and i have two frags. and i will clean a turtle tank for 3 so i will have a good chunk of change for a leaf fish.

can i add that will base rock and not have a cycle? i have one piece of live rock in there right now. will it be ok or should i take rock out of the 29 and put the base rock into the 29? just a little confused.

 

Just so I understand your question, please correct me if I am wrong. Your signature says you have a 29g tank with 2 clownfish and 1 blenny in it already. Any you are saying you only have one small piece of liverock in it, and want to add base rock to eventually become live rock. And you also want to add a leaf fish, which is a fairly large and messy fish.

If this is the case, my answer to you is that you should add the base rock first, wait about 4-6 weeks, and then add the leaf fish. Not because the base rock will re-start a new cycle that would be toxic to the fish - it likely would not. But because you don't have enough biological filtration in your tank right now without more live rock for a messy fish. I would allow the base rock to become filled with bacteria, which would take several weeks, and then add your fish.

 

no sorry. my ten gallon has only one peice of live rock. my 29 has 30 lbs of live rock thats around 8 months old. i want the leaf fish in the ten. which is possible.

 

anyone else have any ideas?

 

I would go with what JJK says. Rinse the base rock good and it shouldn't cause any cycle issues. Then wait and let the bacteria build up then add the fish.

 

can i take rock out of my 29 and put it in the 10 then replace it with base rock?

 

so you have a 10 gallon set up with water in and 1 small piece of live rock
you want to add more rock to this

options if you add base it will become live eventually and will not prolong or effect your cycle in the mean time

if you add live - cured live from the 29 , then there may be some die off , but again should not overly prolong the cycle

if you added new uncured live rock then that would create most potential die off and that would affect the lenght of time the tank takes to complete cycle

so - how long has tank been set up now and have you tested and seen an Ammonia and nitrite peak and zero out?

Steve

 

Hmmm, I was looking into leaf fish info online, and most places recommend a minimum tank size of 30g for them. I would worry about putting one in a 10g, even if it is small - they grow bigger and can be messy eaters.

But if you insist on using your 10g, I'd place base rock in the 10g and a small piece of live rock from your 29g just to seed it. I would then wait 4-6 weeks for it to become live, and then add the fish.

I wouldn't transfer the liverock entirely from your 29g and place the base rock into your 29g, simply because you may start a cycle in both tanks that way.

 

ive already done the reasearch and yes they say they need a 29 but they dont move and only get 4 inches. also they have small mouths so i may eventually add it to the 29 if need be. the tanks been setup since october. so it would be bad to add the leaf fish just after i add the rock? i have fully cured live rock in my 29. could i add that to the 29 and then add the base to the 29? and sorry JJK if i seem like im mad, i have an infection and it hurts like a mother right now.

 

I think this is were people are getting confused. Do you have 2 29gal tanks or is one a 10gal. And as JJK said taking to much rock out of the established 29 tank can cause a cycle as you will be removing to much of your bio filter, so I wouldn't do that.