Rocks from Live Rock N Reef

Hi everyone i started a tank 2 days ago. I already bought a AquaC skimmer and some powerhead. Anyway i am looking for some live cured rocks but they dont look that great at my LFS. I went online and saw rocks from Live Rock N Reef, and called them. They told me i can just put them in my tank once i receive them? is that true? should i at least put them in salt water and give it a rinse? removing the hitchhikers?


I am picking either the primo deco, or the buna ultra


Give me some advice please, or give me some info on how to get these rock ready before putting fish into the tank? like how many days before i can add fish or when to test the water and such?

I am going to get some base rock today at my LFS and then add some live rock later.

 

You can just put them in the tank (that's what I do) or you can put them in a hypo-dip, but anything other than going straight in has a chance to kill some nice stuff from those rocks. You can add fish after it cycles (~1-2 months).

 

Welcome to 3reef,

I think it's safe to assume that any shipped rock is going to have some die off, regardless of if it says fully cured.

Usually a rinse will not expose or prevent the introduction of the bad hitch-hikers like aiptasia, majano, some algaes. Crabs and mantis will hunker down deep in a hole.

After introduction to the tank test everyday until you see the ammonia level spike and begin to decline and the nitrate level increase. After that you can test every 3-4 days depending on how anxious your are to begin to stock the tank.

Expect the tank to take roughly 4-6 weeks depending on how cured the rock is. Stock slowly only after you have no detectable ammonia or nitrite and a reasonable nitrate level.

How big is the tank?

 

Thanks for the info, my tank is 29g. Since it takes 4-6 weeks for everything to get ready? Can i just add some base rock with these live rocks, so i can grow my own live rock? I know they said minimun 1 - 1.5 pound of live rock per gallon? is it per gallon of water or wut?

One more thing, i bought the API test kit from MarinDepot.com, is that fine? For the ammonia, is there anyway u can do to remove it or I just have to wait and let itself do the job?

 

Great idea just add the base rock with the live cured and both will cycle and develop the biological filter. Yes 1-1.5 lbs per gallons. I have a 28 gallon and I found 1.5 lbs was too much. It's really hard to scape nanos in my opinion. To avoid that pile of rock look you sometimes have to go with a little less.

 

I just talked to Bill from Live Rock and Reef. He is an awesome guy and I just ordered 25Lb of Primo Deco and 15 of fuji base rock. He told me that i need to change 15% of the water 3 times in the 1st 2 weeks. During the 1st 2 weeks, I do not need to test anything. After the 2 period, he told me to test the Magnesium before testing anything else. What u think? I actually bought this kit from Maine Depot which does not include magnesium. Do i really need it?

 

What Bill is suggesting is called a soft cycle. It is a very effective way to cycle a tank, but not until you get a couple tanks and some experience under your belt if this is your first tank.

I do not know why he suggest testing for magnesium first.

Initially you should be concerned about

Specific gravity.
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH.

Once you start to keep some corals you can move on to.

Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium

A quality salt mix and routine water changes (10-20%) in a 29 gallon tank monthly or bi-monthly will replenish the trace elements and assist in keeping all others in line as long as you are not over crowding, over feeding or using anything beside RO/DI water for water changes and top offs.

 

i think he suggested the magnesium because the rocks has some small coral on them?

 

This is true, I called before and they said it usually has things like Brain Coral and similar but it still doesn't really make sense.

By the way, post pics of it when you get it, I've been looking into this rock too.

 

Yeah i will make a build threat later