Adding live rock to existing setup

P

poolshark181

Reefing newb
im buying some live rock from somebody that's breaking down their tank. when i move the live rock, it should be submerged as much as possible. however, would it be advisable to use the water to perform a water change? or no?
 
If you are interested in keeping the rock alive, move it in their tank water - although that can get really heavy. If you are not too far from home, you should be fine to wrap it in wet newspaper (salt water from that tank) and simply transport it into your tank. Remember when getting rock - you get whatever is crawling on it. Don't be afraid to grab an old toothbrush and scrap off any hair algae that you don't want in your tank. Good Luck.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
not if it is already cured. I imagine that if your friend is breaking down an existing tank, that had healthy livestock in it, the rock will be just fine. Your tank will cycle only if you put in uncured rock - like if you picked up some random granite on the side of the road and threw it into your tank. That would kill you. You should be fine. If you are not sure, ask the owner of the tank if he/she had livestock in it. Good Luck

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
what about if i am going to be getting cured rock from a store about an hour away, whats the best way to keep it alive?
 
The rock should be more than fine for a 10 to 20 min drive. I would'nt add any water form another tank, when you get it to your house just add it strait to your tank.

David If it's a hour away I would put it in 5 gal buckets for the drive, if you dont have buckets to put it in then like DR said I owuld wrap it in mewspaper soaked in saltwater.

Another thing if there are any sponges on the rock dont let it get any air at all or take the sponge off. Sponges can die if they get air to them and if they die they will die slowly and add a big bioload to the tank.
 
Just a helpful reminder.... they ship cured live rock halfway around the world to your LFS wrapped in newspaper. Ive never had a problem with the newspaper trick and theres been times i didn't add the rock yo my tank for almost 2 hours. I think as reefers we look into the little things a little to much.
 
i agree on the newspaper. i also agree about not putting anybody else's tank water in my tank. why did he break it down? was he having fish die? or algae problems? one think i would consider is doing a water change in your'e tank first. save the water in some buckets and put the new live rock in them and rinse them off in it really well. maybe even let it set in the buckets for a day or two with no lights and a powerhead. this will help from transfering any unwanted deseases or algae to your'e tank.
 
good point fish bait..converse with the rock owner to get a small history of what was going in his tank....that way you can prevent some problems in yours
 
I would be weary of buying anything being sold out of a tank tear down. You don't just tear down a saltwater tank. No matter what the persons tells you. Even if they say " I just don't have the time anymore" probably means they have neglected it for the last six months. As a matter of fact I did buy anything out of a tank tear down I would put it on a week long quarantine. Just to be on the safe side. Why risk your whole reef?
 
ok, there was a misunderstanding i think. i meant i had a 5 gallon bucket of water mixed up already for a water change, and was planning to use that to transport the rocks in. also, i did it the wet newspaper way, and as you can see in another post, it's already in my tank. however, the reason he was breaking his 15 year old tank was because he just got married and was moving out of state. thanks everyone!
 
good for you. I hope you have good luck. I wanted to clarify my first post. I meant that if you had a long way to go, you could've used some of his water just to transport the rock and then discard it after scrubbing off algae into the old tank water. You should never trust any water from another tank, especially from your LFS - many times, they treat with copper medications to kill off parasites. Copper is murder to your reef tank. I don't trade water between the two tanks that I maintain myself. Enjoy your new rocks.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
Wet newspaper for sure. I had mine sit in the back of my work for half a day and when i got home there were still pods runnin all over it. plus it will give them something to read while they wait right :)
 
i just used wet newspaper to cover some cured rock and i had to transport it in the car for an hour and a half and it did fine
 

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