Greetings!

[DieselWiesel]

Hello all. My name is Tim and I am new to the forums.

I recently purchased a 55 gal tank and have my fair share of knowledge about the cycling process and so on. I do, however, have one question that has been brought up from my last venture with a 20 gal tank that failed.

My question is: Live rock.

I was wondering if I will have to cure live rock if I pick it up down the road from the pet store. It is about 5 miles away, I could put it in a rubbermaid container and bring it to my house. Would I need to cure this live rock or simply put it in the tank and let the tank cycle.

While the tank is cycling, with the live rock, will I need to scrub the rock at all or do a water change?

I have heard both to do and to not do a water change while the cycling process is going on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[Altohombre]

if your tank has nothing in it then you can just throw the rock in there and your tank will cycle/cure together. The LR actually helps start the cycle process. Now if the LR is actually dead base rock then it might not do anything.

Don't do a water change while cycling because it could just start another cycle.

Leave your lights on your tank off to protect from algae bloom.

Use RO water if you can.

 

[DieselWiesel]

I dont have a RO but my house water quality is good. I will use de-chlorinator and what not.

So if I get some cured rock will I have to scrub it at all during the cycling process?

 

[reeffreak]

Welcome to the site Tim.

Very few people have success using tapwater even when using conditioners/dechlorinator.Those products can't remove all the bad things in tapwater like copper,lead,phosphate to name just a few.Go ahead and use tap at startup but consider either buying RO water or making your own in the future.

You can add cure or uncure live rock straight into a new system void of animals.Using enough cure live rock and sand will speed up the cycle or make it instantly cycle.You only have to scrub the rock if there's decaying matter or something on the rock you don't want.If its truly cured live rock than there shouldn't be any scrubbing involved.

 

[Piggy]

Welcome to the reef. The best way to start a tank is to cycle it with live rock. All you need to do is put sand, salt water and live rock in tank and let it cycle. It's better to use RO water. No need to scrub LR if it's cured.

 

[DieselWiesel]

Thanks so much for all the advice you all! I guess I'll have to pick up a RO device. Any good places to pick one up? ebay? Anything I should look for in particular?

Thanks again everybody!

 

[RyanG]

There is a hundred gallon per day RO/DI unit constantly on ebay for like 65 bucks, welcome to the best reefing site on the net.

 

[yote]

Welcome to the reef.
If your getting good quality live rock from your LFS,you may not have a cycle at all.The LFS I help at sets up fully stocked tanks all the time using cure rock.They hardly ever cycle and the ones that do,its so small that it'll only last a day at the most.No scrubbing involved.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

I bought a six stage RODI unit off of Ebay for $60 plus $40 shipping. It was from a store called PureWaterClub. It works great.

 

[Keaton]

Hi tim welcome to the forum. Wal-mart sells RO water for dirt cheap, I set up my 75g on that, just fyi.

 

[DieselWiesel]

Wow, thanks so much to all. Do you all think I need a Protein Skimmer?

 

[reeffreak]

I highly recommend a skimmer.You can have a successful system without one but you will have to be diligent with water changes.It is considered one of the most important equipment in a saltwater aquaria.

 

[Bifferwine]

Definitely yes with a protein skimmer. Trying to run a tank without one is a huge challenge and should be left to the pros (I would never dare to run my tank without a skimmer, personally).