Securing live rock

[JustKeepSwimming]

I've assembled my sump, in-sump skimmer with overflow box, and wavemaker w/ powerheads in my empty tank. Today I am going to pick up substrate (not live) and salts and fill my tank about half-way (allowing room for rock). I'm going to wait until tomorrow to pick up live rock and lights, fill the tank up, and power up the equipment.

First, does anyone see any problems in my planning so far? Secondly, does anyone secure live rock in any way to prevent the fish undermining and possible collapsing rock formations? I know regular rock can be glued with silicone, but obviously not live rock. Any ideas?:sfish:

 

[fastrd400]

I have seen live rock that is tied with large zip ties, and also drilled and acrylic rod placed through the holes. Of course, both of those need to be done outside the tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

You can use epoxy putty to secure rock together too. I would advise against fixing the rock in place, though. You will end up having to move things around all the time for one reason or another. :)

Also, make sure the rocks are sitting on the glass on the bottom and are not on top of the sand. If they sit on the sand, you could have a rockslide when the sand shifts.

 

[ErinCahir]

+1 Biff

 

[cvcdrk]

I use superglue gel to glue my rocks together. It works efficiently enough.
Like Biff said, the only problem with your plan is adding the sand first. I'd wait until you get the rocks in and sitting on the bottom glass before adding sand.

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

I bought a few pieces of live rock today along with dry substrate. Those pieces are sitting on the bottom, but I'll be adding to them soon, so I'll just push them down as far as I can into the substrate. I put about 1.5 inches of substrate in and am filling the tank all the way up so I can start the filter. I'm setting up my lights tomorrow morning.
My LFS guy (who does a great job maintaining all the reef tanks in the store) told me I could add a couple of small fish right away since I have live rock. Anyone disagree with this?

 

[ErinCahir]

Yes.

You should drop a shrimp in to kick off your cycle. There is a chance you will skip one if you're using all live rock, but it's only a chance.

Drop a shrimp and monitor your levels. If you don't see a spike, you're good to go. Otherwise you have to wait it out.

 

[JustKeepSwimming]

That's what I thought. Don't want to jump the gun and kill fish. I'll wait it out.

 

[daugherty]

i just set my rocks together. but epoxy is a good choice at fixing them together