Seeding Live Rock?

[RedTornado]

After a couple months of building and planning i am finally ready to start the cycle. I have a 100 pounds of dead base rock that am needing to seed. I went to my LFS and picked up 10 pounds of live rock. Which is currently in a 10 gallon aquarium with a air pump to help circulate the water. I am needing to know how should i go about doing this? Do i just set the live rock next to my base rock or should i put it in the sump or refugium? The main tank at the moment has the sand and all the base rock in it and refugium at this point in time is just a empty 10 gallon tank. Any advise will be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[lilduud]

i would jsut evenly disperse the liverock through out the base rock and add just a couple pieces of rubble to the fuge for now... i have really "seeded" a tank before tho so confirmation from someone else would be good

 

[Rufio808]

I have about only 10-15 lbs of total rock. 3 lbs of that is live. Its pretty big too, so I think the guy at the LFS weighed it wrong haha. Good for me yeah? It was full of coralline and patches of sponges and macro-algae. I just made a overhang with it and so far all the rest of my rocks are starting to grow coralline. I'll post a FTS later to show you if you want.

 

[Bifferwine]

I would buy a plastic Brute or Rubbermade trash can, fill it up with saltwater, add in a powerhead and a heater, and intersperse the live rock in with the base rock. You are wanting to cure a lot of base rock from a little live rock, so getting a few pieces more would be beneficial.

Unless all the rock fits in your sump or refugium, it's going to be a long process to seed all of that.

 

[RedTornado]

I think I will end up getting a trash can. Any idea on how much more live rock I should get and on how long this process will take? I am expecting it to be at least a month. I have also read that if you get a uncooked shrimp and you put it in the tank (or trash can?) it will help speed up the bacteria growth rate due to a large amount of ammonia in the water. Is this true? Sounds odd but I can see how it could work. Thanks

 

[Ulta]

I don't see any reason (unless not elaborated on) that you cant do it in your tank...

If its all new fill er up how u want it and let it cycle :) power-heads and heater definitely a go tho :)

I have also read that if you get a uncooked shrimp and you put it in the tank (or trash can?) it will help speed up the bacteria growth rate due to a large amount of ammonia in the water.

Yup any kind of decay (shrimp, fish food, dead stuff) will feed your bacteria population. In fact its prolly a must. If you don't have a large enough bacteria population then you risk starting mini cycles as you add livestock.

 

[lilyicu]

I seeded my base rock in my tank. I have very large pieces of Texas Holey rock that I used as base. Over time I have continually added LR. My Holey rock has algae,coral and sponges all over it now.

 

[sen5241b]

Best article on live rock you can read: About Live Rock - Live Rock

 

[RedTornado]

After thinking about it some more. I am just going to seed it in the tank. I don't want to take down the aquascaping as I have it the way i would like it to be. I don't care if this takes a couple months because asI keep hearing again and again nothing happens fast in a saltwater tank.

I am going to be putting a raw shrimp in the tank for provide a ammonia spike. As i did test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and it all appears to be at or close to 0. My thought on this is to give the bacteria something to eat (or w/e you might call it) cause I don't think anything would happen if there is no ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the tank. Should i run the protein skimmer? I don't think I should because I don't want it pulling everything out that will cause the ammonia to rise. Is this the right train of thought on this? Thanks again.

 

[Rufio808]

Don't run the skimmer. Let the bacteria build on its own and you should good! Also, don't get a damsel to help cycle the tank. If you like damsels then thats fine, but the fish will give you troubles down the road.

 

[RedTornado]

Well its now off and running thank you all for your help. I cant wait to watch everything change.