What is needed to seed rock and keep it alive?

[RocketSapp]

So, I have seen at the lfs the live rock is kept in a big tank of water and it "appears" the water is just being circulated. Is that all it needs to continue being live rock?

Or does it need any of the following?

• Water Heating
• Lights
• Any Filtering
• Sand

I ask because I was thinking that while I am looking for a new tank that it would be easy to pick up a large container, fill it with saltwater and what ever else is needed. Then load it with dry rock and some live rock and start it seeding. Even after getting the tank set up and the rock moved to it, I would be able to use the same equipment for holding the water after it comes out of the RO filter, and even a place to mix the salt.

Is this something that could be done with no problems?

Tim

 

[Ted]

Pretty much all you need is a pump in there. I would keep it from getting too cold but doesnt much matter as long as it doesnt freeze. If you have it inside should be good.

 

[Captain Ron]

I am certainly no expert but it sounds like it would work to me within reason. From researching on google I seem to remember people claiming how quickly the bacteria will propagate depends somewhat on the temperature so I personally would heat the water to 76-80 degrees. I am also not sure how much bacteria dies when you transfer it from your container to your tank though. Would it start a mini-cycle? I don't know. When I started my tank a few months ago I added about 35lbs of porous dead rock to a 37 gallon tank and seeded with 1 lb of LFS "live" rock and 1 raw shrimp I left in 4 days longer than necessary. :mrgreen: I did this in my aquarium though and I was done cycling in less than 3 weeks.

I think the question you have to ask though is is it worth it? Do you want to take your time with selecting the tank but hurry with the cycling?

 

[poksal]

In my experience many things you do to your tank, IE: moving your LR to your real tank, sets off a mini cycle. In that case you are talking about any sand, life forms, filter, sump, refuge, what ever.. all a fresh combo. Adding a large fish, or some fish, even adding a coral which is on a large LR in my case has set off mini cycles. The tank eco system has to get back into balance anytime you do something that tips the scale of balance. Also, in my case, when an animal dies somewhere I can't get to, it sometimes trips a mini cycle, depending on the size. Other times an animal disappears and you never know it. These are good reasons to invest in a good skimmer.

 

[RocketSapp]

personally would heat the water to 76-80 degrees. I am also not sure how much bacteria dies when you transfer it from your container to your tank though. Would it start a mini-cycle? I don't know

I could toss in a couple heaters to bring up the temp... that would not be a problem and just might be a good idea anyway. As for the bacteria death during a move... I don't think that there would be enough die off as long as the rock is kept wet. I also think that for doing something like this I would move about half to two thirds of the water from the seeding tank to the fish tank as well. Not because I want to save what little bacteria is in the water column, but to keep the salinity and water conditions as stable as possible.

I think the question you have to ask though is is it worth it? Do you want to take your time with selecting the tank but hurry with the cycling?

It's not really being in a hurry with a cycle, but just getting a head start on seeding the rock. And I understand that moving the rock from one tank to another would cause a mini-cycle and that I don't have a problem with. I am not planning on putting in any fish or anything until I get good water readings in the tank anyway. I would also like to see some growth in the refugium as well. While I really enjoy the fish I have found myself at the LFS looking more at the coral and the other life in the tank more than the fish. After reading many post on here and on other web sites I have started to see even more life in the LFS tanks besides the big corals and the fish.

This would also give me a chance to not only take my time with selecting the tank but selecting the rock as well. I know that once I get the tank set up and the sump all tuned in then I am going to want to start putting in rock right away. I would end up running out and getting what ever rock I could find and it might not be the best rock for what I want. I know that salt water is Gods method of giving us patience and I am not trying to get past the wait, but if I can multi-task and do two things at once it will allow me more time to get things right the first time.

These are good reasons to invest in a good skimmer.

Yes, thank you for that advice, I am planning on getting a skimmer when I am setting up the tank and sump. I am really big into DIY and have most of the tools that I need to do most jobs, but I think I am going to purchase a skimmer first. While I know what it does, I don't exactly know how it does it yet so that will be a purchase.

I have questions about skimmers as well but I will start a new thread on that subject at a later time. :-)


Tim

 

[RocketSapp]

Ok, another LR question for everyone, As you can tell from the post above, I am thinking about seeding dry rock to get my bacteria and other life started up in a tank. Would it be better to get my live rock from a single source or from multiple sources.

My thinking goes like this on the subject...

Since the LFS close to me keeps all the LR in the same tanks to keep it alive, the life on the LR is all going to be the same, as the life is spreading to all of the rocks in the tank. So, if I get some LR from that LFS and some from another one, the diversity of what is on the LR would be greater giving me a larger base of life to start with.

Or, is it better to just start with one source and not have to worry about something from the other rock killing off the first one? Especially since it is first starting the cycle and seeding when there are such low levels of bacteria and life to work with.


Tim

 

[poksal]

In live in Keller just north of FW. In our area (non-coastal Texas) I'm reasonably sure all your LFS get there LR from the same source, so that question is fairly moot.

IMO, be sure to get a tank that is drilled. You will be much happier with it.

 

[RocketSapp]

Well, all of this became a moot issue this weekend anyway. I dropped by Dallas North Aquarium on Friday after having left work a bit early, when I got there they had just moved a tank into the entry way where they put all the used tanks for sale.

I bought it and went and picked it up that night, and then had to wait until Saturday morning to unload it from the truck. It was so big I had a call a couple friends to help my son and I unload it and move it to my back yard for a good cleaning.

It's an Oceanic 144 gallon tank that measures 48"l X 24"d X 29" tall. It's all 1/2" glass and one HEAVY tank. The sides and back glass are currently painted black but I'll be removing the paint from the sides before it goes up on the stand.

Since the tank is so much bigger than what I was planning on I dismantled the tank stand I had done for the 75 and rebuilt it yesterday so it could handle that much extra weight. I have four more supports I am going to put on the stand but it was getting late yesterday and I was getting tired. (I never do wood working while tired, people lose fingers that way)

So... So far, the stand has cost me around $125, and it's only the support structure. I'll be adding the trim work and doors before it hits the living room floor. But it will just be the support structure of the stand while I use it to hold our freshwater fish as our carpet is being replaced. Then the 55 gallon goes back up in the office, and the new tank is going into the living room.

The rest of the stand will probably run around $75 more, and the tank only cost me $75. So this still confirms what I have been thinking for a while now. The most expensive part of having a saltwater aquarium has got to be the lighting.

Tim

 

[Northstar24]

You are correct in your assumption that the most expensive investment for this hobby is lighting, but that only really applies if you are planning on keeping corals. Fish don't really care about what light you use, so if you want to save for a particular fixture you can certainly do that and keep fish in the meantime

As far as lighting goes, a 29 inch deep tank will require a pretty good fixture to get light down to the bottom of the tank. Have you looked into lighting at all? If not, here is a primer I wrote after a wave of new people joining the site a while back

https://www.livingreefs.com/lighting-101-a-t41427.html

 

[Ted]

There are many options on lighting and many price ranges. It all really depends on what you are looking to keep, how much you are willing to spend and if you have any electrical know how. That was a great buy on a large tank. I would not have been able to pass it up either.

 

[RocketSapp]

There are many options on lighting and many price ranges. It all really depends on what you are looking to keep, how much you are willing to spend and if you have any electrical know how. That was a great buy on a large tank. I would not have been able to pass it up either.

Well, I wired up my garage with new lighting and added three new 30 amp electrical circuits and have not burned the house down yet with them. I also did about 6 years of electronics on Nuclear missiles while in the Air Force so I think I got that part down fairly well too. On top of all that... I LOVE DIY projects. :-)



I have actually been looking at a set of LEDs that have 300 3-chip 5050SM LEDs on a 197" flexible PCB, and it looks like it has the drivers in the PCB. I could just plug in a 12v DC power supply and light them up, but they are also designed to be cut into smaller sections and then wired up. At full power the entire strip has a total of 5130 Lumens. But this is totally off topic in this thread. :-) I may head over to the lighting topics now and see what is being discussed over there.


Tim