introduction of live rock into the tank.....slowly or?......

[EC24]

I have a question concerning live rock. I want to have a Strickly Crushed coral base(because I dont trust myself with using sand), with a Deep ocean blue background with live rock as decoration, if you will. I want to have 2 kinds of fish, 2 true Clown fish and 1 Blue Tang. The colour contrast and compatibility and ease of care are my reasons for keeping these fish, NOT NEMO.....but nemo is definetly part of initial reason for wanting a salt water setup. if you havent seen the movie I highly recommend it. Anyway, LIVE rock should be added as much as possible for a 37 gallon, or should I add it gradually as the tank Cycles over the next couple weeks? let me know. later.

[MikeS]

Hi there...

What don't you trust about using sand as a substrate?

As for the live rock....are you planning on keeping a reef down the line sometime?

You don't need to add the LR all at once. I added mine several pieces at a time over a period of several months. I didn't order mine, I hand picked my cured LR from several different LFS. A bit more expensive this way, but I got some really nice pieces of LR that way....

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

I would add it all at one time, let it cycle, and then add your fish. You'll be amazed at how fast live rock actually cycles a tank, because it comes with the necessary bacteria to break down the waste it carries.

Conni

[icereefer]

I agree conni, that's how I cycled my tanks but I use un-cured rock, I can't see letting some one else getting the goodies off my rock, and as for hitch hikers, there not hard to disgaurd of. if any at all.
not saying mikes is'nt the way to go either like you said mike that way you can add what you want some times buying bulk rock you don't all ways get what you want and you might have to shape your rock to your needs........... but the rubble works good in the sump or refugium,hehe.
PS the rest of your questions I hope got answered for you in the chat room.
good luck.

[malkore]

I'm still a noob, but here's my plan:
already had 10lbs of LR from a LFS, curing in my 29gal QT tank.
Last week i got 40lbs from Liverocks.com and it went into the 40gal main tank.
this weekend ill add the 10lbs that's been mostly cured in the QT, to the main tank, and probably scout out a few more rocks to put back in the QT.
I thought 40lbs in a 40g breeder would be a fair amount of rock...but I can see that I need at least 60lbs to get it looking like other FOWLR setups.

[icereefer]

malkore wrote:
I thought 40lbs in a 40g breeder would be a fair amount of rock.

in my 37 gal I've got about 55 lbs,and my pile only hits mid way in my tank, in some places a little higher.
but beside that your plan sounds good.