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questions bout dry rock

post #1 of 21
1/25/12 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
So I a 55 gal tank ....I have about 20lbs of live rock and I have the diatoms right now. I'm getting 50lbs of dry rock...do I just rinse out the dry rock and then add it straight to my tank or do I have to put it in a different container for a while before I put it in the display tank????? I don't have any fish in there yet......also I went to turn on my lights and as soon as they came on I seen this little bity bug and it ran under my rock...should I be concerned? ??? Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks
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post #2 of 21
1/25/12 at 5:46pm

Don't have to soak it or anything. :D

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post #3 of 21
1/25/12 at 7:40pm

I beg to differ.....There has been a tremendous amount of talk about dry rock and phosphate levels issues......I'd suggest doing a little google search and read up, but yes the rock should be soaked to double check what it's giving off.  I would post a link to be very specific in what I'm stating, but if you go to RC you'll find threads regarding what I stated.....

 

Soak the rock and test......

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post #4 of 21
1/25/12 at 7:54pm

+1 I was having this same discussion at a club meet a few months ago. When I first added Marco Rocks to my tank the salinity sky rocketed.  Luckily there wasn't any animals in the tank because they surely would have died.

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post #5 of 21
1/25/12 at 10:29pm

Marco rock is one of the worst as far as needing to be soaked! That stuff leaches so much phosphate!

 

I've had really good luck with dry Tonga branch. I've been able to do a quick rinse in my water change water and stick it in and it was fine.

 

If you can soak if for a a few days, it's a good idea to do so, but yes, it can be added directly to the tank without causing an ammonia spike or anything like a uncured piece of live rock would do.

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post #6 of 21
1/26/12 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 
Ok thanks a lot ......you guys are so helpful and I really appreciate it....=)so do I have to soak it in saltwater or just regular water would be fine????
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post #7 of 21
1/26/12 at 12:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by izzy69 View Post

Ok thanks a lot ......you guys are so helpful and I really appreciate it....=)so do I have to soak it in saltwater or just regular water would be fine????


salt. Use the water that you pull from your tank at a water change (unless your parameters are terrible), that's what I do.

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post #8 of 21
1/26/12 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
Ok I will thanks a lot ....
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post #9 of 21
1/26/12 at 1:38pm

Interesting discussion!

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post #10 of 21
1/26/12 at 5:05pm

I'd use regular RO water for soaking....No need to waste salt if your soaking and trying to get a reading on the rock......What type of rock.....drinkingcoffee.gif

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post #11 of 21
1/26/12 at 6:17pm
Thread Starter 
Its key largo .....and what reading will I be looking for anyway???
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post #12 of 21
1/26/12 at 6:43pm

Phosphates......Excuse my earlier post, but I'd run it in saltwater and run a range of tests on the rock....Phosphates is what your trying to detect.  Dry rock can be loaded with phospates

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post #13 of 21
1/26/12 at 8:26pm

Test your water before you put the rock in as well to rule out any other sources

 

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post #14 of 21
1/30/12 at 11:22pm
Thread Starter 

ok so i should be getting my dry rock in tomorrow. i'll get a tub and fill it with my water change water and test the water before and after the introducton of the dry rock. so how long do i need to soak them for anyway? do i wait til there is no phosphate reading or will all the phosohates stay in the water after i remove the rocks????shrug.gif

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post #15 of 21
1/30/12 at 11:29pm
Thread Starter 

also to add,,,the diatoms in my tank have gotten worse.... i shut off one of my lights and it seemed to help but it still isnt going no where.... should i be concerned or is it just normal and i should let it run its course???

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post #16 of 21
1/31/12 at 10:02am

Normal. They'll eventually go away on their own.

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post #17 of 21
1/31/12 at 12:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by izzy69 View Post

ok so i should be getting my dry rock in tomorrow. i'll get a tub and fill it with my water change water and test the water before and after the introducton of the dry rock. so how long do i need to soak them for anyway? do i wait til there is no phosphate reading or will all the phosohates stay in the water after i remove the rocks????shrug.gif


Cool deal about getting your rock tomorrow....Honestly there isn't a magical number or time frame....The best thing you can do is start soaking the rock and perform water tests.....If you start showing phosphate levels water changes, and you can use some type of phosphate remover to try to help things along.  Some people reportedly have run Phosban or GFO......Depending on what the levels are they can exhaust both rather quickly and can get quite expensive this way.

 

 

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post #18 of 21
1/31/12 at 2:05pm
Thread Starter 
Ok thanks a lot for all you're guys help.....I would be lost without this forum.....I will update pics once I have everything in the DT:hi:
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post #19 of 21
1/31/12 at 7:40pm

Oh thing people are doing is if they notice high Phos readings, people are adding phos-free to their bucket where they are curing the rock or boiling it in phos free...

I dont know if id go that far... maybe adding it after checking to see if it reads high//

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post #20 of 21
2/1/12 at 6:23am
Thread Starter 
Ok I'll definatly check that out....I've been reading all the reviews of which that rock I ordered and they keep saying that they show no sign of phosphates so hopefully mine will be the same way.....cross my fingers LOL
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