adding cured live rock

[monsterm]

Hi,
I am thinking of adding a few lbs of live rock to my tank. About 3lbs to be exact for a little added filtration and for a few helpful hitchhickers. I only have a few fish and crabs and I was wondering if this amout of live rock will make a little, if any impact in the improvement of my tank? Here is a little background info: I have had my tank up and running for about 8 months. I have four fish and about 10 crabs in the tank. I can't seem to get my nitrate below 20ppms no matter how often I change it. I have been using the product called the " tap water filter" but I think that is one of the reasons my nitrate is high. So I have a new Ro/di comming in the mail. I also feel that my protien skimmer may need a little help that is how I got the idea of adding the live rock. I heard that base rock and other porus rocks in a tank will eventually become live is that true? Because I have some real coral skeleton that have lots of holes in it and I thought if I can get a few lbs of live rock with a small colony it will eventually grow. Can any one tell me if this can happen? One more thing which type of live rock would be the best for my situation?
thanks a lot ,
Mo

 

[backstab]

How big is the tank?
If it's 55gal like your profile says than 3 pounds sounds a little light. I have a 55gal myself with a combined total of 30lbs of LR and I'm still adding to it as my budget allows. IMO the more LR the better.
As for the types of LR i don't think that one is better than the other I think it depends on your own preferance, Marshal, Fiji, ect.

 

[jacknjill]

are you adding three pounds or is that all you will have total? my 55 has about 100 pounds of live rock and its fine

 

[monsterm]

thanks for your reply. As for the amount of live rock I am trying to figure out the minimum amout of live rock that I can add to benifit my tank. I have no live rock at this time. I have real coral skeletons as decoration in my tank so I am not looking to stock my tank with live rock. I hope that with the amout of live rock that I add have some nice cleaners like crabs and starfish and pods. To backstab, why are you still adding live rock is it for decoration or does it help your tank and if it helps how?
thanks,
Mo

 

[jacknjill]

well any amount is fine, i would saystart out with around 10-15 pounds of lr. then if you decide you like it you can add more later. yes live rock is for decoration, but it also does other things. it helps to act as a natural filter, gives your fish hiding places and stuff, and it also adds color to your tank. (coraline algae) im not adding anymore live rock now. it just came with anout 100 pounds and i bought her complete setup. hope this helps.
P.S. you dont HAVE to have liverock, but most people like to and later if you want to turn it into a reef, the corals will live on the rick.

 

[jacknjill]

also, yes baserock will eventually become liverock

 

[clown52]

The more LR you have the more you get from it. Since you are not planning on having LR I probobly wouldn't bother with just 3# as the benifits would be very small.
In my reef I try to have 1.5 to 2# per gallon.
I am not sure what a good number is FOWLR tanks.

 

[monsterm]

What do I need to look for in picking the best live rock? I am leaning towards fiji rock because I like the color.

 

[jacknjill]

figi live rock is good. you can get it off this site for a pretty good price. but if you are buying live from from your lfs, you should try and pick rock that has a lot of coraline algae growing on it

 

[sleeri]

3 pounds won't cut it for a 55. I've got 60 in mine and I think that may be a little light, but it depends what you want to get from it. If you're not looking to have a reef you probably don't need 100 pnds of live rock.
It's expensive stuff. So adding a small amount every so often may be a good option for you if your low on funds. Start with 3 pounds and keep adding when you can. My local pet store sells LR "rubble" for pretty cheap (small pieces that broke off during shipment). That may be an option for you if you don't mind a lot smaller pieces.