Adding live rock/live sand

old salt

old salt

Member
I got my tank (29gal eclipse) started about 2 weeks ago, argonite sand and 5 damsels in now to cycle the tank. I didn't go with LR/LS at the advice of lfs, now I'm thinking I want to change...
Should I wait until the tank has cycled to add LR/LS or should I add them now?
Just as FYI, My plan is to have 1 or 2(pair)of maroon clowns, 1 goby or blennie, and once tank is established, 1 flame angel... Thanks for the help!
 
panchito

panchito

Member
I am going through the same thing now also. I did some research here on the board, and decided to do it now. your tank will go through cycles anyway so do it now that you dont have much to lose, and probably will cycle quicker than with just the fish..
hope this helps
 
mithrax

mithrax

Member
It's up to you. How "reeflike" you want your tank to be. Many people say 1-1.5 lbs per gallon. IMO, the more the better when it comes to LR. You don't have to use LR solely, use tufa rocks for the base rocks, they're cheaper. You can use PVC pipes to construct a frame for your LR. This latter method is better because it uses less LRs and better water circulation (if you place a pump behind it). :)
 
johnnysalt

johnnysalt

Member
I 2nd panchito,
I had cc about 3 wks into the cycle and scooped it all out and added a combo of aragonite and ls. The cool thing about ls is that it doesn't need to be 100% ls to be an active bed....you probably already knew that though. I don't have lr yet, but I have some damsels though and I would go ahead and throw the lr in there too while it is still cycling....no big loss is you lose a damsel or two. HTH :cool:
 
old salt

old salt

Member
Is it possible to buy LR that's already cured? I hate to stretch the time before I can start adding fish anymore than I have to...
 
fixitdude2001

fixitdude2001

Member
Yes , when they say live rock it should allready be cured, thats why its at LFS for 8-12 a pound for it, you can get live rock of line for 4-5 dollars a pound same stuff, If you order it off line find out if they ship it in water if not you will have to much die off, and will give you ammonia spike, let your nose be the judge , if you get it from store , make them let you smell it, if its live there wont be any bad smell , uncured rock will smell like sewer, hope this helps,,cya
 
old salt

old salt

Member
Oh yeah, one more thing... If the LR is cured, will I still have to do something to get any pests out of the rock (Mantis, pistol shrimp, etc...)? If so, what's the easiest way??
 
dathem

dathem

Member
Hello,
I wish you good luck in your new tank but you have many more damsels than you need to cycle a tank that size, 1 or 2 would have been fine. If you would have used ls and lr to start the tank you probably wouldn't have had a cycle to worry about and you could have left the damsels at the store where they belong. They can get mean and terrorize any new additions. I hope you can tank them back as credit for better fish. I don't know why the lfs would have told you not to use the ls or lr other than possibly to sell you all those damsels you don't need.
With all those damsels you shouldn't add any other fish for some time. If you can get rid of some or all of them and then get a pair of clowns. Wait several weeks and then add a gobie, and then some 3 or so months later add the angel, when you have a good growth of green algae growing. Your tank I believe is to small to have two pair of clowns. Hope that helps.
 
old salt

old salt

Member
dathem -
The LFS suckered me into the 29 gal tank as well as the damsels... but they did sell them to me to cycle the tank as said i'd get credit (I don't want them). I have found here they gave me much bad advice (told me not to use LR/LS.
I guess I wasn't clear, I meant that if I got 2 clowns they would be a pair.. not two pair.. LOL... sounds like I'll be ok by what you say... I assume that will max the tank out? Thanks again!
 
fixitdude2001

fixitdude2001

Member
best way to get rid of these possible pest, get you a bucket of super saline water around 78 degrees get the salt to about 30 ppm instead of the norm 21-23, this will push out the sucker if there is one, and wont hurt your rock, a fresh water dip could kill the good stuff on the rock so dont do that. Leave the rock in for 5-15 min and any unwanted pest along with bristle worms will come out, But hopefully you dont get any of them bad shrimp. cya :)
 
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