adding live rock to an existing tank

carshark

carshark

Active Member
im a newbie i only have about 20 lbs of LR(beautifully cured though, almost completely covered in purple coralline)(my local guy i sold a car to and he gives me his personal stash for 5.50 lb. hahah dont be jealous people)
its a FOWLR set up( 75 gal. 90 lbs substrate, 20 lbs. of fully cured LR, real dead cats paw corals , 5 white lava rocks with 4 or more holes connected in one piece, random fake corals, etc. also have 5 in foxface lo, 5 in. red general starfish, 4 in. coral banded, 4 in percula, 3 in blue hippo tang, 3 in diamond goby, and a turbo...(he even has coralline on him) im worried about adding a bunch more live rock i want to add about another 50 lbs over time, but im just curious what is the best way to do that and if it will have adverse effects on the tank as it stands now?
when i added the 20 lbs. it dropped my nitrates to untraceable, as well as ammonia.. it obviuosly was beneficial but im worried if i add more soon it will destroy the balance i have.
now i am aware its just like a new fish and it screws up the bio load but can i add 50 lbs more at once with all these inhabitants??
 
tombonius

tombonius

Member
make sure you use only well-cured LR and consider adding it in small amounts, say 1/2 of the amt in tank per week. Otherwise you risk killing off all of your fish with the die-off that might occur from the rock. most importantly, make sure its well cured.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
agreed with the above. Smell the rock. If it smells like death or has any black on it, it is not fully cured.
now for my reason for posting (no i didnt jsut post to agree with the above) But that blue hippo will need an upgrade form your 75 gallon. They get over a foot long and need tons of room to swim. Do you have a future home for him?
 
scubadoo

scubadoo

Active Member
If you have the space/container place all 50 pounds in the container with power head(s) and heater. Test the water to monitor the nitrites and ammonia. If you do not see a spike after several days place all 50 pounds in the set-up. If you do see a spike wait till it drops. There is no need to add slowly if you have monitored and cured all 50 pounds at the same time.
 
scubadoo

scubadoo

Active Member
Originally Posted by fishieness
agreed with the above. Smell the rock. If it smells like death or has any black on it, it is not fully cured.
now for my reason for posting (no i didnt jsut post to agree with the above) But that blue hippo will need an upgrade form your 75 gallon. They get over a foot long and need tons of room to swim. Do you have a future home for him?
They reach twelve inches in the wild, but if purchased as a juvy it will only reach about have that size in captivity. They still require a minimum of 6 feet of swimming space. You can keep a very small one is a smaller set-up for a short period.
 
mr.p

mr.p

Member
Originally Posted by exile415
im not too jealous. i get LR for $3 a LB


i gotta check out Taravel. I was wondering about that also, right now i don't have a lot of live rock in my tank but soon i'm going to add some little by little. It's so expensive here though 6.99 a lb. If i bought say 1-3 pounds every week or every other week would that be okay? or is it better to buy in large bulk?
 
E

exile415

Guest
yeah taravals pretty good for LR. cheap. Also I would add all the LR in the beginning, but I guess smaller is better if you wanan add it right in the tank.
 
bret61081

bret61081

Member
Originally Posted by Mr.P
i gotta check out Taravel. I was wondering about that also, right now i don't have a lot of live rock in my tank but soon i'm going to add some little by little. It's so expensive here though 6.99 a lb. If i bought say 1-3 pounds every week or every other week would that be okay? or is it better to buy in large bulk?

look online..prolly can find it cheaper...look on that big auction site...I got some b4 from (username on there) Liverockboy. itwas pretty good, but Iadded it slowly...like 10 pounds every otehrweek for about 2 months and had no problems
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
well the gf and i have plans to build a 265 in the wall so i figured by that time he'll be ready for some more room..... and YES the rock is fully cured, it is beautiful rock that has been in a tank for over a year, its is his personal 150 gal... please remember folks she is only 2-3 in. big she has tons of room right now... :happyfish
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
Originally Posted by exile415
im not too jealous. i get LR for $3 a LB

what do you pay for shipping?? lol i dont pay any...
i can pee farther than you can!! lol its not one of those contests is it?
 
nanoreef

nanoreef

Member
Originally Posted by carshark
what do you pay for shipping?? lol i dont pay any...
i can pee farther than you can!! lol its not one of those contests is it?
i pay 9.99 a pound
 
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