FAQ Purchasing Live Rock

vt4lifecuf

vt4lifecuf

Member
as of right now i have no live rocks but only fishes, twice per week i add calcium and alkalinity. I have the tanks almost two years with no live rocks; therefore, I will buy cured live rock next month, i would like to know what is the best supplements for live rock? can i use calcium and alkalinity only? do i need iodine and strontium? I am a beginner so please teach me something.
Thanks
V.
P.S: FOWLR only
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Originally Posted by vt4lifecuf
as of right now i have no live rocks but only fishes, twice per week i add calcium and alkalinity. I have the tanks almost two years with no live rocks; therefore, I will buy cured live rock next month, i would like to know what is the best supplements for live rock? can i use calcium and alkalinity only? do i need iodine and strontium?
Unless you have fast growing corals, your weekly 10% water changes, or twice a month 20% water changes with a good quality marine salt and pure water should cover all your calcium, alk, iodine and stronium needs. Why are you dosing calcium and alk now?
Coraline algae seems to grow best under antinic lights, so you may want to change some bulbs if you don't already have some.
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Originally Posted by Herefshyfishy
If i am starting a brand new tank shoud I buy Cured LR or Uncured LR, and why?
For a new tank, get uncured live rock. Uncured live rock can have more varieties of life on it, that you may get lucky enough to have survive the cycle. With uncured live rock, the dying matter on the rock fuels the nitrogen cycle, so all you have to do is test your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels until the cycle is over and your tank becomes safe for fish. If you start with cured rock, you'll have to add the fuel to start the nitrogen cycle.
 
vt4lifecuf

vt4lifecuf

Member
Originally Posted by DSkidmore
Unless you have fast growing corals, your weekly 10% water changes, or twice a month 20% water changes with a good quality marine salt and pure water should cover all your calcium, alk, iodine and stronium needs. Why are you dosing calcium and alk now?
Coraline algae seems to grow best under antinic lights, so you may want to change some bulbs if you don't already have some.
The guy who work at the fish store told me i can dosing calcium and alk twice per week, he said it help snails and hermit crabs. How do i get those purple looking for my snails and rocks? Does supplement require? any recommendation on kent products?
Thanks
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Originally Posted by vt4lifecuf
The guy who work at the fish store told me i can dosing calcium and alk twice per week, he said it help snails and hermit crabs. How do i get those purple looking for my snails and rocks? Does supplement require? any recommendation on kent products?
Thanks
The guy in the fish store's job is to sell you stuff wether you need it or not. If your alk test shows you have a problem then dose alk, otherwise just do your water changes with good water and good marine salt.
If you want purple snails and rocks, than you need to find good purple live rock. Fiji usually has the most brilliant purple color, although I'm partial to Gulf rock myself. If cost is an issue, get lots of "base rock" and just a little bit of the high quality stuff. The organisims on the high quality stuff will eventually spread to the base rock. You can speed the spread of coralline by rubbing off some onto other rocks.
I have no strong opinions about Kent. They are reasonable products, useful for densely populated coral tanks, but the average beginner doesn't need any of those suppliments. Just RO/DI water and salt.
 
vt4lifecuf

vt4lifecuf

Member
sorry for this off topic, tank salt gravity is at 1.024 right now, if it's under 1.026 which is bad for the tank. I did water change 2 weeks ago, so how can i add more salt in without change the water?
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
If it's been two weeks, then it's time for another 20% water change anyway.
If you salt level dips too low (which it really shouldn't) you can top off with premixed saltwater instead of fresh water until correct levels are reached.
Much more often, salt levels go to high due to evaporation. Are you getting excessive salt buildup on any of your equiptment? You shouldn't be loosing salt from your system.
 
si12ius

si12ius

Member
Well I have been cycling my 90 gallon tank + 40 gallon sump for about 1 week now, havent did any water tests, I just bought 45lbs of live rock more to come later.40lbs of live sand.... I am going to cure my pre cured live rock with the help of this awesome article... Everyone talks about jump starting the cycle with shrimp... but, what kind of shrimp frozen/cooked? or raw frozen? just a little confused on that. I will have to use the shrimp because, I just want to add the cured live rock and not deal with alot of unwanted creatures... any help is appreciated!
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Most people use raw shrimp, but anything organic that rots will do. Stale fish food, a slice of a vegtable... You just need a supply of Nitrogen that won't suffocate and die (like fish) in the resulting chemistry changes.
 
bjoe23

bjoe23

Active Member
Thanks for all that info it really helped me
just onen question tho.... if i was starting a brand new tank who i cure my rocks or leave them uncured?
 
howardj

howardj

Active Member
My LFS has two huge containers of Live Rock running through there many,many gallons of tanks (with fish) for sale.
Cured rock: 5.99/lb
I'm pretty sure that the other one is Premium Fiji live rock.. 3.99/lb (could be wrong)
what is the difference? between cured and premium fiji
and Im really short on cash.. depending on parents.. so I'm trying to buy more cheap than Live.. and I heard that if you put base rock in with live rock, the base rock will eventually over time become live rock? with coral line algae and all? is this true?
 
hogs

hogs

Member
If you bought the rock from a local fish store, you would have to ask them if it was cured or not. If you bought mail order rock, they either ship from Florida or California. Even if that rock was cured when they shipped it, you will have to cure it again when you get it. There is die off on the rock. Curing is not hard at all. Do a search for how to. BTW, I hear the rock on this site is very good for the price. If you bought live rock in Massachusetts, it's double the price you can get it for online.
Originally Posted by bjoe23
Thanks for all that info it really helped me
just onen question tho.... if i was starting a brand new tank who i cure my rocks or leave them uncured?
 
fool

fool

New Member
I have always been afraid of adding live rock to my tank until I read your artice. Thank you very much for removing my fears.
 
kirksey05

kirksey05

New Member
So if I want to start a 54g corner with fish only...hopefully a orange tail fiji, a humu, and a pair of clowns. How much live rock will I need to get? I am going to be running a fluval 305 with extra biomax in it.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
It depends on how much you want to spend really. In my 56 gallon tank, I have almost 90 pounds. My wife thinks we need more too.
 
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