good idea or not

[sciknen]

well i was going through a few sites for live rock. man is shipping expensive. except here of course. in the search i found a great deal on dry rock once live. i wanted to get 40lbs of fiji. and 25lbs of tonga. all dry. which i can get for $196 shipped
i was maybe gonna seed it with a few lbs of live. how long would it take all to become live enough to put fish in.
i will be having 2 koralia 3s and a sump with a mag12 or 18 return.
its a 55gal
what do you guys think on the time line?
thanks alot

 

[spiderwoman]

As far as I know, you should be able to put it in your tank right away with LR and it will turn into LR in a month or two. I may be completely wrong, that's what I remember reading.
Our club just placed a group order for dry rock from Marco, I think our tally was a bit over 1000lbs

 

[sciknen]

that where i wanna get it from.
how long till the nitrates would settle down to put fish in or wud there be no nitrates?
thats what im really confused about because would there be dieoff

 

[spiderwoman]

I believe you just need to rinse the rock off really well and basically everything is already dead.
Experts, please chime in please I need to know too. Our rock will be coming in on the second week of April.

 

[sciknen]

lol yea come on experts lol
i mite try to get my local club to go in on a big order well over 300lbs cuz i guess you get some kinda discount
just wondering spider how are you guys gonna split it up
just get a scale and weigh it all out or are you going with the premade boxes

 

[tizzo]

Originally Posted by sciknen
http:///forum/post/2526466
that where i wanna get it from.
how long till the nitrates would settle down to put fish in or wud there be no nitrates?
thats what im really confused about because would there be dieoff
The average timeline for your ammonia, trites and trates to be gone is 6 weeks.
If you mix dead (dry) rock with the live and you do have that ammonia spike then technically, your once dead rock will be live. It will not have feather dusters, many pods or even coralline algae, but it will be covered with the beneficial bacteria that makes rock "live".
If you order LIVE rock via mail order, you WILL have die off.
Submerge it in water, (your tank or even a tupperware bin) add a powerhead and let it sit for 6 weeks. Some people recommend a heater, and while that by no means hurts, I personally do not find it very beneficial, unless you know you have critters such as chitons, feather dusters, clams, etc...
HTH

 

[sciknen]

that was a expert among experts huh spider lol
thanks man answered alot of ?s on equipment i need to cure it

 

[sk8shorty01]

If your tank has no fish yet, and you have to go through your cycle anyways, then I would cure your rock directly in the tank itself. This would be the best in my opinion because the rock needs some beneficial bacteria to build up, and the tank will have some along with ammonia (which is the start of the cycle) so the rock can take advantage of the cycle and have a good amount of bacteria cultured by the time your tank is ready to add livestock. If I was you I would get 5-10 pounds of live rock, and that will seed everything in your tank relatively quick. You should have 75 pounds of live rock (including your dead rock) in about a month or so, which isn't that bad when you consider the difference in price. Good luck and hope everything goes well for you!

 

[sciknen]

thanks guy

 

[sciknen]

n girl i think ?

 

[nigerbang]

If its dry..I doubt you will have die-off, since most likley nothing will be alive on it to die...
$196 for 40lbs..
I can get it live online for $250 for 50lbs after shipping..or buy local cured rock at 2.50 a lb..

 

[sciknen]

65lbs for 196 shipped

 

[sciknen]

40 fiji 25 tonga

 

[grim_reefer]

Originally Posted by NigerBang
http:///forum/post/2527244
If its dry..I doubt you will have die-off, since most likley nothing will be alive on it to die...
while this is true, you have to realize that there probably are some dead things inside the rock that have not been broken down completely..
another alternative.. get a rubbermaid tub and simply cure it yourself if you are adding it to a tank that is already set up.. or if you are just now setting up, simply put it in the tank with sand, fill with saltwater, and add a piece of cocktail shrimp.. this will basically add instant ammonia to kick in the cycling process.

 

[1journeyman]

Dead rock will grow bacteria, and will even eventually become covered in coralline algae.
Make no mistake, however, it will never be like "true" live rock. Fresh live rock comes with thousands, if not millions, of tiny pods, worms, spores, algaes, etc. on it.

 

[sciknen]

yea i totally get wat ur sayin journey, if i found someone close to me that would sell me about 65lbs for decent money i would get lr. i have about 2 weeks till its time to order the dead rock or get some LR

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by sciknen
http:///forum/post/2529298
yea i totally get wat ur sayin journey, if i found someone close to me that would sell me about 65lbs for decent money i would get lr. i have about 2 weeks till its time to order the dead rock or get some LR
I honestly would drop $199 and buy 50Lbs from here before I'd pay that much for 65 dead...