Live rock alternative??

[cj7eagle]

I am working on my first saltwater tank. Its a 29 gallon tank. Right now i have two damsels who have taken up the only spots a fish could claim for territory. I want to add two clowns and perhaps a lawnmower blenny. Then tank is almost done being cycled, my amonia is down to zero and the nitrites are starting to come down. I dont think i have the lighting for live rock, but i want to look of live rock. Is there a cheaper way to get that live rock look without actually buying live rock for my tank? I am under the impression that live rock wont live on the lighting i have now. I bought the tank used and as far as i can tell its a standard fluorescent bulb. any thoughts/ideas are much appreciated.

 

[tizzo]

Live rock does not have any lighting requirements unless, there are corals on it.
Live rock needs oxygen, but no more than your fish, heated water, but again, no more than your fish and good circulation...that's it.

 

[cj7eagle]

alright... cool... Now how does adding live rock affect my cycling of the tank. give me 15 minutes and i will post the levels I have now.

 

[cj7eagle]

ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm
nitrate - 20ppm
ph - 8.0

 

[pallan]

depends if the live rock is fully cured it should not effect your levels but if it is not fully cured then it could throw you back into a cycle.
to tell if its cured smell it if it smells rotten then it is not cured and has die off on it. if put in your tank like that it can restart your cycle.
PS you should not cycle with fish in your tank. its very hard on them. :happyfish

 

[nigerbang]

I would def. re-cure the LR if it was me...No need in taking the risk, It doesnt take too long to cure LR about 3 weeks...(Mine seems like forever though..60lbs in a 20 gal long) Find some good sites that have detailed instructions on how to cure LR..

 

[tizzo]

Definately recure it ifit comes mail order... If you buy it from a LFS that's fairly close and already been cured, then there is really no need to recure.
It shouldn't mess with your water params...

 

[murph]

Believe it or not before the advent of live rock people did keep saltwater aquariums. There should be no problems using inexpensive base rock to start out and simply adding a few pounds of cured LR as can be afforded.
The addition of small amounts at a time should have no ill effects. For this size tank no more than a couple pounds at a time. After the tank ages a bit, say six months or so, you may have a hard time picking out what rock started out as base rock and which was the high dollar LR.
In fact there is a good chance the LR at your LFS is cultured meaning base rock was taken off shore and dumped overboard and allowed to soak for a year of so and then retrieved and sold as LR. There is a large operation of this type right in my backyard in Tampa FL yet I still have a hard time finding reasonably priced LR.
These days it seems to be a given that tanks have to start out with a pound or more per gallon live rock. This is cost prohibitive and tends to keep some people out of the hobby which is a bad thing IMO. Back when I purchased my first damsels no one had even spoken the words live rock yet but that did not keep us from having some spectacular fish only displays.