Live Rock Questions
- Thread starter hnf2k
- Start date
ak_reefer
Member
Well you actually dont feed your live rock. Live rock is called live rock because of the life on it and the purposes it serves. I feed my filter feeders DT's Phytoplankton they love it. Your live rock can have die off but if you have good lighting and circulation it will stay full of life. Also dosing will help the coralline and macroalgea on the rock thrive. HTH
dsa_mom
Member
Well, theoretically, you can keep a piece of live rock "live" forever by providing an environment for the critters to survive and reproduce. We have three clams on our rock, true filter feeders since they can't move around and scavange--they survived several months with us doing nothing--finally got some liquid plankton to put in the water now and then. Can't really tell if they are any happier, just feels like they're getting something for sure. Hope this helps!
hnf2k
Active Member
my uncle is helping me set up my tank, and he is totally against me using live rock to cycle it...he is saying that my environment wont be fit for it to be cycled with. he is saying that i am gonna spend all that money on live rock and its gonna die and about 3-6 months because of the environment...any truth in that?
smalltimer
Member
What enviroment will kill live rock. You can keep it ALIVE as long as you don't use copper or something non reef safe in your tank. You don't need lighting for live rock. The rock itself is not ALIVE, it is the bacteria, copapods, and tiny animals that live in it. Only copper, or something will kill it. Cycling, now that is the die off of SOME of the bacteria and copapods, etc. that where living in there. But not all of it, you would have to let it dry to do that. I had 100 lbs. true live rock in a 150, then added 100 lbs. dead white as walls dead live rock, it was live, til guy messed up tank with copper, killed fish, nasty anyway, it was cleaned and dried again, then added to tank. With 20000k's and lots of kalkwasser later, it looked EXACTLY like the original live rock, and was alive again, with critters and bacteria again. See with rock, it is so porous, spelling ???, it does the nitrogen cycle for you, ie. no bio balls, bio wheels, needed in sump or hang on filters. If you buy rock in a cycled tank at the lfs, you will already have some of the nitrifing bacteria in the rock, keep it wet on the way home to minimize die off, and bam, tank to go. SLOWLY add life, small fish, I would pick something you want to keep, it will most likely survive, I have had my new tank listed below for less than a month, I just added mated pair Percula clowns, due to all live rock was cycled and in a holding tank that did the bacteria filtering for a 700 gallon show system. It was already seeded with the nitrifing bacteria. Now if you do a system, say, new sand, new dead rock, sump with bio balls, etc. you will have NO nitrifing bacteria, add a cooked shrimp or 2 depending how big tank for a week, with good h2o flow and NO skimmer running you will spike amonia, then it will dissapear, spike nitrite, then it will dissaper then you will see nitrates, finally, do 10% h2o change, add life, but may take 3 weeks or so to do process, DO NOT ADD ANY LIVING CREATURE DURING CYCLE, UNLESS YOU DON'T LIKE IT AND WANT TO KILL IT........
Good Luck
Good Luck
angelofish
Member
Simple explanation:
bacteria eats ammonia and produces nitrite
different bacteria eats nitrite and produce nitrate
deep in the rock or sand bed where theres no oxygen different bacteria eat nitrate
At least I think thats how it goes from what Ive read.
bacteria eats ammonia and produces nitrite
different bacteria eats nitrite and produce nitrate
deep in the rock or sand bed where theres no oxygen different bacteria eat nitrate
At least I think thats how it goes from what Ive read.
algaeeater
Member
Hi
How do you know when a piece of live rock has died. Does it change color?
How do you know when a piece of live rock has died. Does it change color?
exotickeeper
Member
No offence to your Uncle, but you want your live rock to be in the tank while your tank is cycling. If the rock is not cured, then your curing it in the tank unless done so previously. During this curing period, the rocks giving off a TON of ammon. and Nitrate & Nitrite. Your sand bed (if you have one) will help everything settle down, all this occurs during your cycle period. That's why it's highly suggested that after your tank is cleared up from cycling and the rocks are some what cured, it is advised that you do a major water change like about 75%. The good bacterial lives in and on your Live Rock. It will not die unless you take it out of the water for days or if you put in COPPER, (and even then if there's copper in your tank, your really not killing your rock, just the stuff on it, b/c once Live Rock gets copper in it, it's almost impossible to get it out!!!! You do not need to feed it anything. Your live rock WILL NOT die if it's in your tank.