Live Rock??
- Thread starter guardian
- Start date
lion_crazz
Active Member
You could try a live bacteria like Turbo Start or AmmoVec (made by Sera).
1journeyman
Active Member
Originally Posted by Guardian
Is there anything that I can put in the tank to make the live rock come to life faster?
Lot's of live rock... seriously, seeding dead rock with a little bit of live rock will take a while..
What type of life are you looking for? Keeping your pH, calcium and alkalinity in optimum ranges will help promote coraline algaes (you'll have to ask the experts what those ranges are.. pH at 8.4.. but the others I'm just learning myself)
Dead rock will never become as full of the tiny critters, sponges, worms, algaes, plants, etc. that live rock has. In fact, just the opposite. Live rock in a tank slowly experiences a die off of the massive varieties of live it is found with. You can promote more growth of some species, but the broad range of species found and harvested in the wild cannot be maintained in a closed system (that's why I am a fan of curing your own live rock and never using "base" rock).
Hope that helps.
Is there anything that I can put in the tank to make the live rock come to life faster?
Lot's of live rock... seriously, seeding dead rock with a little bit of live rock will take a while..
What type of life are you looking for? Keeping your pH, calcium and alkalinity in optimum ranges will help promote coraline algaes (you'll have to ask the experts what those ranges are.. pH at 8.4.. but the others I'm just learning myself)
Dead rock will never become as full of the tiny critters, sponges, worms, algaes, plants, etc. that live rock has. In fact, just the opposite. Live rock in a tank slowly experiences a die off of the massive varieties of live it is found with. You can promote more growth of some species, but the broad range of species found and harvested in the wild cannot be maintained in a closed system (that's why I am a fan of curing your own live rock and never using "base" rock).
Hope that helps.
guardian
Member
All of my rock is live rock, about 50 lbs in a 55 gal. I just moved the tank and the rock was good and alive. When I put it back up I cleaned the little algae that was on it and I dont know if I messed with the live stuff in the rock or what. I didn't know if there was some kind of supplement.
1journeyman
Active Member
Oh, ok. So are you just asking how to feed and maintain it?
If that's the case, lighting is the first thing, as much of the life on live rock is photsynthetically fed. Next, normal feeding of fish food will provide adequate food for the critters. You'll have to ask the experts on what type of plankton to feed for the sponges, tube worms, etc. I've been using Bio-life and my sponges and fans seem to love it, but I've heard very negative reviews on bottled planktons so...
If that's the case, lighting is the first thing, as much of the life on live rock is photsynthetically fed. Next, normal feeding of fish food will provide adequate food for the critters. You'll have to ask the experts on what type of plankton to feed for the sponges, tube worms, etc. I've been using Bio-life and my sponges and fans seem to love it, but I've heard very negative reviews on bottled planktons so...