New Live Rock

[grubby1091]

Ok, here goes another question. I have asked so many the last couple of weeks kind of feeling stupid. But here goes. Last night I won a auction on ---- for 65 lbs of live rock. ($101.50, not a bad deal I thought) It is currently in a tank in PA. I have decided to have it shipped to me. My question for you experienced people is. What do I need to do with it when it arrives? I currently have a 44 gallon corner tank with treated tap water and Instant Ocean. I have a fluval 300 and a Seaclone 150 skimmer. I have also purchased a 95 watt 50/50 Aqualite. I have had the water in it for about 2 weeks. I did have 2 Damsels in it (they bit the dust the first couple of days). I have added stabilty to the water for the past couple of days. Please keep in mind when helping me that my wife and I are totally new to the hobby and am not hip on the abbreviations...LOL...not to savy on the saltwater slang. I really appreciate the help that I have recieved in the past and look forward to reading the responses.

 

[mcsd22]

Go ahead and put it in. You have no fish so the amonoia that you get from the die off won't hurt anything. You should stay away from the tap water. It will only cause you problems in the long run. Reverse osmosis is the prefered water. It is pure were your tap water has all kind of bad stuff in it.

 

[moby]

Hi grubby,
Just inspect well when it arrives. It shouldn't have a nasty smell, but more like the ocean at low tide. (Hey I like that smell

) If it is clean and it should be since this is cured live rock just place in your tank. This will start a small cycle. From there monitor your water chemistry to know when the cycle is done.
Some things to ask the previous owner if you can, was any copper used in his tank with this LR present? How old is the rock? What kind is it?
Thats about it. Hope this helps. :happyfish
Moby

 

[threed240]

1st off. I would replace the treated tap water with RO (reverse osmosis) water, or distilled water. You can pick this up at walmart, or you LFS (local fish store) for about $0.35-0.65 a gallon. This will help tremendously.
2nd.- You need to know if the rock you purchased is cured, being that is coming from a tank already setup, Id say it is, but I would let it set in a barrel of saltwater with a few powerheads for circulation for a few days.
3rd- once the rock is placed in the tank, I would not buy ANY inhabitants for at least 3 weeks or more. Depending on the live rock, and live sand( if this is what you used) determines how long your cycle will last. The cycle is when the ammonia levels in your tank peak, and then start to subside. This will be when your tank starts to build up certain bacteria levels it needs to have.
I would say your ammonia levels are pretty high, due to the loss of fish also. Im not sure about the Fluval skimmer, but I do know that the Sea-clones are very inefficiant in most cases.

 

[ophiura]

Any rock that is shipped - out of water for more than an hour - will most likely have die off and therefore will recycle (or cycle) a tank.
Even rock that is "precured" will - this generally means that big gunky sponges and such are removed. Rock from an established tank will also have die off. So if you get it in an hour

there will not be much. But there will be additional die off every hour from that point on. If it takes days - you will have a lot of die off.
Either recure in a separate container, or use it to basically cycle the tank.

 

[omgsaltwat]

Originally Posted by mcsd22
Go ahead and put it in. You have no fish so the amonoia that you get from the die off won't hurt anything. You should stay away from the tap water. It will only cause you problems in the long run. Reverse osmosis is the prefered water. It is pure were your tap water has all kind of bad stuff in it.
I agree..JMO

 

[namas05]

Just want to add great buy. As long as the shipping doesn't kill you you did good.
By the way (BTW) I am in PA so if you want me to go get it for you I can. lol
Let it cycle in your tank and when it is done in a few weeks then add the fish.
It will be worth the wait.