Live Rock

[Jaws]

I bought the rock from a girl in town shutting down her tank for. It only cost $3 a pound and it's really nice rock. I'm not too worried about the coraline algae if it's only going to be in there for a couple weeks. I have a Fluval sitting around doing nothing. Would it be a good idea to add that?

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by Jaws

I have a Fluval sitting around doing nothing. Would it be a good idea to add that?

I see no reason why not.
You could get the circulation from it, at the least.

Cheers,

[untamed]

Well...we can argue all day about the definition of "live" rock. My definition is different than most...which is why I think we should differentiate between live rock and bio-filtration rock.

In my opinion, the main goal of live rock is introduce a vast amount of life forms into the system. This is best done by the fastest, least damaging method of getting rock from ocean to healthy tank as fast as possible.

Further on that thought, this means that the rock should enter a system that has already cycled and is already capable of supporting a bio-load. Done this way, the rock will reward with an amazing abundance of life beyond algae.

A well outfitted garbage can is just an aquarium that has not yet cycled. Yes, some life can survive the cycling process, but the more interesting stuff cannot.

[Ruth]

I feel like one of my kids - the first thing that popped into my mind was "ya but" I think what you are describing would be the ideal situation - unfortunately the only way to do that in this part of the world would be to get some "live" rock from another reefer that happens to live within an hour or two of you and get that into an already cycled tank. Our problem is that any "new" live rock from a distributor will have to travel some distance and time thereby making a cycle almost inevitable because you are going to have some die off or am I missing something here? I am just starting up another tank. I have the water in with some water from my established tank. I need about 3-400 lbs of live rock. How am I going to get that without any die off ergo no cycle to kill what is there?

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by untamed

Further on that thought, this means that the rock should enter a system that has already cycled and is already capable of supporting a bio-load. Done this way, the rock will reward with an amazing abundance of life beyond algae.

When I set up my 135g tank last February I started off with 34 lbs of cured LR. The tank never did cycle because of the LR. In other words, it cycled immediately, if you get me. Sure, I got the usual brown and hair algae but no ammonia spike and no nitrite spike. Just low nitrates right from the get go.
Another way of looking at it is, in my case, it was the LR that made the tank, not the tank making the LR.

FWIW.

Cheers,

[StirCrazy]

I am going to go out on a limb and probably get flammed by any store owners but yes I would put it in a dark (totaly black) container with good cirulation and a heater. then do water changes on it every week or two untill no more junk comes ut of the rock (about 2 months)

I know a lot of stores now promote the algaes on rock as what makes it live but the simple fact is 99% of the algaes are nussence algaes that can cause problems laiter. the thing that makes live rock live is the bacteria and the pods/worms ect. coraline algae is fast growing and easy to start so losing that is no big deal, but the process of "cooking" the rock if you got time can solve a lot of problems befor they happen.

I know people are going to argue that good skimming/waist removal will take care of any algae problems but face it not everyone has the ability to be set up 100% perfect and even then some times you can still have algae problems.

I would much rather buy rock that is bare and full of pods than have any sort of algae on it anyday.

Steve