Saltwater Questions (Live Rock & Waste Clean up)

Sean · #1 07-25-2008, 08:43 PM

Okay you are going to have forgive my ignorance on these matters.

I'v been into saltwater aquariums for little now but in the past i just couldn't get it to work for the life of me. I got the hqi 28g nano about 5-6 months ago and by god things are still alive. I had a few things pass away on me but things seem to be some what stable now.

The things I would like to get some feed back on is live rock. I bought this mass amount of rocks and put it in there.. about 2-3 months in I felt that the 28 pounds was too much and I took out some rocks.. It now easier to clean the tank and I didn't have a mass about of debris hiding where I couldn't see it. The levels instantly balanced off and now when I change my water I don't get this mass amount of algae i have to scrape off the next day. But how much waste should be sitting around.. I'd like to put sand in one day but if I can't see the stuff under the sand its going to get messy and hard to tell where to clean. Should i just bite the bullet and put sand in anways?

I see that some have an amazing amount of coral in their tank and I was wondering how do they fit in there? When I go to the store the coral usually comes on a rock I do my research find where i should palce it in my tank and then rest it there.. But the mass amount of rock i bought to begin with is still empty.. there's the odd worm some sort of clam and a little bit of red and purple.. thats about it.. I know this isn't a simple question but how do you get it soo your live rock is full of life? Am i suppose to just slowly replace my giant rocks with little ones that i buy from the fish store with coral on it? It just seems like my tank is holding life but not producing it.

Marlin65 · #2 07-25-2008, 08:50 PM

I takes time and seeding with stuff that has live. Usually you will get stuff that comes with the corals and that will multiply your critters.
I cooked my rock so I had very little live to start, but added some good quality live rock and some seeder sand.
Not all rock that is cured has a lot of live on it. It all depends on how long it was out of the water and how it was cured at you LFS.
Try looking for a few small pieces that have stuff on it you will be amazed at how quick you have lots of like.

Sean · #3 07-25-2008, 09:28 PM

Yeah, I think i will do that.. I don't want to rush out and spend lots of money on many types of coral as i'm still learning. its not fair for the coral or my wallet hehehe. ill try and snoop around the local fish stores for some rocks with life on it. I really hate going into the store and asking for their help.. I just never know if I'm being highballed or not.

...

fishoholic · #4 07-25-2008, 09:38 PM

We started off with a lot of rock too. The trick is to buy frags, small pieces of corals either free standing or attached to small plugs. You then can glue (using reef safe glue) the coral or frag plug onto your existing live rock. After awhile the coral will grow/attach itself to the rock.

All of the larger corals in my tank (2 years ago) started off as small frags, mostly from other canreef members for good prices. Check out my signature links for pictures. FYI frag plugs are much easier to attach then free standing corals, and yes with time the coral will over grow the ugly plug

*Edit added info.

We use a turkey baster to blow detritus off the rock and off of the bottom of our BB tank. Our sand sifting goby keeps our sand bed clean (in our other tank) and our skimmer does the rest.

petzoo · #5 07-26-2008, 06:55 AM

I find that it helps to storm the tank every couple of weeks or so. For small tanks you just put your hand in and gently make some current to get some of the debris off of your rock. A small submersible pump with some filter floss on the intake strainer afterwards removes an amazing amount of gunk. I find that this also helps your coraline algae to spread as it is not choked out by the fine silt that acumulates on your rocks.