tank sterilization help plz

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by fishytime

if there are no problems with the LR, then "I" would just find a few larger interesting pieces of good live rock and use the smaller pieces you have to fill it in....ditching all the LR for dry rock is a problem waiting to happen....it could take months before dry rock is able to sustain a tankful of fish(even if you "seed" it with live..... there is NO substitute for good live rock IMO

I agree with not ditching all your live rock if it is pest free. I recently went through the mixing dry rock/live rock experience, with no problems.

I added a 2nd tank downstairs (and it was bigger than my exisitng DT) last year, so I obviously needed a lot more rock. I decided to give the marco dry rock a try. I first rinsed it as best I could, and then I filled a spare tank with it along with some live sand, and let it sit for a couple months. I then rinsed it again, and started adding it to both tanks, while moving more live rock and sand from my DT to my new downstairs tank.

I monitored all parameters very carefully, and the process took several months. In fact, with the original DT tank, both my N03 and P04 dropped during that time. I do run both bio pellets and GFO, so of course that had a lot to do with it. But today, that tank has had zero nitrates and near zero phosphates for quite some time now. And growing SPS like crazy...

Of course, using all live rock is the quickest and best, if you can afford it, and it is guaranteed to be pest free. But dry rock does work, if you do it slowly and carefully together with live rock.