How long for live rock to seed dry

[vanreefer]

Originally Posted by vanreefer

I am looking for the amount of time these pieces of LR need to be in the tank in order for the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to be present in the water and rock. I plan to leave the tank without fish corals etc while the rock matures thinking a few months. I plan to either ghost feed or add another ammonia source during this time to foster the bacterial population. Any thoughts on my plan are welcomed
Cheers
VR

Oh and then turn the LED lights on 😋

[Reefer Rob]

From my experience with the 3 tanks I started this way, for fish you don't have to do anything different than you would with live rock, as long as you're seeding with live rock. Just start with a small bio-load and slowly work your way up. The rock colonizes with bacteria quite quickly, I never had a problem with ammonia nitrite or nitrate.

For corals you will likely have to wait until the PO4 drops before you can give them enough light. Especially with the last tank, the dry rocks were always covered in algae, while the live rock I seeded with had no growth.

[vanreefer]

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

From my experience with the 3 tanks I started this way, for fish you don't have to do anything different than you would with live rock, as long as you're seeding with live rock. Just start with a small bio-load and slowly work your way up. The rock colonizes with bacteria quite quickly, I never had a problem with ammonia nitrite or nitrate.

For corals you will likely have to wait until the PO4 drops before you can give them enough light. Especially with the last tank, the dry rocks were always covered in algae, while the live rock I seeded with had no growth.

Thanks Rob
The rocks I'm using were live before I bleached and double acid dipped them... So I'm hopeful there will be little PO4 issues...