do you need base rock?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

kelly0707

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
118
Location
Random Lake, WI
Probably a stupid question but do you need to have base rock? I have a 55 gallon tank and 65 pounds of live rock and no bse rock. What is base rock used for?
 
Base rock is used in new tanks with some live rock. It's just cheaper than live and will eventually become live when seeded by live rock. If you already have enough live rock there is no need for base rock.
 
What about for the bottom of the tank I have one bag of live sand that actually looked like sand and 2 bags of live sand that looked like crushed coral? Is that fine?

Just trying to learn as much as I can I have had my tank up for about 2 months now
 
I'd remove the crushed coral. It makes for a horrible substrate (not sure why they sell it tbh). Overtime it traps organic compounds and becomes a nitrate factory. I'd remove the CC and use sand (live or not, doesn't matter).

Have you cycled your tank yet? Here's a good article to read in case you haven't:
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
 
No it shouldn't cycle again. With such a young tank, you shouldn't have much debris to move around.
 
can you add base rock to an already established tank (2 year old tank in process of mini cycle due to substrate change ), but dont plan on adding until mini cycle is finished or do i need to wait for the mini cycle to finish before the base rock is added? If so how much at what rate? I want to add more rock to my tank and base rock is cheaper.
 
Depends on the size of the tank and the amount you want to add. What's your tank size and how much rock do you have in it currently and how much do you want to add?
 
its a 75gal with i think about 50lbs but im not sure due to all the rock being given to me and never been weighed so it is an educated guess and i would like to add another 50lbs of base rock. If i have to add it over a long period of time thats fine i just dont know how long that period would be.
 
I've always just rinsed and added any base rock. It doesnt seem to matter if you have alot of live rock or anything like that. Every couple months I add like 50lbs to my 125g so that it can get seeded and get covered in purple then I move it to another tank. :)
 
Since base rock shouldn't contain much, if any, organic matter, it's pretty safe to add at any time. If you're unsure how clean it is, you could do a 10% bleach solution, then rinse with water and a dechlorinator until the smell is removed (and then two more times to be safe) but in general, most base rock can just have the dust rinsed off and plopped in like Carey said.
Her method for turning base to live for other tanks is also a great plan, if you ever want a second tank.
 
Back
Top Bottom