base rock

[Smonkey15]

i have a 90 gallon tank. if i jsut start off with base rock for now, about 90 pounds of it, will it carry my bioload? i mean, will the bacteria be able to migrate to it or can the bacteria only migrate to something if it is physically touching what they are already on. the reason i ask is that i have a poor-at-best hob filter and i'm trying to get rid of that piece of crap but have other plans for my money right now. so if i put in 90 lbs base rock in for now until i can afford some live rock will the bacteria from the hob filter be able to make its way to the base rock? thanks
steve

 

[steve-s]

How big is the bioload?

Bacteria does not limit itself to just your HOB. It colonizes just about any surface in the tank. Glass, equipment and substrate. The rock will eventually become live but it will not happen overnight. Since there has been no introduction of fuana, you may also wish to seed the rock and sand as well to help things along until some LR can be added. This can be done by adding sand from an established tank (careful they have never used copper), a detrivor kit or Grunge.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Smonkey15]

i am just wondering, i will be putting in a sump in a month here and will eliminate my hob filter. so if i get some base rock in there i should be able to eliminate the hob without having to re-cycle my tank? and how long should i wait after i put in the base rock before taking the hob off? or does the hob even play a critical role besides circulation? and how much does grunge or a ditrivor kit speed up the process? also, i have 80 lbs. or the larger arogonite sand and i put in 10 lbs. of live sand about 6 months ago. does that mean my whole sand bed is seeded? is my lava rock seeded too? i probably have much more bacteria in my tank than i actually realized. sorry, lots of questions. thanks
steve

 

[Smonkey15]

oh also, does the lava rock i bought from petco work as base rock? i really like the color of it and it would be nice if i could just keep it in there instead of replacing it with grey base rock from hirocks.com. thanks
steve

 

[steve-s]

Without knowing your bio-load it's hard to say when the media from the HOB can be removed. I would honestly think you could easily get away with removing it in a few weeks if not sooner after the base rock is implemented. I did not realize you had all the "extra's" and as I said the HOB will not be the primary source for the bacteria.

What I mean by "seeding" refered moreso to actual critters not the bacteria. Small animal life like amphipods, copepods, mysid shrimp, worms and the like. They will all contribute to a healthier tank. If none of the things you have added thus far contain these things, you would do well to look into it. The LS that many places sell is primarily wet sand that is claimed to have nitrifying bacteria or even in rarer circumstances actual aniamls. After 6 mo., the 10 lbs of additional LS will have colonized the dead base sand by now.

The lava rock will basically do much the same thing as what you will get from other sources. I would just urge caution on it's use as it can sometimes leach impurities into the water. The stuff you have now would have done it by now so so not worry about it.


Cheers
Steve