Cycling rock in Gulf of Mexico

[MeCasa]

I'm well versed on fresh water cycling but I'm reading that a well balanced reef does best with a larger variety of bacteria which can be brought in by various sources (most of them involving expensive rock)

Can I put my rock in crab traps and lower it in the gulf/bay for a month?

Can I use fresh water media to seed a salt tank?

The tank is a 210

 

[Mebbid]

I don't see why you couldn't keep the rock in crab traps for a while. It would be interesting, you will have to let us know how much bb is added if you do that.

As for fresh water media, they are a different type of bacteria so wouldn't particularly work in salt water.

 

[MeCasa]

I'm giving this tank to my granddaughter for Christmas, if she decides to go salt water which I think she will because our water's ph is too high for a Discus tank and we already have a planted cichlid 150.

Then I'll definitely try using bacteria and water from the Gulf. That would be the perfect time because there will be NO high dollar livestock at risk. If it doesn't work, dump it out and start mixing.

 

[Brookster123]

Thought you needed ro/di for a reef tank? Ph of 7 is the target no??

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[Mebbid]

Thought you needed ro/di for a reef tank? Ph of 7 is the target no??

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I don't use ro/di for cycling rock, no you don't need ro di water. The primary benefit for that is prevention of algae.

In a salt water rank, the salt should buffer the ph to around 8.0 to 8.5.

 

[Brookster123]

As far as the actual water in the tank though? It can be tap? Tds meter needed?

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[PB_Smith]

I'm well versed on fresh water cycling but I'm reading that a well balanced reef does best with a larger variety of bacteria which can be brought in by various sources (most of them involving expensive rock)

Can I put my rock in crab traps and lower it in the gulf/bay for a month?

Can I use fresh water media to seed a salt tank?

The tank is a 210

in answer to the first question, yes you can.
Is it the wisest thing, No.
You run a very good chance of introducing unwanted pests/parasites into the tank. Most often "live rock" collected from the ocean is allowed to "die off" for a few days and then they are cured so that die off can decay and the rock get better populated by BB.
It can be done, but I would advise against it.


in answer to your second question, no, the salt will kill the bacteria colonies.

 

[Mebbid]

in answer to the first question, yes you can.
Is it the wisest thing, No.
You run a very good chance of introducing unwanted pests/parasites into the tank. Most often "live rock" collected from the ocean is allowed to "die off" for a few days and then they are cured so that die off can decay and the rock get better populated by BB.
It can be done, but I would advise against it.


in answer to your second question, no, the salt will kill the bacteria colonies.

The only die off from live rock is through shipping. The rock is kept wet to preserve as much life on it as possible which would include any parasites.

I agree that live rock should be quarantined, but if the chances were good of adding a parasite or other nasty to the tank, we would see more problems with it.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

As far as the actual water in the tank though? It can be tap? Tds meter needed?

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You can, but I'd highly recommend against it. Unless you know exactly what's in your local water a tds meter isn't really going to help (you'll know something's there but not what it is). And IMO the money that goes into corals, an ro unit is cheap and the most valuable piece of equipment I own.

 

[MeCasa]

I think it's worth trying. I believe that some bad bacteria is a fact of life. in younger days i climbed the Himalayas and before every trip I consumed some vials of nastys to build my immunities before going 'in-country'

In the wild fish have built up against bad bacteria while in captivity they are protected with antibiotics the end result may be weak fish

However, fish...like humans will adapt