introducing liverock in a tap water started tank?

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Mach

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
Messages
47
Location
New York
Hey Everyone,

What are your thought about adding liverock to a tank started up with tap water. My tank has been up and running for over 2 weeks. The initial tank filling was filled with tap water. I plan on using RO water for my water changes in the future. I was looking at keys rock from liverocks.com and was thinking of ordering 40lbs of it. But Mike from Liverocks.com suggested that the rock from the Keys would not do well due to the tap water. He suggested base rock instead but also told me it does not look as pleasing as the key rock.

Anyone ever introduce live rock into a tank with tap water? What should I do?

Thanks,
Anthony
 
I still use tap water and I have 45lbs of Fiji and 60lbs FL rock. Tap water normally promotes unwanted algae growth but works for me. I do plan on an RO/DI unit in the future but it is not in the budget yet.
 
thanks ellisz,

You just made me a happy man. Hopefully someothers have had good results like you. This way it would be easier for me to make my decision
 
I started my first tank with trated tap water and had no significant issues. Just be sure you use a quality dechlorinator to treat it, and if at all possible have the water mixed and well aged before introducing the LR. At least 3-4 days, IMO.
 
Test your water (from the tap) for phosphate & nitrate levels. If levels are low to none & the water in your tank is declorinated and running for a few weeks, then I would give it a try.
 
That's how I started my first tank. Dumped in the sand, added tap water, added salt, stir. Then I added some LR, and cycled the tank with shrimp as well. In retrospect, maybe I didn't need the shrimp.

About the only problem I had was a massive diatom bloom. After the tank cycled I added ten hermits and they cleaned up the problem in about two weeks.

But now I use RO water only for top-offs and water changes.
 
I started my tank woth tap water as well.....don 't be suprised if you have an algea bloom thought...after using ro water for water changes and top off's for a while, you will have no more tap water in the tank and your algea problems will not be as bad
 
I started out my tank straight from the hose. I figured that I would do enough water changes with "good" water so I didn't worry that much.
 
I am just like the rest.. Started with treated tap water and have added nothing but RO since with great success.. As for adding the rock .. If you have no fish I would say Add away go nuts now is the time for it cause once you get your tank going you have to be careful when adding rock as not to have an ammonia spike due to die off or what have you. Just note that this may cause your tank to start it's cycle all over but really as I said above now is a good time for that. If you add it and cause a recycle later you are gonna be in a world of hurt fish wise.. Also base rock is just essentially dead rock.. it does not have the little organisims that we are all so crazy about.. Nor does it have the filtering properties.. If it truley is good rock he is sending there will be die off but it will come back in time..

Doan


Doan
 
Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I will be adding liverock to my tank.

Doan - Are you saying that I should order all my live rock now? I was thinking about 40lbs now, and more in the future.

And also, how much liverock should i put in? Its a 90g tank

thanks,
Anthony
 
If you are just starting your tank and you have no fish in it now, I would recommend getting all your LR now. That way you can use it to help cycle the tank. When you get the LR there will be some die off, so you will have to "cure" it. The curing process will set off alot of ammonia and is toxic to fish and other living things. Getting it all first will help your whole tank cycle. If you chose to add some later, you would have to be sure it was cured or cure it yourself in a container before you add it to your tank so you don't have an ammonia spike and kill everything in your tank. :wink:
 
The more live rock the better. I would add at least 100 lbs, but you dont need to add that right away because the cost may be prohibitive. I have heard that you should add 1.5 lbs of live rock per gallon, but I have never really found this out to be true. The more live rock you add, the more bio load your tank can take. So, depending on what you eventually want to keep, that will determine how much you should add. If you want to take it slow, then 40 is a great start. Just add slowly and make sure that any new rocks you add are fully cured. I had a 40 gallon tank that I used to cure base rock. I would cure it for a few months, checked the level in the curing tank and then added the rock when the parameters were right on the money.
 
I would get all the rock you need now...for a 90 gal , i think the minimun you would mneed is about 180lbs. If you get it all now, it will help your tank cycle and you won't have to worry about ammonia spikes if you were to add more later. It will also be easier to deal with any unwanted hitchhikers if there are no fish in the tank. :wink:
 
Hey guys, with the talk of "unwanted hitchhikers", what kind of unwanted hitchhikers do you usually end up with in LR and what harm do they do?
 
My guess would be Mantis shrimp, pistol shrimp, tons of bristle worms....some types of crabs....not to sure though... :|
 
The general rule is 1-1.5 lbs or rock per gallon .... but yeah you may want to just get this out of the way and buy it all now if it is feesable.. But yeah put it all in now before the fish..

Doan
 
contact your local water district, they are required by law to provide you with an analysis of the tap water coming to you home. it will list all the stuff that is in it, chlorine, phosphates, metals, hardness -everything. you may be pleasantly suprised at how good your water is (hopefully). Mine is so good that I don't need RO/DI, just a de-chlorinator.
 
I have about 3 lbs of LR in a 70 gallon we just set up at work. I have ordered 40 lbs from Liverocks.com and since it is the Keys rock I was not worried about putting it in all at once... We only have two fish but should I worry about putting the rock in all at once.. I really thought we'd be ok???
 
I started my 46 gal tank a month ago with tap. Added live bacteria and only 15 lbs of live rock, I let all that settle down a bit, then added 2 clowns (w/anemone that they were glued to @ the LFS,) 3 damsels... Two casualties so far, one of my clowns :cry: , and the anemone :cry: :cry: . I made the mistake of listening to employees at the store that knew very little more then I did.. lesson learned (found another store.) Only other problem so far is rather high phosphate level.

To combat the high phosphate I purchased a product called No_Phos.. my NEW LFS store recommend it. Between the no-phos and standard water changes, phosphate level is down to reasonable.. BUT.. I was reading earlier that anything other then water changes to bring the level down can be hazardous to the tank.. Anyone have any experience with this product, or any comments on my remedy for the phos level?

BTW, about the Keys rock... I had the opportunity to talk to Ron over the weekend from www.liverocks.com They were in the keys harvesting LR.. from what Ron said this harvest is awesome... I learned about them through this forum.. I was about ready to take the 4 hour drive and get the pick of the harvest.. unfortunately the timing for me did not work out. These guys do seem genuine and were very helpful. Hopefully soon I will be able to get the deal of the day (no shipping) when I drive over to pick up the LR. May your tanks prosper, WildFlower
 
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