N00b..Live rock question

[Oceanicsublimat]

I know about buying stuff from LFS is generally bad, but I did because the guy up there is going to help me set up my tank..I have a 55 gal. and I bought a wet/dry sump and protein skimmer combo, I also bought the agri live sand and (I believe) 16 lbs of live rock..it had some clams on it so I thought that may be alright.. I do know that I overpayed, but figured since the guy will come help me set it all up that it would be ok.. now my question is this: How much more live rock should I buy to start off with? And would it hurt to wait until later to add more rock? BTW my next live rock will be bought online, I've seen mentioned liverocks.com and will probably get it from there.. Any advice would help.. Oh, I also bought this moonlight led light combo that has 3 different lights in it.. anyone heard of these?

 

[RMPD109]

Recommended amount of LR is 1.5-2lbs per gal. You need to remember that some can be in the wet/dry or sump. Also take into account that some corals will come attached to LR pieces. When purchasing LR online you can expect a spike as the shipping and storage cause some dieoff. As you said, definately LR.com. The rock they have is so fresh and held in proper tanks until overnight shipped to your door. Very little dieoff is seen with it. That being said I would get as much LR as possible at the start so the aquascaping and cycling is over.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

thanks for the response..I was looking on lr.com and noticed it had live base rock..the cheaper price at cost of coraline algae doesn't sound to bad.. but will the algae eventually grow on it? would this be a good way to go?

 

[cardinal]

u can use real cheap base rock just to sink in the sand...
and get maybe 40 pound of LR to put on top of the cheaper rock (the LR wont sink this way)...
The quicker you get all your LR in there ...the better...
more quantity the better (expensive...lol tell me about it)
worth it in the long run

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

ok.. so I have bought like 12 or 16 lbs of LR and I now need 40lbs more? or 40lbs plus the rock for underneath the sand? lol.. or can I just get by for the time being with 40 more lbs? I can wait to by fish, I'm patient, I can add more as I get more money saved.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

I just found hirocks.com. is this a good base rock? It seems cheaper than lr.com for base. thinking about 40lbs of keys from lr.com and 30lbs of base from hirocks.com. would this be enough for now?

 

[ellisz]

LR.com base rock is live base rock. It will have some coraline on it. Rock from Hirocks is dead rock. It is cheaper for that reason. The 16lbs you bought could be used to seed the Hirocks stuff but it will take longer.

Some have had good luck ordering from LR.com and not having die off. I had a batch that I added straight to the tank with no problems. This is a gamble though.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

thanks for all the advice... much to decide on here... 8)

 

[cardinal]

you can use any crappy rock to push in the sand...just use your quality rock above it)
Then again it also depends on how deep your sand is too )
u dont need a lot of base rock...just enuff to stop LR from sinkin anywhere...
30pound of base may be too much)
go to LFS and see wot cheap rock they have ? for base
good luck )
PS as for your LR..u dont need to get it all at once just buy it as you can afford it ,a ratio would be 1pound per 1.5 gallon

 

[mjvincent]

you can use any crappy rock to push in the sand...just use your quality rock above it)
Then again it also depends on how deep your sand is too )
u dont need a lot of base rock...just enuff to stop LR from sinkin anywhere...
30pound of base may be too much)
go to LFS and see wot cheap rock they have ? for base
good luck )
PS as for your LR..u dont need to get it all at once just buy it as you can afford it ,a ratio would be 1pound per 1.5 gallon

Ditto

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

Ok.. I talked to the guy at lr.com and I will prolly get about 40lbs of good rock and he said he would ship it with about 6lbs of base rock..

 

[cardinal]

sounds like a gr8 start

 

[Morticus]

a ratio would be 1pound per 1.5 gallon

That is a lot less lr than what most people recommend on this site, which is 1.5-2 lbs per gallon. With your numbers he would end up with 35lbs or so, with the recommended numbers he would end up with 80-110lbs.

 

[ellisz]

I would shoot for 1lb per gal minimum. You can add rock later but it is not always easy to re-aquascape and if it is mail order, you might have to cure the rock in a separate container due to die off.

With just fish it might be easy to just add rock later but with corals, it is a bit different. I would not wait too long. With 46lbs of LR(good and base), you could add some dead rock. This can be had for $1.00/lb or less. Whats another $20 It will be come live in a few months. It is not the coraline algae that makes it live, it just makes it pretty to look at.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

Ooook then.... so I need the 11 or so pounds that I bought from the pet store, the 46 from lr.com, then another 20lbs from hirocks.com? okie dokie..I want everything to be right so I'll do it.. now.. will I need to cure the rock from lr.com? or just pluck and plop?

 

[Morticus]

Pluck and plop. Live rocks from lr.com are fully cured, so it shouldn't start a new cycle.

 

[ellisz]

Key word there is shouldn't. You might see a small ammonia blip(I did) as long as the rock is shipped in a timely manner. When I got my stuff it smelled like it came from the ocean. I had fish and corals in the tank and it did not hurt anything.

If the shipment gets delayed or it smells bad(not likely) then you better cure it in another vessel. Use your best judgement. Better safe than sorry. Most people don't see a cycle with LR.som rock. Rock that comes from Fiji is another story.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

ok..kool.. I'm settin' up tomorrow(if my stuff get's in) and then I'll order my lr.. I'm gonna order hirock today so it'll be here.. do I just plunk dead rock in there or anything special? and then after my tank gets stabilized I'll put the lr in.. does this sound good? and it's a 30lb box from hirocks and gonna be 40lbs from lr.com and 11 from lfs

 

[ellisz]

You might need to rinse the stuff from hirocks off with fresh water. It might be dusty? You could just let the tank cycle with the dead rock and then when it is done add the LR.com rock. I would want to add it all at the same time but the LR.com rock might not induce a cycle and it will probably have a lot of life on it so you might not want it to cycle anyway.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

I"m a bit confused.. I was under the impression that I was cycling with the lr.com and lfs rock that I'm getting and that rock seeds the hirock.com rock..is this wrong?
the LFS rock is fiji rock I believe.. I don't want much of that stuff for fear of the high phosphate in it which causes algae to thrive..right?