New live rock

[stan450z]

ok i think i am ready. i have been soaking my live rock i got from somebody elses tank in some saltwater. My LFS didnt have the sand I wanted (just 1 20lb bag), and wont be available until Friday or so. Only have a yellow tang, and 3 small damsels, plus crabs, etc.

What should I do next?

I am planning to remove the rock and substrate (crushed coral) from my tank right now and put my live rock in the tank.

What should I do with my fish? Should I take them out while I am aquasculpting? And for how long? Is it ok to have my rock in there without sand first?

Also how much sand do I need?

I dont want a really deep sand bed. About enough to maybe be seen in the front glass Maybe about 2 inches for now. I have a 75g tank.

I am getting Moonlight SAnd by CaribSea. I will check the other LFS and see if they have it. Help guys..

 

[melosu58]

If it was me I would put the sand in first to keep from accidentally droping a rock on the bottom glass and cracking it. Have you cured your LR.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ock--I-didnt-even-know-it-was-sick/Page1.html

 

[stan450z]

rock is fine will add a little sand with a funnel and long tube.

did a calculation and got 60 lb of sand. should be enough for now. could always add more.

Too hard to catch the damsels so I left them in there as well as the crabs.

I took my tang out and put him in about a 20 gallon rubber maid container with the original tank water. Any idea how long i can leave him in there? I left him overnight since I didn't completely finish my assembly late last night. So it will be no more than 24 hours by the time i finish everything today. Hope he will be ok...

 

[thincat]

Have you run a cycle on your tank?
Fish? how long have you had them in the tank?

 

[Zer0]

Well as long as your heater is in the container, and you have at least one powerhead to keep the flow going i think he would be fine for 24 hours. He may be a little stressed, but im sure that will clear up when he gets back into the new tank. Just make sure the water temp stays the same, theres flow, and theres no nitrites and i think you will be fine. But just to ensure you dont huirt or kill him, i would say get him into the main tank where everything is good ASAP. If you left the damsels in there, then why didnt you just leave the tang in there? Might have been better off that way. JMO

 

[stan450z]

My tank has been running for 7 months and is completly cycled, the fish for nearly 5 or 6 months. Then I took out my substrate and adding this new live rock that came straight out of an established tank. Out of water for not even 1 hour.

Water temp if fine, just worried for him running out of air. Fish get shipped in boxes for nearly 1 or 2 days, i think he will be ok. I'm not even moving the fish around like they do in shipping, and he has lots of room for a clean, stress free, temporary place. I knew the water would be cloudy and a mess, so I thought this was the best stress free way for him. I couldn't even catch the damsels, it was too hard, and they are only a few bucks so I didnt care.

I will put him in the new tank ASAP, as soon my rock is set up, and the water has been running for a while in my tank. I can add the sand with a funnel and long tube with the guys in the tank, no mess.

Cant wait to post before and after pictures.

PS - how should live rock smell? Some had a few purple mushroom corals on them, and I hope they survived the trip, or else I'll toss that rock. It smells kind of milky?

 

[stan450z]

Update: I noticed, some of the rocks have a little bit of a goo on them, while others are just fine. A few of the mushroom corals almost look melted and has this same type of goo. Should I throw this rock out? Some of this goo looks like has dripped onto the bottom of the tank and looks like brand new mushrooms? Whats going on?

 

[jessicasmarine]

pics? theres a lot of potential "goo" in an AQ

 

[stan450z]

sorry for the bad pics, but its with my camera phone, and tank is a bit of a mess too.

i may just throw it out, maybe the smell is from this, and they dont look all that great right now. Looks like crap. My roomate said it looks like somebody sneezed on a rock, lol.

 

[panza]

i would avoid keeping the fish in the tank while aqua scaping for that can creat a ton of stress and you never know if youll drop a rock and it impales the poor guy =/ just the next time you do a watter change put the fish in the water you cyphen out do your aqua scaping and place them back in the tank. be as careful as possible not to crack the glass though.. who wants 75 gallons of water all over the floor? or a wasted fish tank



good luck!!!!

 

[mdaniel2882]

Completely changing the substrate in you tank is a big deal. you will probably see some die off from the LR. watch your water. I would test at least everyday and always be ready for a water change. you will probably be doing a few of them with fish in the tank.

 

[stan450z]

yea that purple mushrooms reaked! they must be dying. i took the rock with that on it out and it was like purple slime coming out in lines! i had the rock in seperate containers, the container with this crap, i am getting rid of. yuck! the water was drained halfway, and now i filled with new saltware and letting that run with powerhead and skimmer to clean it out!

 

[stan450z]

AN UPDATE AND SICK FISH POST:

wanted to post some pics for everybody, and my progress. BEFORE and AFTER.

The best of my live rock is in, sculpted to my satisfaction, and the water is now cleared up! I put the protein skimmer to suck out of the main portion of the tank for now to help with the cleaning, as i did when i first got my skimmer before putting it into the sump permanently, which i will do soon. Does wonders.

Heres my concern thus far. I told everyone i kept all the fish in the tank while removing my substrate, and adding my new live rock. Except for my yellow tang. He is the one I wanted to save, only one i could catch, and only one i was concerned about taking away from the stress of the mess of adding new rock, cloudy water, and rock assembly. Had my fish with original tank water in a 20 gallon rubbermaid, kept it in a somewhat dark area, keeping good water temp, etc. He stayed in for about 24 hours before I was done with the sculpting and thought it would be best to take him out of the box already. I checked on him every once in a while to make sure he was still doing ok, and each time i peeked i saw him swimming just fine as when i first put him in.

It took me 24 hours because i started this addition at 9pm on a weeknight, stayed up till 2 messing around, went to bed got ot work and did it again for the next evening.

When I went to grab Mr. Tang he was swimming ok, but turning sideways. I was scared, hoped he wasnt dead or on the verge of death. Everytime i stirred up the water a little he came back to upright postion. Maybe he was just trying to look at me? I had the top covered a little to avoid bright lights.

Then I thought maybe he just got oxygen deprived for being in water for that long, but I dont understand since some people ship fish in boxes for a few days and they come out ok.

I put him in with the tank lights OFF after i finished sculpting and i was ready for bed. He started floating sideways again until i saw he positioned himself normally. The next morning he was nowhere to be seen. I figure hiding in the rock. By late afternoon, about 18 hours in the tank, I saw him, hiding in a cavernous area behind the rock, at about a 45 degree angle, breathing heavily. Now he swims normally all about the tank (near the bottom) but breathing heavily, flapping his fins very quickly, and his nose is tilted up a little. Doesnt swim as frantically as it did before the change.

I added 50% new water at the time during live rock sculpture. Pics of water at completion of my sculpture, then 24 hours later as well as my poor tang. Also starting off with a picture of my tank before what I have now.

Have yet to add my sand. I have moonlight sand. Very white and pretty. I wanna give my tang another day or two to feel better before i stick add new sand.

 

[thincat]

I think the tang will be okay. They ship fish using pure O2. That is why they can use less water. Tangs lay flat when under stress. The only thing to watch is that he don't come down with "ich". Tangs are famous ich magnets. Other then that you should be good to go.
Tank looks good too...

 

[stan450z]

Thanks! That is very interesting. I have never seen a tang completely flat like that! I was sure I had killed it! I have seen it a little angled, but just to hide and fit behind my rock but never flat, flat like a pancake!

Yes its getting acquainted quite well, actually! Very out in the open and I'm sure my fish love the new live rock than the crap I had in there before! Mr. Tang looks to be swimming like a special olympics rowing team tho, staying kind stationary and flapping its fins more than usual. I think it may have been roughed up a little from the net I used to grab him.

Will also check my water parameters and make sure i have freq water changes to make sure my water stays ok since I know I may have issues because of so much new stuff. I do suspect the die off to be next to none, since my transport was so quick.

Got the calcium and alk supplements for my LR, and the addition of prime which also did wonders for the water in my old tank setup!

What do you guys think of my rock arrangement? I wanted something not too filled with rock, as to where you can barely have a sand bed or room for fish to swim, but also not too little where it looked empty.

Now the challenge begins tomorrow of putting in the sand!

 

[thominil]

Tank looks great! I would just watch some of those pieces of rock as they don't look as stable in the pics as they may actually be.

 

[thincat]

+1 as Thom said, Think of your rockwork as a formation that will allow water to flow completlely around your Aq. It looks pretty good just chk to see if you have it stable and you should be fine.

 

[stan450z]

thanks for the input. I took a good amount of time - maybe 2-3 hours to place the rocks so they would fit tightly and not move unless you gave it a big nudge. What you might not see is that there is a internal overflow where I wedged the rock into that corner quite well. Can people really have their glass cracked because of falling rock? Most of the pieces fit like a puzzle despite the vertical gaps which provide some nice little cave effects, and room for tunnels.

The bottom rocks are placed more in the middle and the top rocks are stacked up and towards the back of the tank (an angled wall effect) so the stability is good and the top rocks cant really tumble forward, esp once i put in the sand the bottom would be more stable.


Somebody told me, A wall that just goes straight up the back of the tank will not hold corals as well as a stepped type structure. I am looking to add corals by winter time.


TWO QUESTIONS that come to mind:

1. I use PRIME to treat my water. Is this safe for live rock + coralline algae, corals.
2. Isnt there a type of glue that you can use to glue the rocks together for , that can be applied underwater? I thought I saw this in a store, for people to glue frags onto their live rocks..

Thanks guys.

 

[thincat]

The rocks are more likely to crack your tank if the tank is not level on it's stand.
1) prime is reef saf
2) You can use two types of glue
a) superglue gel
b) reef safe Epoxy Putty

 

[stan450z]

thanks. ill stop by the store tomorrow, i remember seeing it.

also, added about 50 of the 60 pounds of sand which was plenty.

of course a little cloudy, but should be fine by morning.

the tang i have been constantly worried about is doing very well. looks like the fish absolutly love the new natural habitat. cant wait to add more soon!