Seeding Dry Rock

[Henry405]

I am about to start on a second SW tank and since I did not use any dry rock on my first tank, I have a few questions about seeding.


1. When stacking the rocks, does the LR need to be on top or does it not matter.

2. I've read about how seeding would take a few weeks to a couple months, but does that mean the cycle will be that long? or does it mean that the dry rock wont be considered LR until then.

3. When using both LR and dry rock, do I cycle like normal and start adding live stock when the cycle is done, or do I have to wait until seeding is complete?

thanks in advance for all the advices.

 

[carey]

When I have mixed live and base rock I try to get the LR to be touching some of the base, maybe not necessary but you can actually see the stuff start growing and the pods start moving to it too.

You would cycle like normal, the base rock will give off no bad things like ammonia so you just have to wait for your LR to cycle.

I believe after a few weeks the base is considered "live" but months before you can actually see it I think. I put in base rock a few weeks ago and it's looking almost like my lr, even some coralline spreading onto it.

 

[mr_X]

what exactly are you wanting to seed the rock with? coralline algae? if so, you'll see it when it's on the new rock. bacteria will cover all the surface area in your tank in a few weeks to a month (the amount of time it takes to cycle any new tank). i would consider this live at that point. with or without the live rock pieces this will happen.

 

[Henry405]

I wanted to know about the bacteria, thanks for the responses everyone