Need advice on buying Live Rock.

[ragunnaath]

Hello All,

I', new to this fourm and this is my first post. Hoping to get some expert advice and guidance on my venture to convert my FW aquarium to a SW one.

I currently have a 110g FW tank with a variety of Cichlids. I'm looking at converting the tank to Salt Water one. I'm getting the equipment and accessories for the project.

I have a Dolphin external Canister Filter in place, have procured the Sump and Skimmer (ViaAqua). The sump is custom made from a 30G aquarium tank and is designed to house Bio Balls, Live Rock and Sand for Bio Filtering.

Now, in my hunt for Live Rock, I came accross a contact who has a friend who has had a SW aquarium with Live Rock, however, all the fishes in the tank have died recently due to lack of care. He is looking at selling his setup and is willing to part away with the Live Rock and Substrate.

Can someone advice me if I can go ahead and buy the Live Rock? I'm concerned as the tank as been under bad care and would this affect the quality of the Live Rock. Also the Skimmer and Filteration has been turned off since the death of the fishes.

Can I get this rock and have them cured in my tank. Is is safe to do so? In India, its really difficult to find people who sell Live Rock as its against government rules. Someone please adivce on how to go about this.

Thank you!

Regards,
Ragu

 

[Smitty]

I'm not a salt water person (yet) but I would say go for it. You will want to be very carefull in transferring it while still wet to help prevent anything from dieing and PLEASE don't add any fish right away because if it was a poorly run tank then it is possible there will be die off on the live rock as well. You will want to keep an eye on all the levels of the tank, especially ammonia. If nothing else, it should really help with doing the cycling of a new tank.

Also, I don't think that you need any bio balls with a saltwater tank, the live rock will do that for you and the bio balls may create additional problems.

 

[monocus]

live rock

i wouldn't use a canister filter-sumps are better-quaranten your live rock for a couple of weeks and test every week-with a dieoff it could affect your rock-i use bio balls at the begining of my sump before my skimmer then i have a refuguim,bubble dispersers and finaly a return

 

[kdogg85]

Go for the rock. Check for any kind of cyano(slime algae). Get a test kit, api is a good brand. Also, get new sand because trying to use old sand will just cause headaches. Most everyone here will tell you to get dry aragonite sand. The live rock will seed the sand. Do not waste your money on live sand because after it sets on a shelf forever it is not live anymore. Just set everything up, and let it run for a couple days with the live rock inside and then begin testing the water. After ammonia and nitrite hit zero(and stay there)and nitrates show up, you can add fish. Before you add a single fish to the tank, get a quarantine tank and put the fish in there first, this will help in checking for disease and preventing it from getting into the main tank.

 

[melosu58]

As far as the LR I would go for it. As long as it`s been in another tank and as long as it didnt go to long without an ammonia source the nitrifying bacteria on it should be OK.

 

[ragunnaath]

Thank you all for your prompt replies!

I'm going ahead with the LR as per your advice. I do not have a quarantine tank at the moment, but since I'm going to be starting with my exisiting 110g tank from scratch, my idea was to have the LR directly into the main tank and have the tank cycle without fishes until the Amonia and Nitrites are under control. What do you guys think about this? Is this a safe aproach?

With respect to the Canister filter, I wanted to keep it for two reasons, 1. I thought it might be an additional level of filteration. 2. I just purchased this filter a week ago for my FW tank and I have no heart to give it away.

I'm planning on buying the following type of substrate:
fresh 'n' marine aQuarium India
or
fresh 'n' marine aQuarium India

Any advice around this would be appreciated!

I'm going to inspect the LR today. Will update this thread on the outcome. Possibly will try to post pictures of the LR.

-Ragu