live rock acclimation?

[pph_2ppr]

I bought some live rock today and was wondering if there is an acclimation process or if i can just dump it in and all the bacteria will be fine?

 

[MommaFishels]

It depends. Is it fully cured? If it is not fully cured, you definitely want to cure it. If you don't, it will cause your ammonia to spike. It will cause the same thing as a cycle.

If it is fully cured, you can add it to the tank but be aware, there might be some creatures that you don't want in your tank such as mantis shrimp. They say before you add it to your tank, put it in a trashcan, mix up water to the salinity tune of 1.040 and let it soak for 1 minute. It will drive all creatures out of the rock and you can do away with whatever creatures you don't want. You can also take a red light and look at night and see what's crawling around.

 

[pph_2ppr]

the pieces i got were relatively small so i dont think that i should have many if any problems with pests(but i could be wrong, i usually am when it comes to keeping a saltwater tank haha) i have a red light that i will check out my tank with tonight, hope its interesting.

i just dumped the rock into the aquarium, i think i saw a dying bristle worm on it...

 

[Sadielynn]

If there is nothing in your tank such as corals or fish you should have no problem placing it right in with out any acclimation/qt . If your tank is already established you will want to QT to look for nasties that could be there .... as said you could do a hyper dip but qt will just require a ph and heater ... As for the feather duster no it should beable to pull out what it needs from the tank . If it is a small feather duster the larger ones that you see for sale should not be added to a tank that is less than 4 months old IMHHO

 

[pph_2ppr]

the bristle worm i saw appears to be dead, if theres 1 that i have seen there is bound to be more hiding? are they something to get rid of?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Bristle worms are perfectly fine. I consider mine part of my clean up crew, and they do a great job. The "bad" ones are quite rare, and normally only show up on Caribbean rock, if I remember correctly.

 

[lando]

IF the LR was cured and your tank is cycled, then bacteria should be preserved provided the transport time was short and rock remained wet. Hitch-hikers on LR are always a concern (especially bad ones). If this was bought at the LFS as Fiji, Tonga, or Marshal Island LR you should be okay. Marine-cultured LR such as "Florida" or "Carribean" LR will tend to have more of the bad hitch-hikers on it.

 

[pph_2ppr]

it was sold as fiji live rock from paradise cove pets in Bellevue, from what iv'e heard it is a pretty reliable store. since there is no significant algae how do i get my hermit crabs to eat the dried seaweed? im thinknig about putting a small piece hanging out from my magnet glass cleaner, but how do i get them to find it?

 

[MommaFishels]

If you are leaving your lights on for 12 hours, that should create some diatoms. If you do hang seaweed on your magnet, put it at the very bottom.

 

[Sadielynn]

Eh you dont need to feed them seaweed , they will forage for food from your fish feedings . How old is your tank ?
Do you have fish ? If not you can feed them a couple sinking fish pellets as hermits are not totally grazers they will feed on what ever they can find to eat

 

[pph_2ppr]

The tank is only about a month old with around 20 lbs of live rock. 4" live sand bed. and 2 damsels that i would like to switch off for a clown or goby

 

[Sadielynn]

You would be wise to get rid of both damsels as they will make it hard to add any fish in the future as they are territorial .. The crabs will eat what ever is left over fromt he fish feedings , anything more you are risking adding addtional NitrAtes , phosphates which in turn can cause algea blooms , that are difficult to get ahold on once they get a foothold

 

[pph_2ppr]

i dont know of anywhere i could take the damsels, but i dont know if i should just pop them off. i put in a small 1/4 by 1/2 piece of dry seaweed, i hope that wasn't too much.

 

[Sadielynn]

You may be able to return them to the pet store ....as for the seaweed you really dont have any grazers that will utlize it ... Try flake or pelleted food

 

[pph_2ppr]

how do i know if the fish are being underfed?

 

[Sadielynn]

Just watch their belly area as it will look sunken in . If you feed a few pellets every other day you would not likely under feed , the crabs will forage from the scraps . I feed my guys twice a week the rest they forage for and have stayed plump and happy .For the crabs I toss in a few on the oposite side of the tank for them to sink. I have found that they seem to be just as active as they were when fed 2 x a day however most feed every other day and there guys are happy and healthy....most have had thier fish long term ....

 

[pph_2ppr]

right now i feed them frozen brine shrimp and they devour it extremely fast (15 seconds) they always appear to want more....should i feed them enough so it takes them about a minute to get it cleaned up?

 

[Sadielynn]

Fish are adept beggers . They will always beg. Ours will zoom to the top even if they were just fed.
Also try either a pellet, flake or mysis food as brine is nutritionally deficent ...
Rule of thumb is never feed more than they can eat in 2 minutes , I like feeding a small pinch , wait and feed a small pinch so it ends up being 3 or4 small pinches , takes all of 5 minutes to feed and its funny to watch too ..

 

[pph_2ppr]

lol sounds like a good idea, what pellets do you think would be the best for small damsels? ive been checking out some sites and found what appear to be good products...

 

[Sadielynn]

I use 2 diffrent ones bioblend marine food small pellets omega one marine pellets they really like the marineland bioblend foods (purple cap ) Not sure if they still make it tho I have not needed to buy it in 3 years LOL with the varitiy that we feed and as little as we feed