LR

[RandyRhoads]

I'm curious how to "seed" live rock. I have a 25gal with 1 8 pound live rock. I want to buy base rock because of my budget. How much should I buy? How do I seed it and how long will it take? How do you know it was succesful and it is now "live" (what visually makes it LR?)

 

[Sniperhank]

For a 25 gal tank, you want about 25 lbs of LR. The rock will become live through the cycle. It being live truely talks about the bacteria living on it that makes sure the ammonia and nitrites are consumed as they are produced. When you buy live rock, it means that it has been alive for some time and probably will be covered in different hitch hikers like worms, crabs, coral...whatever. Some are good, some are bad.

You will be able to tell that it is live by testing your water as you cycle your tank. So, if you don't have it already you will need a test kit. For ammonia/nitrite/nitrate purposes, an API master test kit will do nicely.

 

[RandyRhoads]

So it will become "live" once my tank has finished cycling? I already cycled it, so if I add the base rock in now, it will just take the length of time the cycle did to become "live"? Is an 8 pound live rock enough to seed the other 17 pounds of base rock i'm going to put in? Do the rocks have to be touching? Do I need to somehow "cure" the base rock before putting it in to seed?

 

[Sniperhank]

If it is just plain base rock then nothing can die off. Just toss it all in the tank. It will become live over time. They don't have to touch or anything, just make youself a nice rockscape you are happy with and let nature do its thing.

If the rock will have die off, then you need to cure it. This is basically tossing it all in a large container with saltwater, heater, and pump and cycling that container. This will prevent the die off from happening in your tank and killing livestock. The die off from the rock will be enough of an ammonia source to finish the process.

Only question remaining is what type of rock this is. Base rock is another name for macro rock, which was never alive and never under water. If this is what you are getting, just toss it in.

 

[RandyRhoads]

Ok so the curing process is just letting the die off happen outside of the tank to avoid a spike. I will go buy good quality base rock friday.

What time period am I looking at for it to be up and runnign at full capacity like store bought cured LR?