Newbie 55 set up with liverocks.com rock

[reefdiva]

Wanted to share the experience with everyone. I currently have 30 ibs base rock from a previous tank, bought a clam rock (LOOOOONG story) 5.25 ibs and added a few shrooms and zoos last week on 7 ibs rock. We also have 2 clowns. The tank has been up for a month and cycled with the base rock in 2 weeks. I believe that I will QT the LR.com rock and add it to the main tank when all is well. Been tempted to just put the rock in the main tank but I am to chicken to risk the things that are already in the tank.
I have 30 ibs BR, and 20 ibs Coral, 10 ibs KEYS coming today from LR.com.
Here is my set-up
55 gallon tank
50 ibs play sand (shhh!)
30 ibs of caribsea aragonite
10 ibs aragonite from an established tank
jebo 180 skimmer (I know, I know not best choice.)
This skimmer is rated for over 3 times my volume, and since we know there will be no where near 55 gallons in the tank with the rock sand etc I believe, hope and pray it will not cause me any troubles. Have yet to keep it adjusted correctly.
jebo compact lights, 48 inches, 2 actinic and 2 10k daylight with a total of 220 watts. I will later supplement with another strip light. Prob. MH
DIY fuge- I wanted a fuge instead of a sump because I would rather goodies get chopped up going in instead of out , used gravity for tank return. Might consider a sump later for added water volume. Running the lights on the fuge at night to help with ph.
2 4000 aquaclear ph, and a regent power head rated for a 50-60 gallon.
2 whisper heaters rated for 60-70 gallons tank.

DHL's website said that I am scheduled for AM delivery and that the rock is with the local carrier now. When the rock gets here I will list hitchhikers and pictures. Mike was the best with customer service I experienced while trying to make an educated decision about where to by the rock from and earned my good faith. Now lets see how the rock looks when it arrives , it's hard to wait lol

 

[zuzecawi]

I just ordered some coral rock too so I'll be very interested in seeing those pics!

 

[suthernsalt]

Let me know how your experience goes with live rocks.com. I thought about buying from them the other night, but shipping was going to be $50 on 10 pounds I think, I know it was a lot for this little amount of rock we were going to just try. So i'll let you tell me about how good the rock is or not.

 

[suthernsalt]

Let me know how your experience goes with live rocks.com. I thought about buying from them the other night, but shipping was going to be $50 on 10 pounds I think, I know it was a lot for this little amount of rock we were going to just try. So i'll let you tell me about how good the rock is or not.

 

[BDAWG]

Let me know how your experience goes with live rocks.com. I thought about buying from them the other night, but shipping was going to be $50 on 10 pounds I think, I know it was a lot for this little amount of rock we were going to just try. So i'll let you tell me about how good the rock is or not.

This is true. Shipping is quite expensive when only buying 10lbs, but I say from experience, it is well worth it. My LFS sells Figi lr for 5.00 a pound for 10lbs, but it only has a small amount of coralline and no hitchhikers. I spent 30 dollars more to buy from liverocks.com, and received some awesome hitchhikers (sea squirts, sponges, and something that resembles a bubble coral) and the rock is extensively covered in beautiful coralline. Once again, well worth the money if you ask me.

Plus the customer service is great!

 

[midiman]

Ditto what BDAWG said. I didn't get as many critters as I thought - at first - but now each day I'm seeing more and more things emerge - the number of small tube worms is cool, and there are things crawling around which I can't identify.

This pic is from the first day, and the lighting washed out much of the coralline color. If you want color, order Keys rock, if you want critters, order GUlf. My order was 25 lb KEys and 15 lb Gulf.

Best of all is the outstanding professionalism of Mike - with whom I dealt over the phone.

 

[boardsurfer]

That is some nice looking rock, midiman...

 

[midiman]

Thanks! As I said, liverocks.com is the place to go for rock. I'm sorry I didn't order a bit more. I'm going to go to the LFS for a few choice pieces to fill in a few spots. When I was looking at his tanks, I saw some nice pieces with some good hitchhikers. The plan is to ask for the per pound price FIRST, then choose the pieces with the life on them to avoid the "premium" that might get tacked on at the end of the transaction!

We'll see.

 

[reefdiva]

The rock is in my the QT tank. I need to get the pics ready to upload. My clowns have what I think are small isopods on them. When we bought them I thought it was my imagination that I seen a tiny white spot... but now I know it wasn't, both now have them.. I'll never go back to that LFS, she wouldn't work with me about getting the fish I wanted.. I am so mad right now.
How do I treat for isopods?

 

[BDAWG]

What you have on your clowns right now sounds like ich. Are they in the QT right now or in your main? If they're in your main tank I would take them out and put them in the QT tank and put the live rock in your main. I'm not sure how you're going to want to treat that, one way is by treating the tank with copper. There's a few other ways to help treat too, but I'm going to let the pros answer that because I've only had to treat for ich once and I treated it with copper. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[midiman]

Don't treat your main tank with copper!!! BDAWG is right to suggest the use of a QT for the fish for treatment.

Copper kills inverts DEAD. You can treat the QT with copper as long as you don't plan to ever use it for inverts. Copper works. People talk about hyposalinity, too, but I'm no expert in this. In fact, full disclosure requires me to say that I've only experienced ich (that is, my fish have) in FRESHWATER tanks. I'm still new to SW, and hope to AVOID ich in my main tank by using QT for all new fish (although I put my first two fish into main right away, but subsequent entries will do the QT).

 

[reefdiva]

I have an 18 gallon container that has the rock in it. I am getting the QT ready for the fish..... then I am moving the lr.com rock into the main. I just hope it doesn't cost me my frogspawn or the few softies I have. I think the softies are pretty tough. Maybe I can get some pics of the clowns. I seen something suspicious popping out of the rock sin my main tank today grabbing a mysis shrimp.... kinda looked like one of those bad pods listed at melves website. Was hard to tell but from I have been reading no fish will be back in the main for over a month.

 

[midiman]

I just hope it doesn't cost me my frogspawn or the few softies I have

What, the ich? Ich won't infect inverts, as far as I know.

Good luck with this chore. I know how frustrating it can be. Keep us (me, at least) posted on how you're doing. Best wishes for a successful outcome!!

 

[reefdiva]

I meant going ahead and putting the rock into the main tank tonight. I think it's prob. best for the rock since the main tank is more stable.

 

[reefdiva]

These are Preliminary Pictures

My batteries are charging so hopefully I can take some better pictures tommarow. This rock is way prettier in person, sorry my photography stinks but at least you can get an idea of colors and shapes of this rock.
Packaging:

Baserock:

Coral Rock

 

[reefdiva]

More pictures.....
Rock mix

One of the many hitch hickers Mr. Slick

[/b

 

[reefdiva]

I ended up with a lot of sea stars, several urchins, several snails, barnacles, branch coral. What I think may be a tiny red and black brain, tube worms, several crabs, some sponge that I think will be ok..... the orange stuff was history and it stunk!

Other things I am not sure about. I'll take pictures some more pictures soon. After 12 hours in a 18 gallon bucket with a .25 ammonia spike I went ahead and put the rock in the main tank. Scrubbed all the stinky stuff off and anything loose was rinsed. This morning my ammonia isn't 0 ppm but isn't dark as the .25 ppm.

 

[midiman]

Nice stuff!! I ended up with a nitrite level of .3 before it started dropping.

Very cool hitchhikers. Good luck with it.!!

 

[reefdiva]

Few questions:
At what ammonia reading should I change the water?

Since I have so many little serpent starts, do I need to get a bigger one in my clean up crew (of course it will be a little while before I get a cleanup crew)?

I have a few more pictures coming, need help on a few IDs, now I think the thing that I thought was a brain is an orange tipped zoo.. boy would I love that..... but then again I would love it either way. I am in desperate need of some lemon juice, it apastia paradise in the tank. Looks like I have a few different types of these pests.

 

[midiman]

I've heard that lemon juice works, but that it has to be injected (but I'm not really sure of this). I can tell you that Joe's juice works www.joesjuice.com, because I've killed some BIG aiptasia with it. They actually EAT it, so it doesn't have to be injected into the stalk.