LR Plan of action needed asap for new tank--tough situation!

[jeffw85]

Here is the situation:
I currently have a 75g pristine reef tank with fish corals and plenty of rock that I am transferring to my brand new 175 bow tank.

The 175g will be ready to accept the transfer Monday night. 24 hours from now.

However:
In the mean time I had 120# of keys rock from liverocks.com overnighted which arrived Friday am. (about 48 hours ago) These pieces are very large and they will be used for base rocks.

These pieces are setting in trash cans full of saltwater. During the past two days it is apparent there is significant die-off on the rock as the water has gotten really foul. I done 100% water changes on my trash cans twice already!

The plan was to move the new rock into the 175 bow Friday when it arrived but I had a 3 day set back I won't go into.

The Question????
Should I take my new 120# of LR and put it in the 175g bow while leaving my existing tank in tact until the new rock has cured. (fyi this would be my preference)

or should I go ahead and transfer my 75g over with all its contents and put the new stuff in the 75g to cure. (not my preference as these new pieces will make up the "bottom" of my rock formations)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. As pretty as my new rock is--It sure is stinking right now.

Jeff
Evansville, IN

 

[saberry]

The Question????
Should I take my new 120# of LR and put it in the 175g bow while leaving my existing tank in tact until the new rock has cured. (fyi this would be my preference)

Seems like this would be the way to go. You could use the lr to cycle the new tank.

 

[scuba_steve]

what i would do as well then ya can keep an eye/ear out for anything ya dont want and pull out the rock easy to get at it/them ect....

 

[CBRGuy]

I would say yes. I upgraded from a 55 to a 90 + sump, which was about an additional 50-60 gallons of water. This cause my tank to go through a mini cycle. So I would setup the 175 and wait until it cycles. If you do water changes from teh 75 you can add the water to the 175 which should get you moving allong pretty fast. It took about 2 week for my tank to settle back down again.

HTH

 

[fishfreek]

Should I take my new 120# of LR and put it in the 175g bow while leaving my existing tank in tact until the new rock has cured. (fyi this would be my preference)

YES!

Dont add the life from the existing tank till that new rock is showing no ammonia and no nitrite.

 

[revhtree]

Should I take my new 120# of LR and put it in the 175g bow while leaving my existing tank in tact until the new rock has cured. (fyi this would be my preference)

YES!

Ditto!!

 

[jeffw85]

Decision made--Thanks to you all once again--120# of smelly live rock will cure in the new 175g bow and help cycle the tank- I'll keep the water changes going and once the rock has settled down I'll move the existing 75g tank contents over.

Thanks Again

 

[snapcrackler]

Re: LR Plan of action needed asap for new tank--tough situat

These pieces are setting in trash cans full of saltwater.

Did these trash cans have water circulation, heat and filtration? The type of life on keys rock from liverocks.com is such that it immediately needs aquariumlike water conditions in order to maintain that life.

Just my .02, but I have gotten rock from them twice and it smells good right out of the box and I just slap it in the main display tank.

 

[jeffw85]

It was fine when I recieved it--Plan was to drop straight into the tank but had an unforseen delay--Hence the trash cans--Temp was good --poor circulation and no filtration--I've just moved them to new water twice now. Unfortunately I just had no where to go with the rock that was adequate for filtration. They will be in the main tank tomorrow night however--more than adequate at that point.

 

[snapcrackler]

Cool, I hope it works out well for ya! Most people don't have extra skimmers and PH's laying around for emergency situations like that neither do I!

 

[jeffw85]

My new live rock is happy now after sitting in trash can for 3 days. It's in a 175g with adequate heat, filtration and skimming. Now it just need time to cure and cycle. Finally!!!