FO 55 aquarium

[pph_2ppr]

Ive had this tank sitting in my house for almost a year..... i finially added 120 lbs of sand and began adding fresh ro/di water. now i know live rock is very expensive so i was wondering if a protien skimmer would be ok to hold a small bioload. If i get a percula clown fish or 2 would it be ok to have only 18 lbs of baserock in there or do they need more stuff to hide in?...would like to get tank running soon.

[NoSvOrAx]

You could buy baserock and then just pick a couple pieces of lr from a lfs store. Wait awhile and you'll have all live rock...

[roka64]

I bought 150Lbs of baserock for my 125 and seeded it with some LR from, my LFS. I have found it is best to have plenty of rock. This allows the fish to find safety while sleeping or if they are getting chased, or are shy. It is also one of your best places for your biological filtration.

[pph_2ppr]

the baserock i have now has alot of holes that are only on the surface do u want rock that has pores that go deep. does this even matter? how long does your tank need to cycle with the base/live rock and the sand i have is NOT live what would you suggest i do step by step after i fill my tank all the way?

along the glass there is airpockets in the sand, is that bad?

[lando]

The different holes on the rock are fine, they just add the surface area needed for benefical bateria to colonize. I do recommend adding at least a little LR to the base rock so there is something to seed it. You would be surprised at the amount of visable growth on the rock when using some good quality LR. Cycling noramally takes about 6 weeks. I suggest just throwing in a raw shrimp from the grocery store to kick off the cycle and feed it during the process. The air pockets are normal...you can sift your sand if you want to get ride of them, otherwise they should let loose on their own.

[pph_2ppr]

i think i could hook myself up with baserock with a trip, but does anyone know of a good location around lincoln or omaha that sells outstanding LR? would mail in order be a wiser choice since its getting cold out? is there any specific brand of protein skimmer that is obviously better then the others( i want to eventually be able to add inverts to the tank)

[fijiwigi]

I ordered 45 pounds of live fiji rock from Dr Fosters & Smith for my 46 g bow about 3 weeks ago that I am cycling my tank with. It was 99.99 with shipping ended up being like 150.00 about $3.50 a pound much better price than my lfs. It came in 4 big pieces about 8-15 pounds each. There are nice looking rocks and starting to turn purplish also had a decent amount of spongy material on them with some good crevices to later on attach some corals. I also have the option of breaking my rocks up later with a chizzle to do some aquascaping. I have been staring at them for hours thinking of how I can do this since I have no fish yet to look at. I think this is a much better way to cylcle in my opinion than a dead shrimp from a grocery store. The live rock Is straight from the ocean minus the 2-3 days it spent out of water during shipping. The dead stuff from the rocks that could not be brushed off is plenty to kick off the cycling process.