Live Rock for new tank??

[Kurt99]

I am starting a 46gallon saltwater tank and I have questions about live rock.

1) Should I buy live rock online?

2) How much live rock?

3) Do I put all of the rock in at one time when I first start the tank to get biological filtration started?

I can get live rock locally but it is not of very good quality.

 

[sango]

Buy from lr.com. Yes you can put all the lr in at one time. To save some money you could also buy some base rock. 50/50. That way the lr will seed the base rock and you will soon have all lr. Oh and if the LR is uncured it will help the cycle go faster. It only took my tank 1 week to run the full cycle. I also used the shrimp. hth

 

[quarryshark]

Yup, its great rock.
http://www.liverocks.com
BTW, welcome to AA!!!

 

[RMPD109]

Definately LR.com They have great product and service. Get a mix with the base rock to maximize your initial purchase so you dont need to add more later.

 

[Kurt99]

Thanks for the welcome.

I wasnt sure if you were supposed to add all of the rock in the beginning at one time. I have read some sites that say dont add too much rock in the beginning.

Is the base rock also available from LR.com and is it much cheaper??

How many lbs total should I get?[/code][/url]

 

[sango]

I beleive they say 2lbs of lr per gallon. Yes the base rock is cheaper...GL

 

[pearsont74]

This was helpful to me too....that lr.com is about an hour from my house

 

[Thumper]

You lucky dog.

 

[pearsont74]

dumb question but is the rubble in your sump count for the amount of lr you have as a whole? basically rubble is live rock - right...I was going to get actually lr for my sump....just smaller pieces.

 

[Kurt99]

Is 40# of key rock enough?? I will be running a canister filter and have about 2 in. of live/fake sand mix.

And should I use the pvc as support under the rock as I have read some people talking about?


Thank you all for the help, this is a great site!!

 

[pearsont74]

as far as the pvc part...i heard not to use that due to critters could move sand and shift things around and cause the live rock to fall....I honestly dont see why you would want to either...this is jsut what ive heard/read about on this fourm

 

[midiman]

The use of PVC is intended to prevent the shifting of the rock by keeping the sand sifting critters from undermining the sand support underneath them. It's not likely that even the mightiest crawly thing could budge a PVC ring with rock on top of it, but it could easily burrow UNDER the rocks, causing them to sink into the burrow and possibly collapse the stucture.

I read the case of one guy who lost an eel inside of a rock collapse. Not to mention the coral on top of the stack.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't use PVC who've never had a problem. That would be the best thing. I'm just not taking chances.

 

[pearsont74]

good point!!....makes since

 

[sango]

Not a dumb question. Yes it does count as a whole. Its good to see somebody from the tampa area here.

 

[Phyl]

My rock is on the tank bottom (not sitting on the sand) but on the glass. I'd go with closer to 50, if you can. Even 35 base, 15 live would be fine, though the more live the prettier it will look when you get it . The LR in your sump would count as long as it can be submerged. LR.com rock is great. Scout the rock for critters before you put the rock in your tank. Easier to get them off BEFORE you put it in your tank rather than after. I ended up with quite a few red crabs that were wreaking havoc on my corals so I sent them packing. Unfortunately it took pulling rock out from under some frags to get them out of the tank and the frags don't really like that so much!!

 

[lando]

Hi Kurt99...Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!
Just one more plug for www.liverocks.com It is wonderful rock and comes packaged very well. Lots of color, lots of life and great customer service.

 

[boardsurfer]

Sheesh. I can't wait until my order from there...I haven't even considered anywhere else. From what everyone says on here, it's worth it. My LFS LR looks terrible and has no color, and no living things on it. I mean, I like supporting local shops, but it's a no-brainer!

 

[leesanhua]

go with 1.5lbs -2lbs per gallon.

 

[Kurt99]

Ok, I got my live rock yesterday and placed it in tank. My canister filter is running good. Temperature is steady at about 79. Ph was at 7.8 which is a little low. I added some Ph increaser solution. Any better ways of increasing my Ph??? My protein skimmer will arrive monday.

My big question is: When do I start doing water changes?? Do I let the tank cycle completely before I start doing 10% per week??[/list][/code]

 

[RMPD109]

You can do a water change now but it will hinder the cycling process. Wait until ammonia and nitrites are zero. At that time the nitrates should be high and you should perform a large water change of about 50% to reduce them. After that a 10% change every week or two will be good.