liverocks

[i like fish]

so my water tested zero on the nitrites today, and im planning on putting liverock in tommorow. a few questions, what should water parameters be before adding,a nything i should be on the lookout for like high levels of anything that will cause more die off than normal... and is liverock.com a good place to buy, the prices seem ok, but i wanna make sure it will actualyl be quality rock, i like the keys, but i dont wanna get a bunch of rock that is more money than its worth, im thinking 40 # for my 30 gal,

[fishman]

LR.com is the best as far as quality of rock AND service!!! Awesome guys. IMO best place to buy from. I have about 40 lbs of it myself and only wish I have the $$ to buy more!!!
Also you water tests should be 0 ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. PH between 8-8.3 is ideal. Water temp around 78-84 is a wide range...

[i like fish]

one other question, is their rock cured, or would i have to do that myself?

[lando]

the rock from liverocks.com is some of the best that I have seen. Go for a mix of the gulf and keys rock to get teh best of bolth worlds. The rock is "precured". However, expect some die-off in transit. You will most likely see a small amonia spike, if even that. Not the transport time. Anything under 20 hours and you should be okay. When I got mine, I have a bucket of aged SW ready. I dipped each piece and shook it around to remove any dead chunck or livestock. Then just put it in the tank. I had no cahnge in water parameters.

[i like fish]

thanks, for the info, i was hoping it was cured, i dont have anywhere to store it while it cures since im sure its too cold outside, and i cant stink up the house with die off... i knew there would be some from cured, but not as much as uncured... thats good, thanks for the info

[Brad]

Think of it as live fish that have been holding their breath for the entire time of shipment. Get it in the tank ASAP!

Whatever filtration you've been running that got your tank through this cycle....leave it alone. As soon as that rock hits, that filtration will be put to an immediate test.

You might consider adding some sort of bio-load on the tank for a a week in advance. Something like a dead shrimp. That way, you'll have super numerous bacteria ready to do the job.

I'm assuming that there is nothing living in the tank at this time.