live rock

[kwtowmaster]

can I put a peice of 10 lbs live rock in my reef? will one peice spike my levels?or do I have to let it sit in hospital tank for a week?It 's uncured rock .I headr your not supposd to put it directly in tank but isnt that for large amounts?

I have put rocks right from the ocean in my tank and not had a problem. I have read that others have had minor and major spikes from this..

How does it smell? if it is rotten smelling, I would scrub it off with a scrub brush and put it in the QT until it is cured.

If it smells normal, or like it should, you might be ok.. Some others would like to comment on this I am sure... so good luck..

[kwtowmaster]

smells funky to me LFS told me it all smells that way ,He sometimes gets some real foul stuff He said mine is not .and he told me one peice wont hurt.thought I would double check with my people.( thats you guys) I had it in my hospital for a few hours tanks not cloudy.I have no live rock in my reef tank right now.

[kwtowmaster]

rock smell like low tide

[maiceman]

I have added 10 lbs of uncured on 2 different occasions with no effect what so ever. My DSB had no trouble keeping up with the additional waste if there was any.

Put it in and monitor your levels..

[kwtowmaster]

DSB? Ill put the rock in but I don't know what that means

[cmor1701d]

DSB = Deep Sand Bed generally 4" - 6" of sugar sized sand.

Here's a link to an article by By Ronald L. Shimek, Ph. D.
http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

[kwtowmaster]

wow I have 2 sand sifting stars and acouple of sand sifting lemon head gobeis and only 2 inches of sand &crushed coral

It is suggested by some to have at least 4 to 6 inches for good nitrification properties. There are a lot of contraversial views from the experts. Some say sand, some say no sand.

I have 3 in. of sand and somewhere around 75 lbs of LR in a 55Gal

It is hobby and you can do it however you like...Who knows, maybe you will come upon something to contribute to the way it is done....

[Hara]

I think alot of things matter on whether or not you can do it without harming your existing environment. First, how much live rock is in there already? you do not have livesand to fall back on. Is there any other kind of filtration. How well established is the tank..
I think I would hesitate to tell you to just throw it in there and all would be fine. Your water can be very toxic and not be cloudy. Starfish are rather sensitive to water quality...

[kwtowmaster]

Big $ for live rock I just bought 17 lbs for $100 $6 a lbs. 3 peices

[kwtowmaster]

This would be the only live rock I put in there,I have 3 bags of live sand in tank,I have a wet /dry trickle filter, 2 fluval 403 filters and a oceanic filter w/ supply & return drilled in tank,and a protein skimmer in sump.tanks been up 8 or 9 months.Just put vho 72 in. icecap 640 watt. light unit on tank

Ok, now, Is that cured rock or uncured? Seems as we hit a nerve in here with this one. I say this, because I too did not know you had inverts and verts that are sensitive to water quality in the tank ...Hmmm, I dunno if you should do that or not now...I don't have a problem with putting LR in my tank straight from the store, but, that is me.

I take back the just do it theme from this thread. 8)

[loganj]

The safest thing to do is to keep the rock in another tank or really any container with some water circulation. Light it if you can. Wait till there is no trace of ammonia/nitrite. I know that's kind of a pain, but it's the safest way to go. A rubbermaid tub with a powerhead would work well.
Logan J

[kwtowmaster]

I already put rock in Ill have to keep my eye on water quality

[kwtowmaster]

I have an emty hospital tank may be for safty sake I should just leave it in there.Keep my sea horse in reef for a while.

[Hara]

It is much more economical to buy your liverock online. There are many sources. I have bought rock that is very nice, but not live. With shipping the total was under 65.00. In time, it would become live. You could scrub it and safely put it in the tank immediately. Technically, this is baserock.

[kwtowmaster]

I got the rock because it had nice color alot of pink purple and a lot of life ,plants sponges.I have lace rock for a base ,I want to get some live rock for filtraion resons.When I first got I rinsed and scrubed it ,then put it in bucket w/ salt level at between 1.035&1.040 let sit in there for 1 min. that makes all the bugs and worm and stuff leave the rock .put it back in 1.021 looked in bucket for anything worth saving . there wasn't ,just some worms.disgarded them .now Im just going to leave them in hospital for now & monitor water.