[weez1959]

K, I have a few questions for you guys...

1) If you let live rock dry dry up for about a week, does it become disease free?

This question is because I had about 2 pounds of very small live rock (3" pieces) rubble in a QT that ended up with a fish who had ich. I figured if I let it dry really well on top of the MH ballasts for a week they should be ok to use as base rock.

2) How long does it take base rock to become live rock again if I put it in the sump?

3) Since it's only about 2 pounds will I need to worry about an ammonia spike?

4) The big question now, my daughter decided to close up shop and she says I can have her live rock that she's had for about 6 months now, the problem is she has a bunch of cyano, can this be cleaned in a pail of salt water with a tooth brush or something?

5) Since this rock is already cured, will I have to worry about a small cycle if I clean it off before I put it in my tank?

Voila!

[sihaya]

1) Ugh. No. Letting it dry out just turns it into a big lump of dead, decaying matter.

I could be wrong, but don't think ich attaches to rock. One stage of it lives in sand, but I don't think it lives in rock.

2) Depends... but probably a few weeks to a few months (depending on the size of the rock, how much you feed your tank and how well populated your current live rock is).

3) How big is your tank? If it's 50+ gallons I think you should be ok.

4) Yeah, sure. I don't see why not.

5) Probably not. Even cured live rock can experience some die off when it's put in a new tank. But if the rock was fully cured, it shouldn't be enough to have to worry about (assuming the tank is at least 50g)


Good luck!

[weez1959]

My tank is a 75 gallon with a 25 gallon sump but I figure with the sand and rock I already have, water volume is probably aroud 75 gallons. I only have about 80 pounds of rock and would like to bring that up to about 120.

[sihaya]

That's good that you have a decent size tank... but why do you want so much live rock? Live rock is great, but remember that too much will only decrease you water volume and impede water flow.

[weez1959]

I was told that I needed 1.5-2 pounds of rock per gallon of water and because I only had 80 pounds of rock I would never be able to keep my nitrates down so I am increasing my rock volume to 120 via my daughter's tank because she wants to close it up. It's a good opportunity to get free rock...

[sihaya]

Haha... always beware whenever someone tells you that you "need" something and tell you how much per gallon you need it. You do not need or even want that much live rock. And it's not so much about weight as volume. You need enough to have comfortable room for all your corals and to make caves for your fish and shrimp. And that's about all you "need." ;-)