When should I start to see critters from the Live Rock?

[mlovelace]

Hello, I purchased about 15 lbs of live rock to go with my 60 lbs of base rock and have a question concerning life form? A couple of days ago, I saw one little critter moving around the live rock I purchased. Since then, I have not seen anything else? I have waited and looked right when the lights first come on (that is when I saw the one critter). I am on day 9 of the cycle and wondering how "live" was my live rock from the beginning? In reading Lee's post on starting a FOWLR post, it stated by 2 weeks, you should see them moving around pretty good. I am wondering if I received some dud "live rock". I am just now starting to see the brown algae grow. I am curious if I hit the two weeks and see no life form, what is my next step? Should I order pods and worms? I am also curious how bad the brown algae should be? I don't see a lot of it at this point.

Thank you, Mike

[cdearing]

Hi Mike,
Your post reminds me of myself when I first started. I would stay up at night and look at my tank with a flashlight, squinting my eyes to see if I could see the slightest sign of life in my tank. You must be patient and it will come. Though, you might try this night time trick. Lots of pods and worms come out at night. As for the algae. It will come and go. I don't really think there is a way to measure exactly how much and what kind of algae you will be getting during your cycle. Feel free to take photos and post them to this thread so that you might get feedback from people who have seen in their tanks what you are seeing in yours and get some ID's on different algaes, life forms and ways of managing them.
Good luck! Just take a deep breath and relax. It will all happen in due time! You are on a good forum that will help you along your way. Lots of good people and info here.
Cynthia

[mlovelace]

Thank you Cynthia...I am like a kid at Christmas. My wife keeps asking, "When are we going to buy fish"? I keep telling her we are going to go by the "lee" book of starting a FOWLR aquarium! LOL She use to have a saltwater tank many years ago, back then they did the awful thing of sacrificing a couple of fish. She could not believe I was talking about "live rock". LOL She is an animal lover, so she understands the whole process of waiting and taking it slow, but neither one of us said it was easy;)

Thank you again, MIke

[cdearing]

I know Mike. My whole family thougt I was crazy for awhile there. I spent so much time watching videos on youtube about reef tanks that they thought they were going to have to do an intervention for reef addiction! I read as many books, magazines and internet articles as I could. It was a little ridiculous actually, as I look back but at least I was hungry for information and didn't jump into things and then try to figure them out afterwards. You'll save yourself lots of money and anguish if you do the same. Just so you know, we all love pictures so make sure you get them up asap! Check out the link to my thread here: __________. OK, so I'm not as smart as all that. I still don't know how to enter the link but you can click on my name and search all threads started by me and look at My 80 Gallon Reef. I had lots of help from the people in my club and lots of advice from people on this forum.
We look forward to watching your tank grow! Congrats!
Cyn

[blennydude]

Mike, I know exactly what you are feeling. Just in my opinion, I would have started w/ less base rock and more live rock, oh well. I know base is less expensive. But since you did start this way it may take longer to start to notice live things. On the other hand after some time, you will start to get things like aiptasia, hydroids, bubble algae, majonos, and other live things that you will battle to rid your tank of so enjoy this time. That brown filmy algae you see now comes w/ the cycle, and the only things you can do is wait for that to go away, if you siphon it up it will just come right back. Once your water is ready, turbo and margarita snails do a nice job cleaning that up.
What I do is test my water for amonia first during the cycle til I get a zero reading, then test nitrite next. Once you get a zero reading on nitrite, do a 20% water change and you should show a small reading of nitrates. Once that happens you are ready for a few snails, then fish. Keep in mind what your live stock plans are and try to introduce the more passive fish first to let them establish an area, and add something like clowns later. Hope this helps and good luck.

Blenny

[leebca]

Are you feeding them?

You should be following this guideline and all with be fine IF you truly purchased live rock:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium
and
What is Live Rock, Anyway?

[mlovelace]

No, I am not feeding them. I thought your post/article stated do not feed them until after two weeks? As far as true live rock, I am going off what the LFS told me. They stated it was live rock, so I believed them. For all I know, they could have took base rock and put it in with a bunch of other rock and called it live rock? It is a pretty well known fish only store (aquarium center of North Carolina) and they focus on just fish and supplies, mostly saltwater in their store. I am on day 11 now and I have only seen one small critter moving. I have tried to look at night in the dark and still see no action. I am starting to see the brown algae showing up, but no critters or worms. Would you contact the fish store and bring this complaint up? They were selling two types of live rock. One was 12 bucks per lb. and the other was 5 bucks per lb. I purchased 15-16 lbs of the 5 dollar live rock. They charged me 75 dollars for it. They told me it was already cured and I could put it straight in the tank. They said it was already cured at their place. When I purchased it, it was in an aquarium with running powerheads. I believe they said it was Fiji and Indonesian Live Rock.

Thank you, Mike

[mlovelace]

Are you feeding them?

You should be following this guideline and all with be fine IF you truly purchased live rock:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium
and
What is Live Rock, Anyway?

Hello Lee, I just called the LFS and they told me that the "Live Rock" should have pods and maybe worms. They told me if I don't see some activity between 2-3 weeks, to come back in and they would give me pods and worms if I wanted them. They stated they have not had any other issues with the batch of "live rock" that I purchased.

Thank you, Mike

[leebca]

Contacting the LFS was a good idea. Did you ask when you bought it why there was a difference in price between the rocks they were selling? Did you see any difference?

There are those LFSs who believe they 'make live rock' but as the post indicates, this is not possible in the captive aquarium. It takes the sea a long time to make live rock.

I can't say I particularly like their answer of 'we'll give you pods and worms. . .' Why were they not part of the rock? There may be more questions here than answers about the rock you have. I'm not feeling good about it.

Brown algae is normal at this stage. Stick with the process and begin to add food a bit later, then. There may still more critters coming forth (IF it's live rock).

[mlovelace]

I could tell the difference in the price. To be honest with you, the more expensive rock looked better, but I couldn't tell you where it was from?

Can I ask you a question about the rock? If I was scammed and I see no critters (I have seen only one, but not lately) what is my next course of action? Do I get the pods and worms from them and add to the tank or chalk it up as being ripped off and purchase more live rock? I am sitting on about 75-90 lbs of rock in my 75g tank now. This Friday will be two weeks having set up and following your guidelines. I have no problem giving it another week to see if the "life" starts showing? I hate the fact I paid 5 bucks a lb for "live rock" that may not be "live"! Then again, I paid 2.50 for base rock

Could this be the reason my nitrites and nitrates are not spiking heavily, due to the rock not being "live"?

I have not tested my water since Saturday.

Thank you, Mike

[leebca]

Please be sure you have read and understood the link I gave you above. Here it is again: What is Live Rock, Anyway?

You're asking questions which are answered in that link.

Live rock has many functions depending upon its nature. Won't repeat them all here.

If you're setting up a FOWLR system, the rock you have, despite its lack of life, is good enough. It probably falls into the category of seasoned base rock. It will not have much of an impact on controlling nitrates, but in a FOWLR system, nitrates aren't a big issue (to fish).

The pods and worms are optional. They each do perform a function in keeping the aquarium 'clean' yet they can be undesirable by some people. Some worms get large and freak hobbyists out. Other live rock critters are controlled (eaten) by fishes, so they will ultimately be kept under some control (but this of course depends upon the fish you choose).

Having kept both kinds of aquariums ('sterile' and loaded with true live rock) I personally prefer the live rock -- it provides much (additional) entertainment.
;)

[mlovelace]

O.K., it is day 18 and the lights on my tank came on and what do I see? Thousands of tiny white dots all over the glass and moving around. I take it these are the pods? They are too tiny to get a good look at them. Yeah

Thanks everyone for being patient with me!