Adding new live rock to an established system

[ReefferMan]

I want to add More rock to our already establised system but im worried about starting another cycle in the tank. I have a majority of Sps corals that i dont want to loose, But i am running outa room. Any suggestions? We have a 125G tank with about 60lbs of rock, i would like more... Thanks all

 

[The Apprentice]

Re:I want to add More rock to our already establised system

Hi ReeferMan I didn't catch If you had a sump or not?? If you do you can add LR in small amounts. 10 lbs is about my limit in a 125 gallon tank, Allot will have to do with your current water quality, The quality of you skimmer,The amount of fish ( Bio Load ) you have in your Tank, and the shape of the Live Rock you are adding is in? If It has cycled up you may getaway with a very little bump in your chemistry If you do decide to add some Lr. I would recomend you test daily for ammonia,nitrite, & nitrate now this is very consertive But from the sounds of it If you have alot of SPS it might be worth the Investment to protect them. You have a very good resorce Up there in Spokane Give Kevin a call @ Aquatic Dreams http://www.aquaticdreams.biz/ He is in your back yard and handels alot of SPS and Has a very Nice set of LR curing tanks...Best of luck Remember to be conservitve and you should be ok...Jeff

I want to add More rock to our already establised system but im worried about starting another cycle in the tank. I have a majority of Sps corals that i dont want to loose, But i am running outa room. Any suggestions? We have a 125G tank with about 60lbs of rock, i would like more... Thanks all

 

[Skimmy]

can you cure the rock seperately and then add it in when it's done?

 

[kevinpo]

It really depends on the condition of the live rock. Live rock that doesn't smell too bad but is not fully cured can be added at 10-15% of your current live rock weight. So if you have 100 lbs you could add 10-15lbs safely. There is enough bacteria on your established live rock to quickly reduce any buildup of harmful nitrogen compounds. You may notice some algae on the rock or front glass that is more than normal. If you have a refugium with macro algae in it you may notice a growth spurt for a week or two rather than anything in the tank itself.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[ReefferMan]

Hey Kevin, Apprentice, yeah i do have a 30g sump/refugium. Maybe take some of my water change (30g's)and place some rock in that with pumps and a skimmer? few weeks of that may get the bugs out? what do you all think? Boy, i dont want to kill any of the corals.

 

[brandyrb]

Hey Kevin,

This is Brandy, Mike's other half. Do you have fully cured live rock - w/ coraline algae growth in an established tank that you could sell us? I would like to add approx. 20lbs. of nice size and shape rock(s).

In my research, I've read that adding fully cured live rock "with all the organizms being alive" and an abundance of coraline aglae will not re-cycle our tank.

In order for us to fully cure the rock ourselves, we would have to take some of the equipment off our display (skimmers and powerheads) and I'd rather not do that.

Thanks...

 

[Sk8r]

That bit about fully cured live rock with all the critters on it not starting a cycle is pretty well true. I set up my tank with a lot of it and hardly had a cycle: even the mushrooms and sponges came through fine. Then I added another huge holey piece [maybe 15-20 pounds] with mushrooms all over it after 3 months and had no problem at all.

 

[brandyrb]

Sk8r,

Noticing that you are in Spokane, where did you get the fully cured live rock?

Brandy

 

[Sk8r]

From Aquatic Dreams. I lucked into a reefer breaking a tank down, so I had the coralline and wildlife, but the tanked rock is good too. I've seen everything from branched to fine branched to rocks and holey rocks. Absolutely no crud on it, nothing that has to be scrubbed off.

 

[kevinpo]

Just to be clear. The only problem with uncured rock is that there may be organisms that have died or are in the process of dieing that would cause a sudden rise in nitrogen compounds such as ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate. The first two having the biggest impact on organisms. The bacteria present in your tank consume these compounds as food and quickly reduces them to less harmful compounds. The problem occurs when the decaying matter exceeds the bacteria's capability to keep up. It can take 10-15 days for the bacteria to multiply enough to catch up to the increased load and during that time the animals could suffer.

If you inspect your rock carefully and it smells bad it should not be used in an established tank. It does not take a bloodhound to detect rotting material in live rock It should smell like the sea and be free of any goo or other decaying matter.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[burning2nd]

little by little, and wait a good time in between, test and make sure that it (the tank) is adjusting to the new rock

 

[ReefferMan]

Thanks for your input, the tank went through a lill cycle, i now have coraline growin like crazy, i did have a sudden fatality a Tyree pink and blue prostrata.... everything else is doing great, im seeing alot of growth even on the slowgrowers like the oregon tort...... Its an addiction.....

 

[burning2nd]

i stress the amount of rock you should add at one time. 1lb,2lb's wait a couple of weeks then ageain.

5,10 lbs boom at once, then wait a week and ageain, and im pritty sture your gonna see a nice little cycle, not righ off the bat, but sooner or later