Salinity and Live Rock

[joshinjosh]

Is it possible to keep live rock safely in low salinities? e.g. in a quarenteen tank w/o Cu. I'm guessing the low salinity will kill off a lot of the inverts, but will coraline and bacteria live?

josh

 

[steve-s]

Depends on how low the salinity is. If you mean hyposaline conditions, then only bacteria (and fish) would survive. Coralline and any fauna will usually perish.

FWIW, you shouldn't keep these kinds of items (CaCO3 bases) in a QT. If you where planning this as biological filtration, don't. Transfering inert products from you display tank is the best way to seed a QT if you do not have time (emergency cases) to cycle the tank prior to fish additions. Any filter floss, plastics and the like would work very well. If this is not an emergency, I would really urge you to take the time to cycle the QT before hand. It can make the word of difference.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Elmo18]

IMO...please do not use live rock in a QT. I QT till about 1.009 SG (i.e. dead rock). Also, it is a lot of work and stress for the fish if you have to take out the rock in the middle to treat with something else.

I would recommend black ABS piping...something non-reflecting, or even regular SCH40 pvc fittings (small or larger), which will not reflect so much in low light QT conditions.

Best,
Ilham