PLEASE READ.....NEED HELP FROM VETS

[jamesbuf]

Ok everyone, here is the situation. I just got around 60lbs of unbelievable live rock from someone scrapping their 55gal tank. There is massive growth on all the rocks. The rocks were only out of water for about an hour.

I already had around 30lbs of cured liverock, but nowhere near as established as this stuff. I have a fish only tank, and I'm wanting to keep as much of the growth on the rocks as possible(also not trying to have a massive dieoff killing everything in my tank!!!!!!!).

I add iron and iodine for my refugium(up and running for months), and I've been adding calcium to the tank since I put in my original 30lbs around 3 weeks ago.

Am I missing any supplements for a fish and live rock only tank????? As you can see, I know alot of the basics but I figured with something this huge, its always best to get advice from veterans of the hobby. Thanks in advance to everyone for any help and advice offerred.

[davelin315]

Before you add iodine and iron, make sure you test it. Both of those can be toxic in higher concentrations. Some other common elements present in seawater that are usually important to invertebrates that live in live rock are strontium and molybdenum. I believe both of these aid in the processing of calcium for inverts.

 

As far as the rocks being out of the water for an hour or so, die off will depend on what's on it and how "dry" it was. If you packed it in some water and covered it with something wet, it shouldn't be too bad, although sponges will normally die off because of exposure to air and their inability to purge air bubbles that become stuck in them (there is always die off when you transfer rock, whether it is because it gets crushed, rotated, stuck in substrate, etc.). If you added them directly to your tank, watch for die off and test your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels to make sure you don't have a spike in your cycle. If you do, since you're running a fish only tank, if there is ich present there, it might allow it to get a foothold in your fish.

 

All of this notwithstanding, you could probably get away with not supplementing at all and simply doing some water changes on a weekly basis. All of the trace elements that are needed are present in most synthetic sea salts, and when you change water, you are replenishing what has been used up without the dangers of overdosing your tank. Since you are only hoping to maintain the flora and fauna that exists on the rock already, just go with the water changes is my advice. It'll provide enough so that your rock will do well without the dangers of creating a toxic condition through dosing.

 

By the way, if you do not have good lighting and are simply using normal output fluorescents (typical T-12 bulbs I believe) you may not be able to maintain all of the growth, unless you have enough light. To best maintain the live rock, you should (if you don't already) get good lighting, but then you might as well go reef!

[flowerseller]

I like a product called "Cycle" to help minimize the effect of a "cycle.

It needs to be refridgerated after opening.

Protein skimming is also very helpful, but like davelin315 mentions, nothing beats a good clean quality water exchange.

 

Great luck,