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Adding Live Rock To An Already Working Tank

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bassdrummer1

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Hey everyone, as you might know from my topic I’m going to try to add live rock into my tank. Right now I have a 75 gallon tank with 4 fish, 1 hermit crab and a starfish. I have plenty of normal rock right now but I wanted to take it easy fist and start off with the bare minimum. How would you add live rock to a tank like mine? Take all the normal rock out first? Take the fish out? Remove some water? I’m afraid that the fish may be mad if I remove their current hiding spots also.

Tell me what you think.
 
I think you should be able to add live rock in addition to the base rock assuming you have adequate circulation and lighting.

I'm new to saltwater though, so hopefully an expert can help out!
 
I'm not an expert but I'll give you my opinion.

If the rock is cured you should be able to to add it to your display provided it isn't out of the water very long and it's kept moist. The longer its out of the water, such as in transit, the more good stuff will die on the rock.

Also, if you have a large amount of exisiting rock and are adding only a small amount I wouldn't worry to much about it.

If it's uncured:
Get a food safe tub, such as a rubbermaid, and place the rock in there with saltwater, heater and powerhead to make sure it doesn't cycle. It's not good if it sets off ammonia in your tank. Wait until there aren't any signs of ammonia or nitrite and then add it to your tank.
 
ok, bass, first an apology - I can't recall what your set-up is: live stock etc wise?

how much rock are we talking about?
Is it cured?
Is it coming from an established tank or a lfs?
How long will it be out of water for?

Seffie x

:fish:
 
seffieuk said:
ok, bass, first an apology - I can't recall what your set-up is: live stock etc wise?

how much rock are we talking about?
Is it cured?
Is it coming from an established tank or a lfs?
How long will it be out of water for?

Seffie x

:fish:
Click to expand...
As of right now I have a yellow tang, Picasso trigger, tomato clown and a lion fish. Also I have 1 hermit and a starfish. I am not sure on the amount of LR I will be getting maybe 20 to 25 pounds? What do u think for a 75 gallon tank? It will be cured. It is coming from an established tank at my LFS. it will be out of water for 30 minutes ( I could though bring all my 5 gallon buckets with me( I have 5 or 6) and place all the LR in them with salt water added also) ???
 

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Ok 25 pounds {11 kilos} of live rock is going to be no ware near enough to filter a tank of 75gallon. :blink:
You’re going to need about 83 ponds {38 kilo} to filter it correctly your also going to need lots of water flow through it.

but having said all that if you don’t want to splash out all that money in one go on the rock you could add it in stages as long as you don’t add to the fish stock you already have till all the rock is in there. + if you do decide to do it this way I would consider getting a large container as others have already suggested, and put any new rock purchases in there with salted water a heater power head and skimmer if possible just to make sure the rock is fully cured { some LFS sell it as fully cured but it is only part cycled due to large sale turn over’s it isn’t in the curing tanks long enough} so it’s always best IMO just to play it on the safe side and put it in your own container and make sure its cured fully, it will also be a lot easier to catch any un wanted hitch hikers {crabs and the likes} before there introduced to the main tank
Hope this is of some help john,o
 
john said:
Ok 25 pounds {11 kilos} of live rock is going to be no ware near enough to filter a tank of 75gallon. :blink:
You’re going to need about 83 ponds {38 kilo} to filter it correctly your also going to need lots of water flow through it.

but having said all that if you don’t want to splash out all that money in one go on the rock you could add it in stages as long as you don’t add to the fish stock you already have till all the rock is in there. + if you do decide to do it this way I would consider getting a large container as others have already suggested, and put any new rock purchases in there with salted water a heater power head and skimmer if possible just to make sure the rock is fully cured { some LFS sell it as fully cured but it is only part cycled due to large sale turn over’s it isn’t in the curing tanks long enough} so it’s always best IMO just to play it on the safe side and put it in your own container and make sure its cured fully, it will also be a lot easier to catch any un wanted hitch hikers {crabs and the likes} before there introduced to the main tank
Hope this is of some help john,o
Click to expand...

Yep after reading your reply about stock I agree with everything John has said :good:

And yes to your question about transporting it in water - every little bit helps

SEffie x

:fish:
 
john said:
Ok 25 pounds {11 kilos} of live rock is going to be no ware near enough to filter a tank of 75gallon. :blink:
You’re going to need about 83 ponds {38 kilo} to filter it correctly your also going to need lots of water flow through it.

but having said all that if you don’t want to splash out all that money in one go on the rock you could add it in stages as long as you don’t add to the fish stock you already have till all the rock is in there. + if you do decide to do it this way I would consider getting a large container as others have already suggested, and put any new rock purchases in there with salted water a heater power head and skimmer if possible just to make sure the rock is fully cured { some LFS sell it as fully cured but it is only part cycled due to large sale turn over’s it isn’t in the curing tanks long enough} so it’s always best IMO just to play it on the safe side and put it in your own container and make sure its cured fully, it will also be a lot easier to catch any un wanted hitch hikers {crabs and the likes} before there introduced to the main tank
Hope this is of some help john,o
Click to expand...

would it hurt my fish if i took all the old bass rock out?
 
Ummm, my suggestion would be to buy the LR you desire, put it in your tank, and remove no more than half the base rock as it is now essentially your filter.
 
If you are adding small amounts of cured LR at a time to an established system you should be fine. However if you ever plan to add a large amount of LR to the system I would advise caution.

We had about 20Kg of LR in our system and bought another 40Kg of LR off someone who was shutting down their tank. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be "cured" we ended up having a huge ammonia spike (followed by weeks and weeks of high nitrates and phosphates) which we have only just got on top of a few months later. If I could do it again I would have put all the new rock into holding tubs/containers with saltwater, heaters and powerheads until I knew it was fully cured.
 
xxBarneyxx said:
If you are adding small amounts of cured LR at a time to an established system you should be fine. However if you ever plan to add a large amount of LR to the system I would advise caution.

We had about 20Kg of LR in our system and bought another 40Kg of LR off someone who was shutting down their tank. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be "cured" we ended up having a huge ammonia spike (followed by weeks and weeks of high nitrates and phosphates) which we have only just got on top of a few months later. If I could do it again I would have put all the new rock into holding tubs/containers with saltwater, heaters and powerheads until I knew it was fully cured.
Click to expand...

And even after that i would still only put it in a bit at a time... Anything more than 10 minutes out of water and the rock will cause you a mini ccle if you put too much in.

As people have said idealy your best to keep it in containers cycling and then add it a few pieces at a time as it cures... Curing can take anything from days to weeks.
 
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