Adding Live Rock

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

Is it possible to add live rock in stages, say adding 10 kilo's waiting a month and then adding another 10 and so on until i have enough, 40 or 50 kilo's. How does this effect cycling the tank, will the die have have to much of an effect and how do you stack live rock, what happens when you stack freshly brought live rock on top off the rock allready in the tank?

Thanks in advance for any help with this

 

[ostrow]

You can do this, but only if the rock you add subsequently is from established systems. You don't want to add uncured or partially cured rock (meaning, anything from a store or online vendor) or you'll be essentially starting over with the cycle.

 

[Musho3210]

Im guessing your doing this to save money, if i were you, id just add half live rock and half base dry rock. It'll be less time consuming and you get to see your tank full of rock from day one, plus you save cash.

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Im guessing your doing this to save money, if i were you, id just add half live rock and half base dry rock. It'll be less time consuming and you get to see your tank full of rock from day one, plus you save cash.

Not really trying to save cash, more really getting the tank going and adding over time therefore speading the time i have to get the cash

 

[IIITYIII]

i would just buy all the rock you need and put it in your tank and let it cycle.

 

[andywg]

So long as you are not adding more than half as much LR as you already have then adding new uncured LR isn't a problem.

Alternatively you can cure it in a separate tank/bucket/container before adding to an existing tank.

 

[norite]

Yes, you can do this...this is what I did when I started my marine tank. I noticed smaller ammonia & nitrite spikes after I added each lot. IIRC, I had three lots of LR. Of course, I didn't add any livestock until I had all the LR in place and the tank was fully cycled...

 

[ostrow]

So long as you are not adding more than half as much LR as you already have then adding new uncured LR isn't a problem.

Mmmm, I don't think so. There's going to be a lot of matter, dead stuff, debris decaying or falling off the newly-added rock into your system. 50% would be a high load of unwanted yuck.

 

[andywg]

Really? Worked fine for me every time I tried it. Only time I had a slight problem was when I added 3 times as much half cured as I had cured. Still worked fine and the spikes were only a day, two days max.