Live Rock Question

[Joeyt66]

How long does it take for live rock to die? I am thinking of having some shipped and it would take 5-6 days from packaging to recieving. The people whom to order from say its good for up to 15 days. I think they bag it and then box it. It would be for a new setup so i would be cycling with it. Its a really good price but just want to make sure it wont be 100% dead when i get it. Any info would be good thanks

 

[Mr Miagi]

5-6 days you will have some die off. And that will cycle your tank. It wont be complete die off though. They normally package live rck with damp newspaper, then plastic bags, so it does remian moist for the trip.

 

[crazyelece]

As long as it stays moist or damp it will be good. It does need to cure though so that any decaying matter is removed. And as stated this is the best way to cycle a new tank. If putting in an established tank though you would need to cure it in a seperate container before adding it to your tank.

 

[Navarre]

for this amount of time i would definately say that hte rock will need recycling as there will be die off on the rock. Your tank/house may well smell of rotten eggs for a few days/weeks whilst the rock recovers too

During this time do nothing to tha tank, dont add fish or even feed the system as the die off alone will be enough to feed the growing population of bacteria.

 

[Opcn]

Do water changes. MAybe add some cheato aswell.

 

[petey Z]

Quick Question...

im about to add some live rock, about 25 pounds.

Should i add alittle at a time ? or all at once

Its all cured

thanks

 

[Navarre]

If its all cured then i would add all at once.

 

[petey Z]

sounds good

thanks navarre

 

[superman]

Do water changes. MAybe add some cheato aswell.

If trying to cycle the tak then water changes can be counter productive. Wait until your nitrite levels have gone back down to zero, then you can start doing water changes, also wait until your nitrite levels have gone back down to zero before adding the chaetmorphia that Opcn referred to as "cheato"

 

[Opcn]

The problem is that hes not just trying to cycle like you do in fresh water but to cure, there is major die off during the curing process and you end up with far more ammonium and nitrite than you need to cycle the aquarium, the excess nitrite and ammonium tend to kill off more of the critters on the live rock than would normally die and you then end up with more death and a longer curing process, in the ocean things get constant water changes, if we were to stock our tanks like the ocean is stocked it would be a 1 inch coral frag for every olympic sized swimming pool of salt water, water changes rarely hurt anything unless you are not paying attention to params or doing high percentage changes like 75% or 100%.

Also if by "chaetmorphia" you mean Chaetomorpha then you are correct about what I meant, I just thought the common name would be easier to find and remember. Also you don't have to wait till nitrites hit zero to add it, nitrite will have to be pretty high to kill it, andthe live rock will already have nitrifying bacteria colonies within it more than capable of handleing the load of a new aquarium, why you have such high ammonium and nitrite levels in a curing aquarium is that there is massive die off from the shipping process, the little bits of rotting plant and animal are too much for the system to handle and you must wait for the dieoff to be complete before the levels will fall, unless you are removing them by other means. Thats why you are advised to scrub off the dieoff with a soft bristled brush.

 

[superman]

5-6 days of transit will most likely not yield a massive die off. As long as there wasn't die off happening before the rock was even shipped, there shouldn't be a ton of die off so going through the complete process of curing the live rock shouldn't be needed in my opinon. IF the rock reaks then you know that the rock has started to really go bad and curing of the live rock will have to be done before you really worry about cycling the tank.
The reason for the tank to cycle before you add the chaetmorpha is to not inhibit the cycle by letting the chaeto consume waist chemicals. Once you see a drop off in nitrites you will be good to go to add the chaeto since the cycling process will be over (for the most part)

Opcn, I do 90 percent water changes on my 37 gallon every 3 weeks. Since being convinced to do so by Anthony Calfo at IMAC last year in Chicago I have given this a try. Now I am a huge advocate of doing nearly 100% water changes on any reef tank under 100 gallons, I've never seen corals put on so much growth.

 

[Opcn]

Most arthropods cannot make it 5-6 days out of water, only the little ones trapped in tiny pockets of water and shore crabs will be able too, no cnidarians will make it unless they are also trapped in pockets of water, no sponges will live, most macro algeas will die, most microalgeas will die off to at most 10%, I'm not quite sure what exactly you clasify as massive dieoff I guess.