how much longer we talking about then if i did 25kg live rock and 25kg reef bones?
Sam
Newbie wants to keep lion fish
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how much longer we talking about then if i did 25kg live rock and 25kg reef bones?
Sam
Navarre
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for the reefbones to get bacteria inhabiting it? Not long at all. Probably about 1 month. However, reefbones do have dea and decayed creatures deep within it so expect a spike from reefbones in the cycle.
So allow the extra time for hte rrfbones to allow the bacteria to populate and perhaps we are looking at around 6 weeks?
As for the reefbones becoming colonised with life and creatures that living rock has, this can take well over a year. I have reefbones in my tank and they have been there for almost a year. Only now can i say that the reefbones look no different to liverock, (thus it is now true liverock in its own right).
The important thing is the bacteria as this is what does the filtration. as long as the bacteria are in place then you can add the fish. the other life can come of its own accord in due course.
So allow the extra time for hte rrfbones to allow the bacteria to populate and perhaps we are looking at around 6 weeks?
As for the reefbones becoming colonised with life and creatures that living rock has, this can take well over a year. I have reefbones in my tank and they have been there for almost a year. Only now can i say that the reefbones look no different to liverock, (thus it is now true liverock in its own right).
The important thing is the bacteria as this is what does the filtration. as long as the bacteria are in place then you can add the fish. the other life can come of its own accord in due course.
depending on where you live, theres a place in the midlands, shirleys aquatics, they do indo live rock a lot cheaper, other than that have a look on some of the marine forums, quite often you see peeps selling liverock on there cheaper than shop prices, as to lions, i have a fuzzy dwarf, bout 5 inches, he takes lance fish and similar the size of clowns, so damsels would be a snack for him and hes not fully grown, he lives with a rabbit thats almost a soulmate, 75 gall tank, at least 30k of live rock prob more, fluidised filter hung on the back fed by a big external filter that has one sponge in it to stop the solids getting in the fluidised and a load of ceramic rock as well, seems daft as a brush but allthough he will accept hand feeding you have to be carefull, the big brother to it is so nice but realistically i know the tanks too small
i have a mental picture of a rabbit in scuba gear swimming around the tank 
another cheaper alternative would be to buy uncured LR. Again it will take longer before you can add fish, but you will get a greater diversity of life, and iirc it is about half the price of cured LR.
without wanting to start another debate/argument on the subject, I do think that in large (100 gallons +) fish only tanks, other filtration methods can work perfectly well.
you don't see any big public aquarium tanks with tonnes and tonnes of live rock in them do you?
obviously these use industrial scale systems, but the principle can filter down to large home aquariums.
I personally don't have live rock in my 100g aquarium. I run two external filters - one a wet/dry, a skimmer and a fairly large refugium. While you don't get the benefit of LR getting rid of nitrates, in a fish only tank it is not as important to keep nitrates at absolutely minimal levels as it is in reefs (unless trying to keep some of the more difficult fish species of course). Having said that, we do not want the levels to get so high as to cause stress to the fish. The refugium is perfect, as the macroalgae acts as a nitrate sponge, and regular harvesting will remove it from the system, as well as other undesirable pollutants.
Touch wood, my fish are all looking disgustingly healthy at the moment (I just know I'm going to regret saying that).
With the recent release of the eheim pro3, and a similar filter soon to be released by fluval, things are looking even better for this method.
Having said all that (again
) I do think that if you can afford LR, it may well be the ideal solution for you.
another cheaper alternative would be to buy uncured LR. Again it will take longer before you can add fish, but you will get a greater diversity of life, and iirc it is about half the price of cured LR.
without wanting to start another debate/argument on the subject, I do think that in large (100 gallons +) fish only tanks, other filtration methods can work perfectly well.
you don't see any big public aquarium tanks with tonnes and tonnes of live rock in them do you?
obviously these use industrial scale systems, but the principle can filter down to large home aquariums.
I personally don't have live rock in my 100g aquarium. I run two external filters - one a wet/dry, a skimmer and a fairly large refugium. While you don't get the benefit of LR getting rid of nitrates, in a fish only tank it is not as important to keep nitrates at absolutely minimal levels as it is in reefs (unless trying to keep some of the more difficult fish species of course). Having said that, we do not want the levels to get so high as to cause stress to the fish. The refugium is perfect, as the macroalgae acts as a nitrate sponge, and regular harvesting will remove it from the system, as well as other undesirable pollutants.
Touch wood, my fish are all looking disgustingly healthy at the moment (I just know I'm going to regret saying that).
With the recent release of the eheim pro3, and a similar filter soon to be released by fluval, things are looking even better for this method.
Having said all that (again
) I do think that if you can afford LR, it may well be the ideal solution for you.sam....do you know what you are getting into here?
you have expressed concerns already about cost and time spent on maintenance.
a good idea may be to ask people for their expenditure lists (both on set up and routine costs) and their time spent on the tnak - you may find neither are want you expect....you may find they are in which case great!
to help i have set up a 4ft 2f 2ft recently with a budget of £1000.......12wks in i have stopped adding it up when it went past £3,500....and prob done 6 days work in the last 12 weeks due to time invested in the bloody thing!
T
you have expressed concerns already about cost and time spent on maintenance.
a good idea may be to ask people for their expenditure lists (both on set up and routine costs) and their time spent on the tnak - you may find neither are want you expect....you may find they are in which case great!
to help i have set up a 4ft 2f 2ft recently with a budget of £1000.......12wks in i have stopped adding it up when it went past £3,500....and prob done 6 days work in the last 12 weeks due to time invested in the bloody thing!
T
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