Rock?

[Leprichon]

Im converting a setup from fresh water to salt water...Im rather sure that Ill take an intermediate rout in the meantime and do a brackish water thing...I need to up my limestone content...my question is:

* Should I buy BASE ROCK or Texas HOLEY rock or something else?

* Does cheaper base rock (after pretty much all of the living components of it are dead) reseed itself (after I fully switch from brackish to salt water) with a bit of live rock added in, or (once its in just brackish water - and all the living components of it are dead) will it allways remain devoid of life (even after I fully switch to salt water)?

Greg

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side of TFF

What are you going to be using for filtration?

If you are going to be relying on live rock for filtration then buy live rock from a reefer breaking down a tank. I assume you are in the US? As you mention Texas rock, I have no idea what that is However, to filter a tank you need light, porous stone that can be or is colonised by differing bacteria etc. There are some types of rock with can become live and are good filters but many are too dense and heavy to be of much benefit. I can't urge you enough to go the traditional live rock route

Would you start a journel so we can follow your progress?

Seffie x

 

[Leprichon]

Seffie x,

Thanks for the intro "to the salty side of TFF"...Id love to document my progress (hopefully someone will find it worthwhile reading lol)!...as I said: Ive done fresh water now for quite some time, but want to try my hand at salt water...I believe Ill upgrade my setup and do brackish water in the transition mean time...Im at the point of adding a limestone buffer to my tank, just unsure of the rout ill go at the moment...Id love to just get LR, but Im not so sure it will be live anymore after its sat in only brackish water (and not full salt water) for a bit...anyone got any insite or advice here?

Greg

(ps-I have a good sized bio filter in place allready, so not concerned about using the rock in this manner)

 

[seffieuk]

The live rock wouldn't be live for very long in low end brackish tank

You would have to wait until your SG is up around 1.020 before adding live rock and then it needs really to be a bit higher still.

The filter you currently have is fresh water I assume? You will need to slowly raise your salinity to go brackish, so that bacteria has time to change. However, doesn't work above a certain SG as the freshwater bacteria will just die off so you will have no bacteria at all. That is whn you will need your live rock for filtration

So, what are you planning on keeping in your brackish tank and have you read Neale Monks book?

Seffie x

 

[Donya]

Im converting a setup from fresh water to salt water...Im rather sure that Ill take an intermediate rout in the meantime and do a brackish water thing...I need to up my limestone content...my question is:

* Should I buy BASE ROCK or Texas HOLEY rock or something else?

* Does cheaper base rock (after pretty much all of the living components of it are dead) reseed itself (after I fully switch from brackish to salt water) with a bit of live rock added in, or (once its in just brackish water - and all the living components of it are dead) will it allways remain devoid of life (even after I fully switch to salt water)?

Greg

Just a side note for those reefers accross the pond, Texas holey rock is just a name for limestone that has an unusually swiss cheesey appearance, giving it lots of surface area and often a strange mix of porous and smooth sections. I don't think it's even harvested exclusively from Texas, at least not from what I've seen of rock labeled that way. The same thing exists up north and it's got a different name sometimes. Probably any area that has sinnk holes/karst topography will be a good source of the rock.

Now, about that holey rock. Some folks would probably want to slap me for it (perhaps Seffie included ), but I've used lots of it in my marine tanks as a substitute for more expensive live rock from the LFS. In fact, I probably have more "live limestone" by weight than I do standard live rock. IME it seems to do roughly the same job per pound for being a biological fitler (with good, rough pieces anyway - not the ones that are just massive, smooth lumps). However, if you really want volume for less weight for fancy aquascaping, reef rocks will definitely be better. Also, unless you've already done so, you should treat each piece of non-reef rock like a potential bad egg and do a somewhat lengthy pH RO soak test. The last think you want is some hidden pockets of organics or non-carbonates sending your pH whacky. Either way, once you get a bunch of dry/dead rock, you can seed it with a bit of live rock once you get your salinity up to marine levels. Depending on how fast things move, you might even be able run that process concurrently in another tub with saltwater so that you have a bunch of cured rock ready by the time your main tank is converted.

 

[seffieuk]

Some folks would probably want to slap me for it (perhaps Seffie included ),

I wouldn't dare slap YOU Donya

But as Donya rightly pointed out, as long as the rock isnt going to react in your tank and release something nasty, is porous, has good surface area and is not too dense then it should turn 'live' after being seeded by Live rock in your tank

Seffie x