Adding dry rock to established tAnk

[Sam22]

My tank is coming to 5 months old and is doing well I started with dead rock and sand so have had a long ugly phase which is starting to come to an end. My question is I have a spot on my Aquascape that has a mushroom shape and I wanted to add some dry rock around the base of the mushroom to form a large bolder shape so I have more space to place corals
Is there a best way to go about this? will just putting it straight in cause a mini cycle Cos I have fish and a few corals already in the tank doing well and if I can’t just add it straight in what would I have to do to prep it for going in the tank? I’d be looking at around 5kg or 10 pound of new dead rock

 

[HeyJay]

In my experience you'll be fine. Rinse the new rock in RO, but if it's dead rock there will be nothing to die off and cause an ammonia spike

 

[stanleo]

when i did this, I used tank water that I got from a water change and soaked the rock in it for a month with a heater and filter.

 

[reef_ninja]

Kind of depends. Some dry rock can still have a bunch of dead stuff on it that could add more nutrient load until it matures. But it depends on the size of your tank and how much LR you have as to whether it would be an issue.

For example, I have about 40 lbs of live rock in my system, and about 3-4 weeks ago I added maybe 5 lbs of true dry rock (nothing dead on itt) to my sump, and that worked just fine.

 

[Krixic]

I just recently added a massive piece of dry rock because I was not satisfied with my scape. Make sure to cycle it through RO water for a day or two preferably with a pump of some sort. Its been in my tank for a week with no issues now.

Generally speaking, as long as you let it soak, you wont have any issues. Its when you take out live rock that the problems arrise

 

[Pdash]

My tank is coming to 5 months old and is doing well I started with dead rock and sand so have had a long ugly phase which is starting to come to an end. My question is I have a spot on my Aquascape that has a mushroom shape and I wanted to add some dry rock around the base of the mushroom to form a large bolder shape so I have more space to place corals
Is there a best way to go about this? will just putting it straight in cause a mini cycle Cos I have fish and a few corals already in the tank doing well and if I can’t just add it straight in what would I have to do to prep it for going in the tank? I’d be looking at around 5kg or 10 pound of new dead rock

I would rinse the new rock thoroughly and place it in your sump for a month or so before going into the display, you could even add individual peices into the sump gradually over a period of a couple weeks. After a month or so move it up to the display. This should help prevent the algae explosion you sometimes see on new rock added to an existing system.

 

[Sam22]

Could it help If I added the new dry rock to the sump then add in some dr Tim’s one and only to boost it with bacteria
My tank is about 75 gallons I’m not sure how much rock in weight I have in atm as I had a ceramic custom scape built but I’d say I’d need maybe 5-10% more rock than what I have in now

 

[HeyJay]

Could it help If I added the new dry rock to the sump then add in some dr Tim’s one and only to boost it with bacteria
My tank is about 75 gallons I’m not sure how much rock in weight I have in atm as I had a ceramic custom scape built but I’d say I’d need maybe 5-10% more rock than what I have in now

Your current rock is already loaded with bacteria which will seed the new rock. No need for bottled bac.

 

[hexcolor reef]

revisiting this thread, I just added dry rock to my cycled system and now I’m dealing with cloudy water. I rinsed the dry rock in tap water inside of 5gal buckets until water ran clear. Then added a full 4oz bottle of Fritz bacteria. All was well until the following day. I now have cloudy water and it seems to get worse when the lights go out. I have very good filter socks that keep water crystal clear and it seems impossible to get rid of this cloudy water after adding dry rock

I also did a water change same day. Red Sea Salt bucket and i usually use the Red Sea Salt Coral - black bucket

 

[N-A-S-O]

revisiting this thread, I just added dry rock to my cycled system and now I’m dealing with cloudy water. I rinsed the dry rock in tap water inside of 5gal buckets until water ran clear. Then added a full 4oz bottle of Fritz bacteria. All was well until the following day. I now have cloudy water and it seems to get worse when the lights go out. I have very good filter socks that keep water crystal clear and it seems impossible to get rid of this cloudy water after adding dry rock

I also did a water change same day. Red Sea Salt bucket and i usually use the Red Sea Salt Coral - black bucket

I'm currently having the same issue. How long did it take for your tank to clear?

 

[hexcolor reef]

I'm currently having the same issue. How long did it take for your tank to clear?

I went out and purchased a UV sterilizer put it inside my display tank and about 4 days it was clear again

 

[ben5impson]

revisiting this thread, I just added dry rock to my cycled system and now I’m dealing with cloudy water. I rinsed the dry rock in tap water inside of 5gal buckets until water ran clear. Then added a full 4oz bottle of Fritz bacteria. All was well until the following day. I now have cloudy water and it seems to get worse when the lights go out. I have very good filter socks that keep water crystal clear and it seems impossible to get rid of this cloudy water after adding dry rock

I also did a water change same day. Red Sea Salt bucket and i usually use the Red Sea Salt Coral - black bucket

that's likely a bacterial bloom from the Fritz or excess nutrients in the rock or tap water. Diatom blooms appear on surfaces and not in the water column unless after scraping the glass. I don't think the UV was what cleared the water. probably helped but bacterial blooms are usually short lived and of no concern but still great to.have a UV on hand if it has the appropriate specs for the application. but yeah in this instance it was probably counter intuitive as that bacteria blooms was feeding on something in your system, probably what you added it for in the first place. but all that unsettled bacteria would have just been blasted away by the uv. also it's a really bad idea to soak your dry rock in tap water as it's extremely porous and can trap all sorts of nasties to leech out in to the aquarium later hence everyone saying tank water or RODI water. usually I just add a small amount at a time. also while silicates lead to diatom blooms which are ugly but rarely harmful.