Dead Rock turning into Live Rock?

[Anthony Danta]

so completely a newbie question but my LFS sold me this dead/dry rock that's already purple in color and had me add in bio balls to my AIO back chamber.

My question is how long will it take for this rock to become live? and after this should I remove the bio balls my LFS insures me bio balls aren't bad but everything i read about them suggests otherwise so i'm kind of at a point where i dunno how to move forward and make sure i'm successful down the road

 

[eggplantparrot]

depends on what you really mean by dead rock

dry rock - usually rock thats mined from underground, never been in the sea and should have no biological matter within it. will not provide nutrients for bacteria to populate therefore must add source of ammonia to cycle.

dead rock - rock that was once in sea/tank water and had all matter of marine life living in it. taken out of the water and dried, killing all life within. once soaked with water the biological matter will start decomposing and start generating ammonia and other nutrients that can aid cycling. must be cured in sea water for a long time for all matter to decompose first before use.

depending on which you have your course of action would be very different. the purple you spoke of is actual coralline algae or just painted on for effects? if it's actually dead rock then you may want to cure it outside of your tank for easy cleanup of dead stuff that may come out of the rock.

 

[eggplantparrot]

after cycling your tank and adding in some coralline (from frag plugs, hermit shells etc) and copepods/amphipods (also from frag plugs or bought) it will take no time at all before they take over your rock.

 

[Anthony Danta]

after cycling your tank and adding in some coralline (from frag plugs, hermit shells etc) and copepods/amphipods (also from frag plugs or bought) it will take no time at all before they take over your rock.

i would assume it was never in the ocean man made type of deal. the purple is just painted on to look like coraline. i cleaned it and all before putting in the tank and the tanks been running for just around 6 weeks i added bacteria and bio balls from the lfs that had bacteria already on them. the tank has cycled and i currently have 2 clown fish and a few pieces of coral in the tank.

i just wanted to know when or if i should pull out the bio balls i have in there roughly 15 of them that i have in there. i dont wanna pull them out if it will cause a issue in the tank. nut i know long term everything i read says they become nitrate factory's

 

[PatW]

As mentioned above, there is rock taken from reefs and dried. It has all sorts of dry organic matter and nutrients in it. It can take quite some time to cure it to get it so it is not releasing nutrients into the tank.

Assuming that you are starting with clean dry rock, it does not take that much time to cycle your aquarium and getting the bacteria populations on the rock to drive the nitrogen cycle from ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. If you just add a nitrogen source it could take as much as 3 months. If you add nitrogen and a bacteria preparation like Dr. Tim’s, it might be less than a couple of weeks.

Cycling the tank means you can add fish and inverts and not have them poisoned by their own nitrogenous wastes.

But it take time for a tank and it’s rock to mature. Most tanks go through about a year or longer of the ugly stage. That means having a series of nasty kinds of algae dominating the tank. Eventually, you will get a balance of algae and grazers like snails, crabs and tangs that will keep the rock nice and clean.

 

[MnFish1]

i would assume it was never in the ocean man made type of deal. the purple is just painted on to look like coraline. i cleaned it and all before putting in the tank and the tanks been running for just around 6 weeks i added bacteria and bio balls from the lfs that had bacteria already on them. the tank has cycled and i currently have 2 clown fish and a few pieces of coral in the tank.

i just wanted to know when or if i should pull out the bio balls i have in there roughly 15 of them that i have in there. i dont wanna pull them out if it will cause a issue in the tank. nut i know long term everything i read says they become nitrate factory's

Why would you pull them out? (the bioballs) they aren't going to hurt anything

 

[Anthony Danta]

As mentioned above, there is rock taken from reefs and dried. It has all sorts of dry organic matter and nutrients in it. It can take quite some time to cure it to get it so it is not releasing nutrients into the tank.

Assuming that you are starting with clean dry rock, it does not take that much time to cycle your aquarium and getting the bacteria populations on the rock to drive the nitrogen cycle from ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. If you just add a nitrogen source it could take as much as 3 months. If you add nitrogen and a bacteria preparation like Dr. Tim’s, it might be less than a couple of weeks.

Cycling the tank means you can add fish and inverts and not have them poisoned by their own nitrogenous wastes.

But it take time for a tank and it’s rock to mature. Most tanks go through about a year or longer of the ugly stage. That means having a series of nasty kinds of algae dominating the tank. Eventually, you will get a balance of algae and grazers like snails, crabs and tangs that will keep the rock nice and clean.

Thanks. The tank has cycled and i went through the diatom stage then added a clean up crew and my 2 clowns it has now been 2 weeks since i had them and all the parameters are staying in check and good. I just wanna make sure bio balls aren't gonna hurt my system in the future. I don't wanna just pull them out and remove too much bacteria and hurt my tank or fish so this is why i'm asking about it.
And if bio balls are a bad thing how and when should i go about removing them ?

 

[Anthony Danta]

Why would you pull them out? (the bioballs) they aren't going to hurt anything

I have been reading a lot of people saying they will be a nitrate factory and cause me issues down the road. Just wanna set myself up for success and figured i would get everyone opinions on it.

 

[MnFish1]

I have been reading a lot of people saying they will be a nitrate factory and cause me issues down the road. Just wanna set myself up for success and figured i would get everyone opinions on it.

A lot of people say a lot of things. if that were true - then every piece of live rock in a tank is a 'nitrate factory'. Now - note. im not talking about bioballs that are covered in waste because the water going through them has not been filtered. But - When you look at the (Sorry to use this word)silliness between the people dosing nitrate - and the people saying xxxxxx is a nitrate factory - it gets hard to figure out whats up... your 15 or 18 bioballs are not going to cause a problem.... (and they also might not be helping)

 

[Softhammer]

A lot of people don’t know very much. A piece of plastic cannot produce nitrate. It’s all an old wives tale brought upon from the old days of wet/ dry trickle filters using bioballs. They did reduce ammonia and nitrites but did not complete the nitrification processes that live rock does. Keep in mind those with the most advice to offer, often have the least amount of experience and absurd amounts of extraneous equipment to try and compensate. Bio balls are a great way to “seed” you system. Once rock is established you won’t need them but they won’t hurt anything. You can take them out, however they are a fantastic safe haven for pods and the like.

 

[lapin]

+1 above
Plastic can not produce nitrate. They can hold detritus, but then so can your rock and sand.

 

[Anthony Danta]

A lot of people don’t know very much. A piece of plastic cannot produce nitrate. It’s all an old wives tale brought upon from the old days of wet/ dry trickle filters using bioballs. They did reduce ammonia and nitrites but did not complete the nitrification processes that live rock does. Keep in mind those with the most advice to offer, often have the least amount of experience and absurd amounts of extraneous equipment to try and compensate. Bio balls are a great way to “seed” you system. Once rock is established you won’t need them but they won’t hurt anything. You can take them out, however they are a fantastic safe haven for pods and the like.

Thank you! the bio balls i have are not plastic almost look like a brown foam or cardboard here is what they look like....

 

[MnFish1]

Might be helpful if you could say what they are made of - either way - if you want to remove them - take 5 out each week

 

[Anthony Danta]

Might be helpful if you could say what they are made of - either way - if you want to remove them - take 5 out each week

I will have to ask the LFS where i purchased them they had them seeded in there tank so there was no packaging when i got them once i find out i will let you know sorry to be a bother

 

[jda]

If the stuff is covered in epoxy, then it will never fully act like live rock. The stuff on the surface might be similar, but the magic of live rock happens in the pores and in the middle - water and microfauna will not be able to penetrate the epoxy.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Those porous bio balls are different than the old school plastic bio balls.

If they are full of tiny little holes, then they are the good stuff. Same as running Seachem matrix. That stuff is just as good as live rock imo. You just have to keep it clean so make sure you are running mechanical filtration before the balls.

I would say leave them in as they are aiding in biological filtration.

 

[Anthony Danta]

If the stuff is covered in epoxy, then it will never fully act like live rock. The stuff on the surface might be similar, but the magic of live rock happens in the pores and in the middle - water and microfauna will not be able to penetrate the epoxy.

I know it’s not the best picture but that’s what I have I’ll have to ask them what brand it is when I stop in there saturday