Dry live rock help

[Slideways48]

Hi, I was originally going to set up a 20 gallon saltwater aquarium, and I have 40 pounds of dry live rock, because I didn't have an aquarium chosen yet, I decided to go the dry route, well now I was given a 55 gallon aquarium and I think im gonna need more than 40 lbs to run a 55, so do I start setting everything up now and start cycling the tank or later when I have the full amount? This is my very first saltwater tank and I thank you in advance for all the help

 

[Planedoc]

Live rock is never dry. If it is dry it is dry rock. If it was live and now it's dry it's now called dead rock that is highly contaminated with a lot of dead/decaying matter. If you want to use dead rock in your tank you need to cure it. That is a long process of letting the dead material decay/rot away and let new bacteria grow in the process that will help your new tank cycle. Depending on how much life was on the rock when removed from water it can take up to 2 months. Start curing your rock as soon as possible

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[MadBrad527]

You should be fine starting with your 40 lbs, and it will cycle. Just slowly add the 15 lbs more or however much more you may add to prevent a small mini cycle, as this will obviously create issues that you won't want to get into. IE Ammonia/nitrates/etc.

 

[c_healy]

You will be ok to add small amounts of dead rock later on. Just add a piece at s time if possible.

 

[Slideways48]

Thanks everyone, I'll start curing now and be slow to add the rest of my rock

 

[Badfish83]

Could set the tank up put everything in it and then seed it with live rock.