Getting some LR in. Now what?

[PhantomHalo]

So I have had my 300 gal DD with 100 gal sump up and running since November. I started it with dry rock from Marco Rocks and numerous bottles of beneficial bacteria. However, I think I’m running into algae and stabilization issues in the tank I’m guessing is from a lack of natural bacteria and diversity. Anyway, I bought 30lbs of live reef rock from Florida that is getting shipped up to me overnight tomorrow. The dilemma I am facing is putting it in a solution with 1.035-1.040 for a few hours to get all the nasties out, putting it directly in the DT, putting it directly in the sump, or freshwater dip. I guess there are other options, but from what I am reading these are the main ones. I have three triggers in my tank, three tangs, three angels, and some wrasses to include a Christmas wrasse and a yellow wrasse. I have seen aptasia in my system since I put the wrasses in and I can’t keep crabs for anything. Lol I also have a ton of corals in there now which is my main concern. I don’t want something to hitchhike in and start eating or killing my corals.
In the sump I won’t have to deal with big critters and will have all the beneficial bacteria to seed the rest of the rock. In the display, same as above, but risk bigger fish eating critters getting in. However, I will have all the ocean life that is on the rock that can populate in the DT. Hypersainity would get the big critters off, but I’m worried about killing off all the beneficial stuff. Freshwater dip would be the same, but more extreme I would think in regards to killing off beneficial bacteria and life. Soda water is another one, but haven’t read too much on how much or what it will kill. Thoughts?

 

[tautog83]

Well like you said two of those methods kinda defeat the purpose of buying live rock . Putting it in sump might limit some of the big stuff but ya never know what eggs or whatever are on it . Naturally you're going to have die off with the rock so you have to watch your levels . Granted you have a large volume of water but it can still affect it for sure . Ideally you should cure it. If you have 3 triggers I bet you do have a problem with keeping crabs lol . I know the algae part is frustrating , but things will eventually turn around . I think biodiversity is important , have ya tried a bunch of pods and manual removal of the algae ? What else are ya trying to do to lower phosphates ?

 

[PhantomHalo]

Well like you said two of those methods kinda defeat the purpose of buying live rock . Putting it in sump might limit some of the big stuff but ya never know what eggs or whatever are on it . Naturally you're going to have die off with the rock so you have to watch your levels . Granted you have a large volume of water but it can still affect it for sure . Ideally you should cure it. If you have 3 triggers I bet you do have a problem with keeping crabs lol . I know the algae part is frustrating , but things will eventually turn around . I think biodiversity is important , have ya tried a bunch of pods and manual removal of the algae ? What else are ya trying to do to lower phosphates ?

I’m flying it in via overnight air straight from the ocean. So die off should be minimal. I will still watch my levels though. I have tried pods and have tons of them in my sump and some in my tank. My wrasses eat them like crazy. So it’s hard to keep a population up. I’ve put around two gallons worth of different types of pods in the tank and sump. My phosphates crept up but have come back down with the use of GFO. I have a massive GFO reactor, carbon in bags and in a BRS reactor, marine pure blocks, and the ceramic bio balls. However, once my GFO was finally lowered my nitrates were then getting high. The battle is trying to level off and just have a stabile environment without all the fluctuation. I’m just slowly going through trying to rule out things. Lack of live rock is one of those things that was missing. I put a small ~5lb piece in my sump to seed, but thinking that may have not been enough. That’s why I’m getting 30lbs fresh out of the ocean. I’m hoping that should be enough to seed the dry rock a bit more. I have life growing on my dry rock, but it’s mostly GHA and some Dino’s (bottomed out the PO4 recently and slowly bringing levels back up to get rid of them.) I do 40 gal water changes every two weeks and siphon as much of the algae out as I can. I just started siphoning the sump as well. It works to keep it at bay for the most part, but there are some tough area where it’s still pretty rooted in. Rocks are cemented together, so pulling them all out to scrub or use H2O2 isn’t really an option.

 

[tautog83]

silly question, do you use rodi water ? sometimes chasing numbers is more of a hassle than anything. gfo can be too agressive sometimes and im not a huge fan of it but it does work . Also remember if you have algae present in your tank and are getting zero phosphates thats not very accurate because the algae gives you a false reading . have you tried a dark period? what are your nitrates?

 

[PhantomHalo]

silly question, do you use rodi water ? sometimes chasing numbers is more of a hassle than anything. gfo can be too agressive sometimes and im not a huge fan of it but it does work . Also remember if you have algae present in your tank and are getting zero phosphates thats not very accurate because the algae gives you a false reading . have you tried a dark period? what are your nitrates?

Yes, I am using RODI. I just changed the filters though as the old ones were getting pretty dirty. I am on well, so they don’t last as long as others. They were only 4-5 months old. I do think that is where some of the nutrients were coming from though. I did a dark period on my sump for about a week to kill off the massive amount of algae in there. I haven’t done the display just yet. Didn’t want to spike the system from die off. I have tried fluconazole, different bacteria’s, etc to rid the tank with no luck. This stuff is freakin stubborn. Lol Yes, the zero readings have most definitely been coming from the algae. However, this last reading dropped from .1 down to .02. (Hanna tests.) Wasn’t intending on letting it go that long, but it took me a while trying to figure out how to get the GFO that spilled into my sump out.

 

[Keithb22]

Where are you getting the live rock from? If you want to keep numbers down and watch out for any pesky hitch hikers, I would go get a food grade tote or two and cure them. I did that with my KP aquatics and was able to get some of the crabs that hitched off the rock. I also did daily water changes to minimize ammonia spikes. My rock literally took less than 10 hours to get to my door and I still had to control for the level.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

You are buying the rock for the biodiversity. If you want to maintain that biodiversity then you kind of have to just throw it in. Placing it in sump will allow you to take your time and remove larger carbs and pests. You could run a filter sock before the water enters your DT, but that would be constant monitoring to make sure it doesn't get clogged and cause a flood. Also this would not stop most fish parasites that might be on there.

You could also just place it in its own tank for 3 months and just watch it. If specific coral pests do not have a food source then they should die off. Same would be true for any fish parasites that are hitching a ride on the rock. You could also work on treating the aiptasia that will most likely be on there.

 

[PhantomHalo]

Where are you getting the live rock from? If you want to keep numbers down and watch out for any pesky hitch hikers, I would go get a food grade tote or two and cure them. I did that with my KP aquatics and was able to get some of the crabs that hitched off the rock. I also did daily water changes to minimize ammonia spikes. My rock literally took less than 10 hours to get to my door and I still had to control for the level.

I’m getting it from LiveRockandReef. I just saw someone else has a thread pretty close to this and I have been reading on that as well. Looking at doing the food grade tote thing with 1.040 salinity to get the big nasties off, but am unsure if that will kill the beneficial bacteria or not? Didn’t think about the fish pests that may be on there though. I am leaving to go overseas until October, so the goal of this was to put in there to help out while I was gone. The wife isn’t as big of a fan in taking care of the tank as I am. Lol So I am trying to make it as easy as possible for her.

 

[jda]

Put a few bottle traps in there... that can catch a lot of crabs for what they are.

Tub with some saltwater, powerhead, heater and some bottle traps for a week should fix you up.

The bacteria, sponges, coralline and other algae, microfauna, etc. all survive getting shipped damp in newspaper - the stuff all comes back.

Your triggers will also actively hunt some of the pods and crabs. While it is not like that they will get them all, they can really help.

 

[Keithb22]

Yeah that’s probably your best bet, my concern with raising salinity that high would also be the cost to your beneficial hitchhikers, bacteria, etc. plus I would think any crabs of concern will either die off on the trip or be cought in the bottle traps.

 

[PhantomHalo]

Is there a good plan for the bottle traps to build?

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Bottle trap plan... Cut top of soda bottle off. Turn 180 degree and cram cut off part into remaining portion of bottle.

I would not be worried about critters as much as aptasia. Ugggh, the scourge of aptasia.

 

[jda]

You have to put some tasty treat in the bottle trap and then lean it onto the rocks so that the critters can get it... but that basically is it.

 

[LRT]

Expect some die off. Temps are hot.
This rock comes with tons of life. Inverts, clams, sponges, tons of filter feeders, mushrooms, rock nems etc. And of course pests like aiptasia, majano, crabs(the mean kind) etc.
I have 200lbs in my sump. I wouldnt put this rock in DT as beautiful and full of life as it is you will have issues with pests its inevitable if you dont have equal balance of predators in your system.
I'd cure it in brute can regular salt. When it's done cycling the die off. Get a copperband and put it in sump with rock.
I have a few lights on my sump/reservoirs to keep everything happy.

 

[PhantomHalo]

Would you guys recommend scrubbing the rocks to get some of the die off off the outside? Bottle trap seems pretty straight forward. Thank you!

 

[LRT]

Would you guys recommend scrubbing the rocks to get some of the die off off the outside? Bottle trap seems pretty straight forward. Thank you!

Yes you will need to scrub the rock. I use an old soft bristled dog shedding brush.
Depending on how long the flight is, how long it sat out of water before being shipped, how long it sits before you pick up and get back into the water.
Expect alot of die off because as said it comes with tons of life. I couldnt believe how much life. I let mine sit at airport all day before I picked it up not realizing it's not like regular live rock you can get from Fiji or anywhere else that I'm aware of for that matter.
Comes teaming with coral. I believe Dan told me he was pulling from an area with 15-25 yrs growth.

 

[LRT]

For reference heres a few pix of what you can expect. The faster you get it back in water the less die off.
6-8 months cure.
Also watch how you place in brute can I cant tell you how many corals, clams I actually crushed and killed not paying attention.

On edit:
The blenny didnt come with the rock lol. The rock nem did though.

 

[PhantomHalo]

For reference heres a few pix of what you can expect. The faster you get it back in water the less die off.
6-8 months cure.
Also watch how you place in brute can I cant tell you how many corals, clams I actually crushed and killed not paying attention.

On edit:
The blenny didnt come with the rock lol. The rock nem did though.

That’s amazing! You’re saying to let it cure for 6-8 months or that’s how long you’ve had yours for? I can cure it for a couple weeks, but I head out of the country after that for a few months. So I gotta get it in there before that. Can’t expect the wife to take care of too much while I’m gone. Lol

 

[LRT]

That’s amazing! You’re saying to let it cure for 6-8 months or that’s how long you’ve had yours for? I can cure it for a couple weeks, but I head out of the country after that for a few months. So I gotta get it in there before that. Can’t expect the wife to take care of too much while I’m gone. Lol

Mines been cured and in system 6-8 months. Could take a few weeks for yours to cycle depending on die off.
Just make sure your there to pick up when it lands and have water ready to go.

 

[PhantomHalo]

Mines been cured and in system 6-8 months. Could take a few weeks for yours to cycle depending on die off.
Just make sure your there to pick up when it lands and have water ready to go.

Gotcha. It’s being delivered to my house by 10:30am. So I will get it scrubbed and put straight into water. Thanks for the help!