Help me with an assembly line build

[dantimdad]

@dantimdad i just want to say I think this is a brilliant thing you are doing, although I assume you know that! I’m a UK vet, I’ve been out 20 years now but still struggle. The calming effect of fish can’t be underestimated and I’ve found recently is great way to help me bond with my young kids who shamefully I used to push away.
Well done sir and thankyou

Thank you!

And, even though it's a different country, thank your for your service!

 

[Bigboned]

Thank you!

And, even though it's a different country, thank your for your service!

You are very welcome!

 

[mcarroll]

I think we will cycle dry rock to avoid as much of the uglies as possible.

A big myth.

Try a forum search for "uglies" in the title and see the number of dead rock tanks in the results.

Do dead rock if it makes sense, but don't do under any delusion of "betterness".

Dead rock is cheaper, not better.

 

[dantimdad]

Actually, my idea of cycling is different than most. By cycling I don't just mean throw it in a bucket of saltwater and let it build a bacteria colony.

I actually mean let it do that and then turn on pure actinic and seed with coraline and let it go through the phases. Then, when it comes time to setup the tank, yes, you will get diatoms but, generally not any really nasty phases.

Been doing this a considerable amount of time. Didn't do it with my 93 and wish I would have.

 

[mcarroll]

Did you mean you've been doing this since 1993?

Certainly that sounds like an excellent plan.

You must have a source already selected for a wide range of seed microbes since that is normally what live rock brings. Much more than you can get in any bottle of bacteria or from just about any product I'm aware of. I'm sure you already know, but that wide range of microbes is what brings reef tanks their stability.

Professional companies that culture dead rock to live rock in the ocean seem to give it a couple years or so – and this is under ideal oceanic circumstances.

How long do you think this will take under residential circumstances where quantity and diversity of microbes is typically very reduced?

You had said this strategy was to avoid uglies as much as possible earlier, BTW. That wasn't me.

I only chimed in to let the air out of that one idea since it is one that gets repeated a lot by newbies. (Which you are apparently not according to your last post. That's obviously good!)

Dead rock does not achieve that goal (avoiding uglies) versus live rock, hence my post about myth and cheaper vs better, which it is on both counts. Lots of folks encounter uglies with dead rock. In many cases it's the worst uglies I've ever seen in the entire hobby. Some folks claim to have a good experience too — it just doesn't seem like there are that many of them.

If cheaper was actually the goal the whole time, then dead rock is a slamdunk.

And of course it can be cultured, it just needs appropriate culture time and circumstance to "enliven".

Best of luck – this is very exciting project.

 

[dantimdad]

I have been keeping marine aquariums since 89.

Been culturing live rock at home off and on since about 94.

Generally, I will get a few pounds of good quality live rock, smash it up with a hammer and spread it on a vat or tub of cycling live rock. Back then I was buying it from a couple different places when we could still get really nice wild fiji and tonga.

I will then feed it and let it cycle through. After the rock is cycled, I turn on actinic lights and seed with coraline from a couple different sources (if need be) and let it go until I feel it's ready.

Usually this takes about six months. We used to call this insta-reef as a joke.

In the 90's I did about 6 or 8 tons (yes tons!) of live rock this way buying it by the pallet from texas a 1000 pounds at a time in kiddie pools and rubbermaid horse troughs. I had a very large room on my house for breeding clown fish and culturing live rock at the time. I also bulk bought corals and fish and resold. My power bill was insane!