Live rock in Sump

[bulldogniner]

Hey,

I've had some liverock in my sump for years now. It was originally setup as part of my refugium, but I haven't had a light in there in some time, so it is just bare rock in the refugium chamber. I have a friend looking to start a biocube...being that this has been in my aquarium for a while, would it benefit him to use that rather than starting from "dead" or uncured rock. And for my own knowledge, would this sump rock be classified as cured even though it had been not exposed to light in a long time?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Yup! As long as it's been wet and in your system it will be cultured with good bacteria. It may not have any algae due to lack of light, but that's probably a good thing

 

[bulldogniner]

Well, i am fighting some GHA at the moment, so that is the last thing I want to give him!

 

[bulldogniner]

And again, so I understand the cycling part of the tank correctly...by adding cured live rock like this, does it cut down on the new biocube cycling time and if so, by how much would you think? He asked me a question about how long after setup until he could add fish. I've had my tank for 9 years or more now so I can't even remember!

 

[Crabs McJones]

It'll definitely help seed the new rock faster. But he'll still want to make sure that the rock you're giving him can handle the bioload of the fish he wants to add. My suggestion would be to have him add your rock to his system. Add food or pick up some ammonia, and test. Once he can dose 2ppm ammonia and it be gone 24 hours later, he's ready to add one or two fish.

 

[bulldogniner]

Cool, i am always on the side of caution, so I'll tell him a week or so longer than probably actually needed

 

[Crabs McJones]

Cool, i am always on the side of caution, so I'll tell him a week or so longer than probably actually needed

It could be longer based on a bunch of variables. Just make sure he's testing levels before throwing any fish in

 

[jda]

Put it in your display for a while before giving it to him. The sump rock will be nice and ready for the nitrogen cycle and will have some other microfauna that does not need the light, but it will have even more stuff if you allow some sponges, cryptic sponges and other things from the bright side of the world to colonize the rock too.

In any case, the sump rock is eons better than dry/dead, but might be even better if in your display for a few weeks.

You can always give him a cup of sand from your tank and another piece of small rock if you do not have time to let this stuff marinate.

 

[jda]

If you wait until he has a bit of film algae on the glass, then the tank is probably ready for some reasonably sized and fed fish... do not go crazy or anything, but this is a really good start.

 

[bulldogniner]

Put it in your display for a while before giving it to him. The sump rock will be nice and ready for the nitrogen cycle and will have some other microfauna that does not need the light, but it will have even more stuff if you allow some sponges, cryptic sponges and other things from the bright side of the world to colonize the rock too.

In any case, the sump rock is eons better than dry/dead, but might be even better if in your display for a few weeks.

You can always give him a cup of sand from your tank and another piece of small rock if you do not have time to let this stuff marinate.

Will do. I need to do a little re-aquascaping anyway!

 

[X-37B]

Agree. I held about 25lbs of live rock in my 120 sump for about 3 months.
Then setup my frag tank with it and no cycle.
Only added a fish evey couple weeks and no issues.
I also took my nano live rock which was 2.5 years old and setup my 120 with it and an equal amount of caribsea dry with no cycle.