Live Rock Question

[Alarm777]

I had a 35 gallon aquarium that quickly grew to a 135 gallon saltwater tank. My nitrates are staying pretty high and I think that I don't have the balance that I need to keep them down. I think I don't have enough live rock in my tank in my tank. I am running two Emperor 400 for now. I am working on taking my 35 gallon and converting into a sump. but the question that I am wondering is 1) how long does it take to grow bacteria on dead rock? 2) how many pounds of live rock should I have? 3) if I have an aggressive tank what are some good clean up crews I can have in the tank ?
:help:

Whats in tank:
Yellow tang
4 clown fish
blue throat trigger
Saddle Valentini Puffer
chocolate chip star fish
blue damsel
2 condy anemones
2 mushroom coral

 

[crystal181]

The rule of thumb is 1 to 1&1/2 lbs of live rock per gallon.

 

[LPSGUY]

Did you just cycle this tank? If not, ditch the emperor's they are nitrate factories. You need a good skimmer and that 35 as your sump. With this change and a few water changes you should be good. As far as clean up crews, I like snails. Turbo snails work great and clean a lot of gunk off the rocks and walls.

 

[Alarm777]

the tank has been cycling for the past 6 months with the emporers running,I resealed my 35 gallon last night hoping to start putting the panes of glass in today. for now i am putting together my own protien skimmer till I can buy a new or used one. but I still want to grow my own live rock possibly but still need to know how long it takes for the rocks to actually fully develop. anyone know?

 

[jduck]

You need better filtration or do more water changes. The $$ you paid for the emperors could of been put towards a good hob skimmer. With will have to buy a pump for your skimmer. Also a return pump for sump.
What are your nitrate levels?

 

[shred5]

I had a 35 gallon aquarium that quickly grew to a 135 gallon saltwater tank. My nitrates are staying pretty high and I think that I don't have the balance that I need to keep them down. I think I don't have enough live rock in my tank in my tank. I am running two Emperor 400 for now. I am working on taking my 35 gallon and converting into a sump. but the question that I am wondering is 1) how long does it take to grow bacteria on dead rock? 2) how many pounds of live rock should I have? 3) if I have an aggressive tank what are some good clean up crews I can have in the tank ?
:help:



Whats in tank:
Yellow tang
4 clown fish
blue throat trigger
Saddle Valentini Puffer
chocolate chip star fish
blue damsel
2 condy anemones
2 mushroom coral

Nitrates are happening because food or other matter is breaking down in your tank faster than denitrification

Two resons for this:

One you dont have enough denitrification.. Live rock does perform this operation yes, but now a days live rock is becoming less needed..

How do you handle it then, you export more than you import... Simply you need to remove what ever it is before it has a chance to break down..
Better more efficient skimmer.
Water changes.
Removing detritus.
Clean any mechanical filter more often.
Dont over feed or change food.
Dont overstock.
This also helps control phosphates.

 

[Alarm777]

30-40 ppm is what I am getting

 

[Alarm777]

You need better filtration or do more water changes. The $$ you paid for the emperors could of been put towards a good hob skimmer. With will have to buy a pump for your skimmer. Also a return pump for sump.
What are your nitrate levels?

will the skimmer have a large impact on the nitrates? also what size pump is a good one for the skimmer?

 

[Alarm777]

did a water change last night and going to do another change in a couple of days. I just got done resealing the 35 gallon sump tank and going to put the glass panes in the next couple of days then hopefully it will be up and running by next weekend if all goes well

 

[Reefing Madness]

A rather large skimmer would have a huge impact on your Nitrates. Thats the BIG BIG part of a Saltwaters filtration. Along with a minimum of 1lb of Rock per gallon. Once you get the sump up and running it will be quite some time for the MAcro Algae to grow large enough to help your water quality.
Then again, you could always Vodka Dose as well.
Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com