Replacing Live Rock
- Thread starter xabo
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I did something similar and I did not have a noticeable re-cycling event. I think the key thing is to really make sure that the liverock you're replacing the current rock with is fully cured.
What I did was ordered live rock online to be shipped in water. Then I did my iodine + high salinity soak to get rid of pests (5 minute soak). Then I put into a temporary tank with flow + heater. In a few hours the water turned yellow with an odor. Then I took the rocks out and put them in a second tank with fresh saltwater + flow + heater. In the meantime, I tossed the water in the first tank and made new saltwater. At first, I changed the tank for the rocks and put them in new fresh saltwater every 12 hours or so. Then after day 2 I did it daily for about 3 days. Then with sustained clear clean water over 24 hours, I knew it was ready. I did a quick ammonia test and showed up zero. So the next day I pulled all my old rock out (removed any sps frags off the old rock). Then put in the new live rock, reattached the frags.
Then in a week I did a 10%, per my usual weekly water change schedule. I did get a diatom bloom after i put in the new rock only on my sand. Then it slowly went away after some sand vaccing during my weekly water changes. I can tell you my acro frags started to encrust like never before after a week with the live rock compared to my dry rock, where my frags were browned and dying while my rock was a neon green from the algae that grew on it.
What I did was ordered live rock online to be shipped in water. Then I did my iodine + high salinity soak to get rid of pests (5 minute soak). Then I put into a temporary tank with flow + heater. In a few hours the water turned yellow with an odor. Then I took the rocks out and put them in a second tank with fresh saltwater + flow + heater. In the meantime, I tossed the water in the first tank and made new saltwater. At first, I changed the tank for the rocks and put them in new fresh saltwater every 12 hours or so. Then after day 2 I did it daily for about 3 days. Then with sustained clear clean water over 24 hours, I knew it was ready. I did a quick ammonia test and showed up zero. So the next day I pulled all my old rock out (removed any sps frags off the old rock). Then put in the new live rock, reattached the frags.
Then in a week I did a 10%, per my usual weekly water change schedule. I did get a diatom bloom after i put in the new rock only on my sand. Then it slowly went away after some sand vaccing during my weekly water changes. I can tell you my acro frags started to encrust like never before after a week with the live rock compared to my dry rock, where my frags were browned and dying while my rock was a neon green from the algae that grew on it.
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xabo
Valuable Member
Looks and feels like turf to me and some others, while a lot of others feel the same as you. I sent pictures to Reef Cleaners who also stated it's a form of "Rare Coralline Algae."
When removed out of the tank it feels rubbery.
I recommend continue awesome hand removal
something in your frag sourcing or feed or water etc promotes this algae and frankly it’s preferable to dinos, manual cleaning above is ideal, that rock is not uncycled.
the whole system needs worked like that plus a sandbed cleaning if you’re down for being through, it’s rid any algae that may have fallen off and taken refuge there, depending on tank size a total cleaning is a nice way to align mass
then try snails as grazers, in the clean condition
something in your frag sourcing or feed or water etc promotes this algae and frankly it’s preferable to dinos, manual cleaning above is ideal, that rock is not uncycled.
the whole system needs worked like that plus a sandbed cleaning if you’re down for being through, it’s rid any algae that may have fallen off and taken refuge there, depending on tank size a total cleaning is a nice way to align mass
then try snails as grazers, in the clean condition
If you decide to replace it all, a skip cycle is possible
www.reef2reef.com
any of the live rock from that thread can be used to replenish your live rock if that is preferred. If you swapped it all, and cleaned your sand, thats guaranteed no cycle.
if you swap the rocks and not clean the sand fully, then you have about a ten percent chance of a mini cycle as removing stacks of live rock from used sand upwells waste. there is no benefit to avoid cleaning the sand for stability, its less stable to keep it unclean while doing major tank jobs, full live rock swaps are the biggest.
A thread tracking pure skip cycle instant reefs, no bottle bac
This is a testless cycling thread, we don't want ammonia testing here for any job if possible, because we are teaching reefers/readers that moving live rocks system to system does not restart the cycle: many in our community don't understand that rule and feel that any tank being setup simply...
www.reef2reef.com
any of the live rock from that thread can be used to replenish your live rock if that is preferred. If you swapped it all, and cleaned your sand, thats guaranteed no cycle.
if you swap the rocks and not clean the sand fully, then you have about a ten percent chance of a mini cycle as removing stacks of live rock from used sand upwells waste. there is no benefit to avoid cleaning the sand for stability, its less stable to keep it unclean while doing major tank jobs, full live rock swaps are the biggest.
HuduVudu
2500 Club Member
I wouldn't remove it if I were you. I looks good and generally speaking red algaes are pretty slow growing, thus making them good candidates to keep pest algaes at bay.
Fact is something is going to cover the rock. That algae seems a pretty good candidate. It isn't desirable for the rock to stay white i.e. sterile. Mother nature abhors sterility.
Still must recommend hand guiding as that or any other topical growth reduces your live rock surface area exposure to wastewater a hundred fold
in nature, some organism is tuned to reduce that
until you find the animal, that pic above you caused is nice stand in
*as you begin cleaning and working next to corals it’s time to reduce the overall lighting intensity in the reef, and slowly ramp back up over this week
if they get chemically irritated due to cleaning proximity then clean water and reduced light with ramp up is a bleach protector
same if you change out rocks, re ramp the LEDs
in nature, some organism is tuned to reduce that
until you find the animal, that pic above you caused is nice stand in
*as you begin cleaning and working next to corals it’s time to reduce the overall lighting intensity in the reef, and slowly ramp back up over this week
if they get chemically irritated due to cleaning proximity then clean water and reduced light with ramp up is a bleach protector
same if you change out rocks, re ramp the LEDs
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xabo
Valuable Member
Thanks for the replies.......I had coralline algae covering the rocks,glass,overflows until this showed up. Now I have none visible which leads me to believe it's some type of nuisance algae.
Also I believe the rocks are leaching phosphates as my levels were unreadable with the test kits I have, Salifert, Red sea Pro as they don't read that high.
Also I believe the rocks are leaching phosphates as my levels were unreadable with the test kits I have, Salifert, Red sea Pro as they don't read that high.
