Tank Upgrade...New Dry Rock Question

[atp0726]

I am upgrading my current leaking Cadlights 42 Versa to a RSR 350 this weekend. I am adding around 30lbs of reef saver dry rock to the new setup. My current system is 3+ years old, has very little algae of any sort and some healthy sps colonies. I started my current system with dry rock only and it took forever to get to the point I am at now. My fear is this new rock is going to go through the same "uglies" I had the first time around. Does anyone have any first hand experience with doing something similar to this and the phases this new rock may go through? If necessary i can plan to beef up my algae eaters to try and control any outbreaks. I try keep my NO3 (5-10) and PO4 (target .07, usually lower) at very consistent levels and I plan to continue this practice in the new setup.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

My tank wasn't setup very long, but a few months after my cycle I added more dry rock and went through it all over again. If i could do it over, i would have just cycled the rock before adding it to the new tank...

 

[tehmadreefer]

The new rock will get diatoms on it but if you add the new rock little by little like a piece or so every few weeks it wont be an issue. I added t0lbs to a mature tank when I upgraded and found that was the best way to add the new the rock.

 

[atp0726]

The new rock will get diatoms on it but if you add the new rock little by little like a piece or so every few weeks it wont be an issue. I added t0lbs to a mature tank when I upgraded and found that was the best way to add the new the rock.

I am basically adding a second island that for the most part is epoxied and pinned together already. I could try and take it apart if that will make a difference an slowly add it in. It seems anytime I use dry rock I always get a hair algae outbreak at some point that i need to deal with. Wondering if that will happen again. I can deal with diatoms.

 

[Txplicit]

A guy here in dallas marine society added a whole new structure of about 20 dead rock to an established 5 year established tank to create a new island. He added the whole thing, dose fritz turbo start right onto it and said he didn't have any issues with blooms.

I think going piece by piece ever time slows the bloom, but shocking a biodiversity over and over and over with each new piece.... I don't know what that does to the whole eco system in the tank....