reefdive Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Hi! This is my first post and I'm not 100% positive this is the right place to post but but here we go... After doing a bunch of research I (like many people) have fallen in love with the tiny pico reefs! However I'd love to try something a little bit different since I live on an island without a fish store lol. As much as I searched the web I couldn't find any info at all on doing a tank straight from the ocean!! If anyone has any thoughts or advice please help!! This is what I'm thinking so far: Lots of dead coral everywhere...live on a canal...take cleaned/dried pieces of dead coral and let them hang out in canal for a week or so and effectively culture my own live rock By hand coral collection off the reef (no hard and stoney corals allowed) By hand collection of sand from reef for live sand Use ocean water in the tank (50% wc every other day?) ???? Thanks!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Hello and welcome I'm sure there are others that have done similar tanks but it may be limited numbers because many live nowhere near the ocean or live where collection is prohibited. Collect sand, collect wet dead coral, collect water. (Providing it's legal to do this where you live) Set up the tank. There is no cycle of it's all from the ocean. If the dead coral is wet and in the ocean, it's already cured(cultured) no need to culture it. If its dried up and on the beach it would need to be cured in SW like we do with dry rock. I have used dried up coral from the beach in my reef tanks and cycled it with my other dry rocks. You don't need to do 50% waterchanges every other day. 100% 1 time a week is common in pico reefs. Theres a whole section on pico jars. It's very informative. We had a pico jar contest a few mnths back. Take a look at that, many members were involved. Tons of ideas and info on care/set up. Quote Link to comment
reefdive Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 2 minutes ago, Clown79 said: Hello and welcome I'm sure there are others that have done similar tanks but it may be limited numbers because many live nowhere near the ocean or live where collection is prohibited. Collect sand, collect wet dead coral, collect water. (Providing it's legal to do this where you live) Set up the tank. There is no cycle of it's all from the ocean. If the dead coral is wet and in the ocean, it's already cured(cultured) no need to culture it. If its dried up and on the beach it would need to be cured in SW like we do with dry rock. I have used dried up coral from the beach in my reef tanks and cycled it with my other dry rocks. You don't need to do 50% waterchanges every other day. 100% 1 time a week is common in pico reefs. Theres a whole section on pico jars. It's very informative. We had a pico jar contest a few mnths back. Take a look at that, many members were involved. Tons of ideas and info on care/set up. Thanks for the info! Im pretty sure that rock hasn't been in the ocean in hundreds of years do I still need to cure it? I've been looking thru the whole section on pico reefs just hoping someone might have done it from the ocean and had some specific tips! Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 If it's out of the water, yes it needs curing. Big concern with collecting dry stuff from the beach is contaminants. Quote Link to comment
reefdive Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 Just now, Clown79 said: If it's out of the water, yes it needs curing. Big concern with collecting dry stuff from the beach is contaminants. I picked it up a few weeks ago and have had it sitting in fresh water (changing it out daily) to hopefully flush out any contaminants! It is unfortunately not legal to take any wet rocks here, so either I take the chance with the dry rock or break from the intention of this tank and buy live rock Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 There are methods to cleaning the rock. Some use bleach some use vinegar. Look up liverock baths 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 this is a great idea and I for one think you should do it! I would just get very clear info for the local government ( if you have not already) when i lived in Hawaii I use natural salt water (NSW) for my water changes I got a permit to collect a very limited # fish from the department of land and resources. I never did tho I wonder if you take dry rock and add it to the ocean making LR will it still be illegal? that is the stuff you need to find out. i'll try to fallow along. oh and welcome to nano reef! 1 Quote Link to comment
reefdive Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 4 hours ago, devaji108 said: this is a great idea and I for one think you should do it! I would just get very clear info for the local government ( if you have not already) when i lived in Hawaii I use natural salt water (NSW) for my water changes I got a permit to collect a very limited # fish from the department of land and resources. I never did tho I wonder if you take dry rock and add it to the ocean making LR will it still be illegal? that is the stuff you need to find out. i'll try to fallow along. oh and welcome to nano reef! Thanks for the info!! I won’t be taking any lifestock other than corals (do corals count as lifestock?) which can be collected within limits with a saltwater fishing license, as can certain fish but other than maybe a goby I don’t think anything can/should live in that small of a container! I’m not sure about the rock tho but the reason it’s illegal is to protect the reef and prohibit breaking off chunks of reef so dunking a rock in a canal in my backyard seems at worst, a legal grey area! I’ll try and keep an updated thread going as the project comes together! 1 Quote Link to comment
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