AZDesertRat Posted December 7, 2002 Share Posted December 7, 2002 I bought 50lbs of Hawaiian base rock off e-bay and plan to put it into a tub or aquarium along with 10 +/- lbs of live rock that I will take out of my established tank. I will use a powerhead or pump and a heater and maybe some lighting if needed. Do I need to feed it? How long before it will have bacteria and critters growing and I can add it into an established tank without fear of upsetting something? Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted December 7, 2002 Share Posted December 7, 2002 Base rock can absolutely be added to an established aquarium! In fact it is safer to add base rock than live rock to an established tank (note I am not saying that it is deadly to add LR to an established tank -I do it all the time, only that adding base rock is even more safe). No die-off will occur if you use base rock. Baceria will begin to populate the rock slowly. An established aquarium has established an equalibrium of bacteria and waste products. If you and new live rock to an established aquarium, suddenly the tank has more bacteria than needed, and some of the bacteria in the new rock as well as the rest of your tank will die-off, creating waste. With new rock there is no over abondance of bacteria, and it makes for a nice smooth transition. As for how long it will take, that all depends on how much life will populate the rock before YOU call it live. In all honesty, within moments some bacteria is going to contact the rock and begin to grow. Is it a signifigent amount? Not really, but it is there. Within a couple of weeks you should start seeing "spots" of life. If you have any coralline that forms shelves, break some off and set it on the rock, it should attach sooner or later. Note, I like superglue, but super-gluing coralline is NOT a good idea it does not react well with the glue! If your calcium and carbonate levels (alk is a good, but indirect, measure of carbonates -if you are new to the hobby just consider alk = carbonates) are at optimum levels then coralline will take off and cover the rocks (eventually). You should see spots in 2-3 weeks or sooner. But be aware, that they will be ugly grey rocks for a while. -wow, I think that was probably a much longer responce than you wanted... Link to comment
AZDesertRat Posted December 7, 2002 Author Share Posted December 7, 2002 Just the kind of info I'm looking for. I have had my 20G set up for years but really haven't added anything in forever. I plan on swapping out some of the rock if this stuff is as good as I have heard and giving some of my old stuff to my nephew who is just starting out. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted December 7, 2002 Share Posted December 7, 2002 just a quick note If you have any problematic algae in your tank when you introduce the base rock it may quickly over take it. Since this rock is bare it has nothing to compete with therefore engulfing it like the plague!! If you dont you will probably still notice some green algae grow on it first then the snails shood take care if it and other stuff will begin to grow like printerdown stated Link to comment
NanoReefer53 Posted December 7, 2002 Share Posted December 7, 2002 is it the hawaiian base rock u bought on e-bay ? I bought the same exact thing and with only 4lbs of live rock and 2 months, the rocks were at least 50% covered in coraline. As you probably noticed, it's white right now but soon the whole thing will be covered in various life forms. Link to comment
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