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Cultivated Reef

DO i need live rock?


fuzzyfroboy

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fuzzyfroboy

So i had a tank and it had live rock and all was swell but then i didn't want coral because it kept dying and so i just wanted fish. so i removed the live rock and added bleached normal rock and just had fish. but now i want coral back. do i need to get live rock or can i attach the coral to my bleached rocks?

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I think the issue is that Live rock provides the primary biological filtration. Are you running some other type of filtartion. I think the issue with wet/drys, canister, or power filgters is that they are too effcient and produce high nitrate readings.

 

I would just aim for 1-11/2 pound of live rock per gallon and then toss any other filters and usepowerheads for movement.

 

i think that, and i may be wrong, it woukld be fine, as long as conditions are fine, but live rock is so cool
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geekreef_05

It would work, as long as your water param's are ok and you have appropriate lighting, flow, etc. I would suggest to take things slow and use caution though.

 

Nice to see people being innovating and trying things that are rarely done. So prop's to you. g/l and keep us updated on how things turn out.

 

happy reefin'

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The rock you have in there could very easily become "live" rock if it is seeded with just a small amount of cured live rock, or even live sand.

 

Not having live rock isnt a new idea or something that is "rarely done". It was the norm for many, many years in this hobby. Live rock is a fairly new idea.

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geekreef_05

I know it was the norm many many years ago...but in that case its not the norm today. And in today's reefing community its rarely done.

 

Thats all i ment, sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

Also, kav, make sure your mechanical filteration is up to par.

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travisurfer

if your rock is porous, i dont think youll have any problems getting the bacteria established. i would add a small piece of live rock to help get things going though.

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A few weeks ago, I took some dry 'formerly' live rock and sank it into some water. It was amazing how POROUS that rock really is. Bubbles were coming out of what looked to be solid areas of the rock. This is an incredible filtering agent.

Though, I wonder how stagnant the water can get inside the rock. I know there's a lot of concern in building 'caves'....because the water circulation isn't very good.....what about in the rocks?

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Chupacabras

The stagnant nature of the water inside your rocks is what allows anaerobic breakdown of nitrate and is, therefore, a good thing :).

 

Edit: I should point out, I used "dead" base rock in my African cichlid tank for years with no ill effects so the anaerobic zones won't hurt anything anyways.

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