Live rock question

Did your tank show a cycle? You don't want anything in there until it does. Some people here have used bacteria in a bottle products, others have gotten a couple of pieces of "rubble rock" (less places for anything nasty to hide) to help seed the rock, others just let nature do its thing, which takes a while.

Another thing to keep in mind that rock can be "live" without being purple from coraline algae.

I guess we would need more details, like how long the system has been running, etc.

 

Like others, did you note a cycle when you were keeping your tank journal...?

Live rock is simply rock with Bacteria living on it. The natural process will take some time, and typically needs SOMETHIHNG to seed it, as bacteria do not spontaneously exist. There are a couple ways to help accelerate this.
Firstly get a piece of live rock, Borrow it from a friend or grab a piece form the LFS. Live rubble works too. This will give you a nice heavy seed to start with. You can also use the bio bottles filled with bacteria. either way this will help to speed things up a bit.
You can also add a slice of shaved table shrimp ( uncooked works well) and I mean a slice of shaved. Very very little or wife/hubby/sigo will be VERY upset with you in a days time...

If you are really good at monitoring your tank and have time, you can add something nice and hardy to the tank to help speed this up as well. A Chromis is usually a good starter fish. but you will need to be really serious about monitoring. Otherwise you will essentially just be torturing the fish. This practice has been all but abolished for most of us, and at this point I wouldn't even really consider it an option. A fihsless cycle is humane.

On a side note, the percentage of people who end up with a mantis shrimp are not even statistical blips... If it were that common, why would stores sell mantis shrimp we would all be giving them away!

 

Where are you getting this live rock online... I would love to have a mantis shrimp without paying 50 bucks for it. Are we sure these are mantis shrimp and not the amphipods?
Anyway get yourself a large container or garbage can and fill it with 'base' rock. Salt and water it. Add a heater aroun 75-82. You can do a couple things here like seed with a live rock or rubble. Or add some water from a water change. Skim a piece of shrimp into it. This will give you live rock in a couple months time!
This way you have live rock. You know that it came from a source where it is clean. And you can create it yourself!

 

OK. I have a possible hairbrain idea. I am in Marion (by Cedar Rapids, but going to Des Moines Saturday with my family. I was going to say that I could bring some rubble rock with some purple coraline on it, but I am not 100% sure where I will be and when. We are meeting my daughter (who goes to Drake) for dinner Saturday probably around 4:00 or a little later, and then going to a show that she is in that night. If you want to make the effort to go where ever we go for dinner, I could get you a few pieces minus the nasties. No aptasia, no bristleworms, no mantis shrimp (I had that in my tank 10 years ago)... Not sure if there would be any pods that would make it with them, but we could try.

Send me a PM if interested. Again, I will be there with my family and in-laws on a somewhat tight schedule otherwise I would just make a point to come to you, but I would be close.

 

If you want pods (copepods and amphipods) you can buy them online...Reefs2Go has them on sale right now. I belive Craig at AC&C sells Zoo2?! You can also get them from a fellow reefer with their chaeto (as long as their tank has them). Same with brittle stars. You can seed your tank with a cup or more of their sand; the more you get from others, the better :0) To seed the coralline, just turn off the flow and scrape the coralline off a rock or 2. Let it settle before turning on the flow again Donovan. Seascapes might have some Tiggerpods in stock?! Bacteria in a bottle, especially Dr. Tim's is good bacteria :0)

 

Glad that it is working out for you. I tried to get you a touch of diversity without the risk of nasty stuff.


Keep us posted as things start to "purple up" in your tank.





- Nick