Best live rock environment

[Bishop]

As I'm setting up my -7 ft- tank on a budget, I've had to put most of my live rock money toward coral skeletons from my LFS. This has come to about 70kg worth and they have about 10kg of quality live rock in tanks there for the balance of my money - $220.

I've read that to seed my rock with the live stuff, I should run no HQIs, and keep the tank covered in order to promote faster growth.

Is there a recipe out there for maximising the speed of the process?

My time budget is to have the first fish in the tank by April (Green Chromis) and some inverts soon after. I know you don't -need- good coraline at this stage, but I'd like to have a really well stabilsed tank by then and hopefully some pretty purple bits as well!

Scott.

[Rob]

if my "coral skeletons" do you mean regular base rock (non living rock)
here in the states i would thing of that is bleached SPS coral that are dead, and are used here for decoration???

eitherway, you are going to be fine..
get as much live rock on there as can and the rest base rock.
as far as seeding it, the best thing to do is get your cycle started. i recommend using raw table shrimp. and then make sure you have lots of current in there. that will help the best to seed everythign else. seeding base rock is a slow proccess, but will happen. you will be fine by april to start adding fish as long as your cycle has finished. the thing to keep in mind that untill the rest of the rock has been seeded ans is functioning as actual LR, your wont be able to handle a large bio load. to determine this simply monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate as you add your fish, and add them slowly...

let me know if you have furhter questions

[Bishop]

Rob,

Yes, coral skeletons are what I mean - essentially live rock that isn't. I've picked up a heap of it from a torn down tank (non-copper treated... ever) and will use it for most of my structure. I've started aquascaping in the empty tank and I'm starting to be pretty happy with the results.

On the subject of copper, once again there are a lot of conflicting views on how permanent the effects are. I've heard everything from 'Once copper has been used in a tank it CAN NEVER be used for inverts again - even the tank itself - Cupresorb is a waste of time' to 'Wait a year or so and the residuals won't be a problem - even on the porous material in the tank'.

Can anyone give a definitive answer to this?

I'm with 'better safe than sorry (or poor)' but I do know this 7ft tank did have it's inhabitants treated with copper about a year ago. It's been very well cleaned, buffed and rinsed since then so I'm pretty confident, but I'll get a water analysis done to be sure once it's filled.

Scott.

[Rob]

sounds like you shoudl be god with the rock

now regardign the copper.. better safe than sorry is the best way to go.
now honestly, if its an acrylic tank, then you shoudl be ok, but the problem is in glass tanks in that copper tends to be absorbed into the silicone seams.

now i cant say for sur eif you will have an issue, that will be alot of water, so it shoudl be diluted greatly, and will likely not cause any issues. but i cant be sure. the glas wont absorb it (as far as i know) but the safe thing to do would be have the seams redone. im not saying that is required, but its the "safe" thing to do.

i have never experimented with this, but have heard peopel having issues. not sure what the times frames were though..

i wan tto make sure its clear, i am not speaking from experince, just from what i have read from others. most peopel are very adimat on the issue. but i cant say for sure whether you would be safe, or not...

its alos likely that a regular coper test wont show any readings, so if it comes up negative, it still may not be a 100% safe.

i would suggest soem more research, and make sur eany feedback ou get is from peopel with first hand experince, try to avoid, 2 hand stories, and hear say...

[Bishop]

Yes, that's pretty much what I have discovered in my 'research'.

I doubt very much that the amount that would be absorbed in the silicon seams would be enough to leech out and affect the water, but I guess there's only one way to find out - and that's the hard way.

As I said in a few earlier posts, this tank is a bit of an experiment so I'll add copper residue to the list.

Scott.