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Cyclura
08-09-2007, 09:02 AM
i think that many people use this same method to save money. They take a small portion of live rock and dump it into a new tank and then make up for the rest with tons of base rock to be seeded and eventually turn live. Thats exactly what i did, i took some LR out of my 29gal which is around 1 year old, dumped it into my new 15gal nano. and piled tons of base rock (just what i had lying around) around it and made a beautiful aquascape. Then, i put about 15lbs of Live sand in there and seeded the bed with a cup of sand from my established bed in my 29gal.

My question is, are there any special considerations as far as adding livestock when you have small amounts of live rock (5lbs) and more base rock (around6-8lbs)? I mean, does one have to give the tank more time to settle after cycling to add the cleanup crew, add corals, and add fish?

Thanks for putting up with my questions lately.

-Adam

JustDavidP
08-09-2007, 09:25 AM
Adam,

Your base rock will not take long to become populated with bacterium that will aid in the biological filtration. It will take longer, however, to become "live" in the way that most want it to be..meaning, with pods, worms, coralline algae etc.

You should proceed in your stocking plan just as you would with ANY tank, any configuration of filtration, live rock etc.... Slowly! Although the rock may be settled in, and your water parameters leveled, the addition of any life form will cause a tiny spike in ammonia/wastes and therefore a tiny cycle as the chain of required bacteria "catch up". This happens over and over as you add anything that increases the needs of filtration. Check your water often, and when it is settled again, you can add your second specimen. Do this over and over until you meet your stocking goals. Which, I would hope in that tank, are light...for now. Keep in mind that a "clean up crew" will not fare well if there is little to clean up. They would need to be fed as there would be little waste at this point for them to consume. Also, typical "cleaners" are chosen to consume things we despise. Feeding them "prime reef" may turn them off from eating what you had hoped they would. My peppermint shrimp will laugh at aptasia if they get fresh mysid. Make your clean up crew match the needs and add more as you add more corals, fish etc.

Personally, I put new, base rock on the bottom...well...lets start over. I'd add the sand, both dead and live. I would then either use PVC or some smallish dead, base rock as the "stand" for the live rock. You really don't want it sitting on the sand (rock could shift and slide and in a small tank with thinnish glass, cause a disaster), but more stable, in contact with the tank bottom. PVC stands work well. Again, base rock can do the same, but it's a shame to bury rock.

Then, I'd add the true base rock, and the live rock on top. "Gravity happens", and the coralline and other goodies on the base rock will fall downward in your system. Sure, bugs and worms and such move where they want, but other "incidental" seeding happens by way of falling downward and landing on the rock below.

Another trick I use, is to find a smallish, golf ball sized of good, coralline encrusted rock and pulverize it in a towel or something, using a hammer. Take this "dust" and sprinkle it over the rockwork. It will settle into cracks and such and begin to bond and spread. Within a couple of weeks, if you have any rubble that is on the sand and that happens to bother you, pick it out. Eventually, the rock will begin to become covered with algae etc.

I've also seeded live rock when scraping coralline off of the glass. Smallish pieces will drift onto rocks and settle. If you scrape a good section, and get small "sheets" of coralline, you can tuck them into nooks and crannies in the rock.

Also keep in mind that if you have a working refugium, or a friend with a good, established system, you can get macro algae or rubble from them to seed your tank with copepods, isopods, amphipods, small collonista snails, astrina stars, micro brittle stars, mysid shrimp and other goodies that will take off like wild fire, in a new, under populated tank.

Don't ever apologize for asking questions... at least not here. That's what we're all about. Talkingreef is NOT like other large boards/communities where egos rule and more experienced hobbyists have little tolerance towards what they feel are "newbie" questions. Your asking, may help another visitor (who may not be confident in posting) get the answers that he/she need to be successful.

Dave

Cyclura
08-09-2007, 09:58 AM
Thanks david.

I have plenty of caulerpa and chaeto in my erectus tank. Ill just stick to putting some chaeto in there for now because im not too fond of the way my caulerpa likes to take over my tanks. As far as micro stars, phurst hooked me up with a bunch of them in some chaeto and they have since reached the gazillions mark in my horse tank, and, seeing how i used LR from that tank for this one, at night i too see gazillions of micro stars in this new tank roaming around.

Oh of course i wasnt going to add the cleanup crew until i had a good hair algae bloom. Sorry for the confusion. And i will definitly use some of the corraline i scrape off of my main tank to seed this tank.

Thanks again.

JustDavidP
08-09-2007, 02:09 PM
I'd not put caulerpa or chaeto into the display at all. I'd use it like a pepper shaker and literally "scare the life" out of it.. into the display :) If you use the macro as a transfer vessel, from a fuge or another tank, to this tank, a few times a week, you'll surely boost the micro life in the new tank. Again, I'd not leave any macro in the tank.

Don't wait for a hair algae bloom before you put in a clean up crew :) It'd be like waiting for a fire before you bought an extinguisher. What you need to wait for, is that there are wastes either on the rock or sand, or a decent food source for them. They are scavengers and need to be busy poking around and eating small scraps in the system.

D