Live rock?
- Thread starter SJ-78
- Start date
It's necessary but you can use a combination of live rock and dry base rock. The live rock will seed the base rock in time and become live.
No it's not needed at all. You can cycle a normal filter just like on a freshwater aquarium. The down side is that you will have to do more water changes to keep the nitrates down, unlike with live rock which will help stablize or eliminate nitrates.
Great info. What do you mean by dry base rock ? I have large amounts of great rockwork from my cichlid tanks, mostly 1 to 2 foot limestone and granite types (I have a 7 foot tank LOL), Could i use that ? How long should I soak it in salt water if i can use it before putting in my salt tank?
cichlidgirl;4359253; said:
Limestone and granite aren't porous enough. It has to be lacerock or something.
ShadowBass;4358957; said:
Live rock will not eliminate nitrates. The nitrogen cycles stops there.
While live rock doesn't eliminate nitrates. Though the Coraline algae and micro organisms can reduce nitrates, its almost unnoticeable though
Ok I dont mean to jack this thread, but i've been reading a lot of info and I can't seem to find the answers. I know this is a seriously noob question about saltwater tanks but I've just started reading. Whenever I read about live rock it's usually talked about as a primary source of biological filtration. Why would live rock be more beneficial than a really effective biological filtration system like a sump? I know saltwater fish are more sensitive to nitrates but they're not really ever a problem in a freshwater as long as you do water changes. So why exactly is it so essential if you had a sump or another form of filtration that converted ammonia to nitrite to nitrate?