Question about Brackish & Marine

[bromie88]

I just got back from the LFS. I bought a Marine-Glo 30W Actinic blue light and 30 W High intesity Marine white light. So I have 50/50 I guess , one of each. It looks way better than that T8 yellowish crap I had before.

The lights are done now.....The next phase of the aquarium project will be changing the substrate from crushed coral to aragonite sand. Then in a few months after slowly raising my SG to like 1.020 then I'll get the live rock and onto the marine fishies.

the lights make a hell of a difference dont they

id raise your SG to 1.022+ before you add live rock, just to make sure the bacteria survive. you will also need to be aware of the condition of the rock. if it is cured you can drop it right in. if not you will need to cure it yourself, which is easy enough. you can do it in a bucket. but if you should be able to get some good mature rock off a local fish keeper, or someone tearing down their tank for less than a LFS will charge. and you know it will be fully cured.

dead rock or base rock, is basically dead live rock so basically live rock without the bacteria. it really pourous so it has a large surface area for its size. making it great for harbouring bacteria. you should tecnically have some bacteria livng in it already, but it will do it good to get a boost. and some critters.

normally turning dead (base) rock live will take upwards of a year. most people will normally buy live and dead rock in a 60:40 ratio, and stack the live rock on top of the dead rock, to make it look like there is more. you could trade some of your dead rock for some live stuff, but i think it would take 2kg of dead for 1kg of live from your LFS.

ocean rock is not good for seeding. its generally only used for building the rock structure itself. its no where near as pourous as what you have, but it will harbour some bacteria. you dont need any, but i just thought id tell you anyway. knowledge is power afterall

another idea could be to buy some live rock rubble, it is generally a lot cheaper. its not as desireable as the bigger pieces as it is harder to stack safely. the advantage is that it can be placed in gaps in rockwork. so 1kg of rubble can effectively be spread throughout the tank, where as a 1kg lump sits in one place. it should work but i'd ask around first. im quite new to the SW game myself, but i learn quick.

 

[bromie88]

some more info on seeding rock. its from an article written by ReefScape in the SW forum.

Question - Bought 10 lbs of base rock today. I’m wondering how to cure it. Do I just wash it with salt water or plain water?
Answer – The curing of base rock (not dead rock) is a very lengthy process. Depending on the type of rock, it can take up to a year for base rock to become live at the same levels as the existing live rock, or pre cured live rock.

If you intend to be using base rock when you are setting up a marine aquarium, aim to put the base rock on the bottom of the tank, and then cover this with cured live rock. As a ratio, you ideally want to be aiming for at least 60% live rock to 40% base rock. This is to aid in the seeding of the base from the live rock, and is done in an acceptable time scale.

If you want to buy some base rock, and actually cure it outside of the aquarium, then it needs to be cured in a Rubbermaid container or separate tank, and normal live rock included to aid in seeding the rock. Again, this is going to be a very lengthy process.

if you have any other questions it will be a good idea to post in the sw forums. you will get more info there than you will ever get out of me here.

heres a few threads to look at in the meantime.

curing live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195426

how much live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192730

more on live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175729

id keep an eye on this one. how long does it take for dead rock to become live: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196142

hope these help.

 

[FalconKeeper]

I'm in the process of converting my brackish to full marine as well. I have Aragonite sand already and lot's of lace rock. Once I get it up to full marine I'm putting in a few pieces of live rock from my friends tank to seed the dead rock. Now here's my question. See my stock list in my signature and tell me what some good full marine tank mates would be?

 

[xspainx69]

I'm in the process of converting my brackish to full marine as well. I have Aragonite sand already and lot's of lace rock. Once I get it up to full marine I'm putting in a few pieces of live rock from my friends tank to seed the dead rock. Now here's my question. See my stock list in my signature and tell me what some good full marine tank mates would be?

I was thinking about going with like maybe a niger trigger and a clownfish...But then I may be pushing it since I have so many already in a 75 gallon tank....

 

[xspainx69]

the lights make a hell of a difference dont they

id raise your SG to 1.022+ before you add live rock, just to make sure the bacteria survive. you will also need to be aware of the condition of the rock. if it is cured you can drop it right in. if not you will need to cure it yourself, which is easy enough. you can do it in a bucket. but if you should be able to get some good mature rock off a local fish keeper, or someone tearing down their tank for less than a LFS will charge. and you know it will be fully cured.

dead rock or base rock, is basically dead live rock so basically live rock without the bacteria. it really pourous so it has a large surface area for its size. making it great for harbouring bacteria. you should tecnically have some bacteria livng in it already, but it will do it good to get a boost. and some critters.

normally turning dead (base) rock live will take upwards of a year. most people will normally buy live and dead rock in a 60:40 ratio, and stack the live rock on top of the dead rock, to make it look like there is more. you could trade some of your dead rock for some live stuff, but i think it would take 2kg of dead for 1kg of live from your LFS.

ocean rock is not good for seeding. its generally only used for building the rock structure itself. its no where near as pourous as what you have, but it will harbour some bacteria. you dont need any, but i just thought id tell you anyway. knowledge is power afterall

another idea could be to buy some live rock rubble, it is generally a lot cheaper. its not as desireable as the bigger pieces as it is harder to stack safely. the advantage is that it can be placed in gaps in rockwork. so 1kg of rubble can effectively be spread throughout the tank, where as a 1kg lump sits in one place. it should work but i'd ask around first. im quite new to the SW game myself, but i learn quick.

some more info on seeding rock. its from an article written by ReefScape in the SW forum.

Question - Bought 10 lbs of base rock today. I’m wondering how to cure it. Do I just wash it with salt water or plain water?
Answer – The curing of base rock (not dead rock) is a very lengthy process. Depending on the type of rock, it can take up to a year for base rock to become live at the same levels as the existing live rock, or pre cured live rock.

If you intend to be using base rock when you are setting up a marine aquarium, aim to put the base rock on the bottom of the tank, and then cover this with cured live rock. As a ratio, you ideally want to be aiming for at least 60% live rock to 40% base rock. This is to aid in the seeding of the base from the live rock, and is done in an acceptable time scale.

If you want to buy some base rock, and actually cure it outside of the aquarium, then it needs to be cured in a Rubbermaid container or separate tank, and normal live rock included to aid in seeding the rock. Again, this is going to be a very lengthy process.

if you have any other questions it will be a good idea to post in the sw forums. you will get more info there than you will ever get out of me here.

heres a few threads to look at in the meantime.

curing live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195426

how much live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192730

more on live rock: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175729

id keep an eye on this one. how long does it take for dead rock to become live: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196142

hope these help.

Honestly.....I'll probably just buy a few live rocks myself and just forget about the base crap. lol

Im not waiting a damn year!

Plus my tank is only a 75 gallon so I think maybe one or two lives rocks would be ok in the tank I dont really want to take away swimming space.

 

[bromie88]

I'm in the process of converting my brackish to full marine as well. I have Aragonite sand already and lot's of lace rock. Once I get it up to full marine I'm putting in a few pieces of live rock from my friends tank to seed the dead rock. Now here's my question. See my stock list in my signature and tell me what some good full marine tank mates would be?

knight gobies are low end brackish, so they'll need to go. which sucks as they are nice fish. but obviously you can now have all the marine gobies. but steer clear of mandarins and other dragonets. they need a very mature tank with tons of LR. they generally only eat live foods. so a large amount of rock is needed, so you are able to support enough life for it to eat. you could buy copeopods but many people say keeping the fish ths way is very expensive. all your other fish should be fine. but you will need to ID your archerfish. if theyre common archerfish, your good. if not they'll need to go too unfortunatly, i miss my archers (never let anyone else feed your fish)

with your tank. you could keep most fish available in the hobby. but what you could keep depends on the type of tank you want. if you want corals you obviously need reef safe fish (and lots of light). so some research will have to be done on the fish you want and the ones you can keep.

i personally like puffers, triggers, and cow/box fish. but they nip at coral. and i like corals. corals are one of the reasons i went marine. so any more of these fish in my tank is a big risk. my GSP oliver doesnt seem bothered by the corals i have on the rock. but thats not to say that he wont take a bite in the future.

larger, or (semi) aggresive fish also generally eat things like shrips and snails, so i cant have a proper reef tank with my puffer, even if he doesnt eat my coral. i know he eats snails and shrimp. its what he is designed to eat, so its what he wil eat. there are snails and crabs in his tank, but i seriously dont fancy thier chances. he doesnt care about all the starfish though.

like i said to xspain69x, you will learn way more in the SW forum. i am a SW noob too. i only know what i know from MFK and google the peeps in the SW forum will be able to advise you better than i can. im also focusing on fish for smaller tanks, so anythin that needs more than 30 Gallons i tend to forget sorry about that... so i really cant help you chose fish. unless you wanna know fish that stay under 5"... or reqire 30G or less

all i know is that with your tank you could have triggers, tangs, moray eels, lionfish ect basically fish i want. but marine fish tend to need more room, so they may not get on with the fish you have already.

im poor at the mo. cant afford my 100 Gallon yet. with xmas round the corner, m now renting my own place (yay!), and in the UK we have a credit crunch making life harder, so no one has any money, or wants to spend money they have.

but, as soon as i can afford £500 for a tank £100 for a skimmer (so i dont have to do 30G water changes every week), and another £150 for lights for some more coral, bigger fish are on the wishlist.

 

[bromie88]

Honestly.....I'll probably just buy a few live rocks myself and just forget about the base crap. lol

Im not waiting a damn year!

Plus my tank is only a 75 gallon so I think maybe one or two live rocks would be ok in the tank I dont really want to take away swimming space.

only a 75G? i only have a 30

id get some rubble to, it wont hurt. and you could hide it behind your current rockwork, so you wont see all the tiny pieces.

trigers like a lot of rock anyway. but 2 kg in a 75 isnt really gonna take away any swimming room. i have a 4kg piece in my 30G.

heres some pics.

1st is the tank.

2nd and 3rd are some of my corals that appeared. zoas i think. they where closed up and white when i spotted them. now they are startin to get thier colour back even with supposedly inadequate lighting.

4th is of the same tank with brackish decor. it was at 1.023 when the pic was taken though.