Can base rock be seeded with live sand or do you need live rock to seed. How much live sand or live rock would you need to seed say 25lbs of base rock. Also how long would it take around for base rock to start to grow red coralline algae. Thanks for all help in advance.
Seeding base rock
- Thread starter crisper
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crisper;1934983; said:Can base rock be seeded with live sand or do you need live rock to seed.
Yes, sort of, is the short answer, but to understand what you are doing, you are going to need the long answer. First you need to understand why live sand is "Live". Billions of microscopic organisms and bacteria thrive within the sand, feeding off the nutrients and algae which gather within. Base rock is usually simply coral bone or rock that used to be live rock, but was taken out of the water for an extended amount of time, causing the living residents to die off.
Now while simply placing the rock/bone back into the water will not bring back to life what once was, having the addition of live sand can help seed the rock by introducing new residences for the already existing organisms within the sand. This process however will not necessarily produce coralline encrusted, flourishing rock you may currently be envisioning. Rather, you will only suceed in seeding the rock with whatever residents are already present within your sand. Now while there is always the possiblility that coral spores, and coralline may be in the sand, which could theoretically latch onto the rock, this is a very slim possibility, so I would hate for you to get your hopes of having beautiful lush rock, and then discover that while, on a microscopic level your rock was flourishing, to the naked eye it still seemed bare. You best option is to take the base rock and allow it to mature in a system filled with already richly populated rock.
How much live sand or live rock would you need to seed say 25lbs of base rock.
Well, to take rock/bone that is "dead" and make it live, you are going to basically need to smother it in life for quicker results. The easiest way to do that is to spread out the dead rock into a system full of thriving live rock. You will need enough to support the colonization of the dead rock without depleting the living, so I would suggest at minimum, 2 1/2 x's more live rock than dead when introduced, and make sure to also periodically (about once a month) move the rocks around in the system to expose them to new colonies of organisms. Additionally, you can introduce stimulants such as "Purple Up" coralline accelertator, as well as "Coral Accel", "Coral Vite", and Filter feeder foods. Use these sparingly if you do not actually have growing corals to support, as you do not want to compromise your water quality with excess use, however when used sparingly and only every now and then, you enrich the waters which support the microscopic organizms, and growth of other algae/plants/corals/etc.
Also how long would it take around for base rock to start to grow red coralline algae.
Well unless you are introducing the rock to red coralline, don't expect it to just pop up out of no where. Your most likely results will mimic whatever is already thriving within that system. Now, while its possible for minute spores to take hold and mature, it's still not something to rely on.
It will take several months in a highly populated system before you will see your dead rock coming to life. Just remember, the more that it's exposed to, the greater variety of life it will yield, and the quicker you will see the results. But regardless, it's not exactly an over-night transformation and will take patience on your behalf.
Hope this helps some. Let us know.
Thanks for all help in advance.
Welcome.
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crisper;1946816; said:Yeah the info you provided was very in depth.Thanks
it pretty much always is
