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Live rock
Live rock is small pieces of old coral reefs that were naturally broken off during storms or by wave action and then washed into shallower water where they were colonized by natural occurring marine life - invertebrates, corals, sponges, and millions of beneficial nitrifying bacteria.
Each year, aquarists add thousands of kilos of live rock to new or existing reef aquariums. Live rock, while a huge benefit to water quality it also introduces many interesting inhabitants into the aquarium. Before adding any live rock there are few things that you need to do to ensure the well being of your aquarium.
Live rock must be cured to allow the plant and marine life, which were living on the rock to undergo a natural, die back without polluting the aquarium water. This die back occurs in all transported live rock and is necessary to provide a solid foundation for the remaining species to flourish. As the organisms on the rock go through a die back, they will cause high levels of ammonia to be released into the aquarium. Most of the nitrifying bacteria deep in the pores and crevices of the live rock will survive the curing process and some of the corals and invertebrates will also not die off completely and will begin to re-emerge over time.
Curing live rock takes from one to four weeks.The following is an effective method to cure live rock. Warning: Live rock should be handled with care, always wear gloves when handling live rock. There are many animals living in and on the live rock that can cause harm to the person handling it. Animals such as Sea urchins and Zoanthids can be toxic to the touch, mantis or pistol shrimp can slash a finger to the bone and open wounds can become infected from contact with the live rock.
Before you start the curing process give each piece of rock a good shake then check for any unwanted guests that may be hiding in crevasses paying special care to any holes, use a plastic drinking straw (the kind you get with thick shakes) as a poker and push it into any hole you see this will dislodge any mantis shrimp that may be hiding deep in the rock, if you see a mantis shrimp but have trouble dislodging it use a squeeze bottle to force hot fresh water into the hole this will kill the shrimp instantly and have no adverse effect on the rock.
- Place the live rock in a clean plastic container a large garbage bin is ideal.
- Completely cover the rock with saltwater, the water should have the same values as the water in the aquarium you are putting the rock.
- Use a heater to keep the water temperature around 27 degrees to speed die off.
- Use a power head or air stone to create water movement.
- Run a protein skimmer if possible, this will greatly help the curing process.
- To avoid algae blooms keep the container in a dimly lit area.
- Perform 100% water changes two or three times a week.
- Siphon off debris from the bottom of the container.
- Use a soft brush to scrub the rock between water changes to remove dead material.
- Test for ammonia and nitrite. When tests are negative, the rock is safe for your aquarium.
If you add uncured live rock to your aquarium, it will still be in the process of a die back, which can harm or kill existing tank inhabitants with high levels of ammonia. If you do not maintain proper aeration and temperature during the curing process, high levels of beneficial nitrifying bacteria will die, reducing the initial effectiveness of the rock as a biological filter. Live rock is not difficult to cure and the benefits are well worth the effort. Follow the simple steps above, and you can be sure that you are adding clean, healthy live rock to your aquarium.
If you are setting up a new aquarium you can use live rock to cycle the tank, by simply following all the above curing process with the exception of using the garbage bin you use the aquarium itself, by curing the first addition of live rock in the aquarium the filtration system will develop good amounts of nitrifying bacteria, once the ammonia and nitrite test are zero the aquarium is ready to start adding a small amount of live stock, avoid adding sensitive animals until the tank is fully matured that normally takes around three months.
Any live rock added after the tank is cycled should be cured before hand and only add small amount at a time.
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