Initial Set Up Questions / Rocks

[basscyn]

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I hope to be close to adding water to my 175. I have just about everything in place. But I am not sure exactly how to incorporate the rock I have. My plan is to line the bottom of the tank with egg-crate to place the boulders on as well as PVC support. So here are a couple of questions for the experts.</span></span>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I have a good bit of rock “cooked” and in saltwater brutes. Most of these are larger pieces that will be placed on the bottom. <u>If it is dead, cant I go ahead and place it in the tank and begin the aquascaping process?</u> <u>Would there be any harm in letting this rock go dry?</u></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">My existing 75 has lots of healthy, very live rock. I eventually want to move this into my new tank to seed. <u>When should I begin incorporating this rock?</u> I have some in my sump waiting for this moment. The rocks in my display will go too but a lot of it has corals attached. I assume it is best to wait until the tank has cycled before I add these. I see myself half aquascaped for a while. The tank is 29” high. Its gonna be a pain to do this if it’s full of water.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Any advice appreciated.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Thanks!</span></span>

 

[budsreef]

The rock you have in brutes, have you had a power head, heater and lights running on it? Has it cycled and are you seeing any ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. If not go ahead and put some of your live rock in with it to start seeded it.

 

[william1]

Wheres the pics????

 

[basscyn]

Budsreef;302980 wrote: The rock you have in brutes, have you had a power head, heater and lights running on it? Has it cycled and are you seeing any ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. If not go ahead and put some of your live rock in with it to start seeded it.

I was going to do that Bud, but I am wondering if it would be easier to seed the rock in the tank while its cycling.For that matter why couldnt <u>any </u>rock that needed curing or cycling be done in the tank?

To add seeded live rock to the tank....it will have to be full of water...right?

 

[basscyn]

bratliff;303052 wrote: My opinion on this is that you can go ahead and add the "dead" rock and begin your aquascaping process, however, I would wait a week or so at the very least after you add water to see if there is any kind of ammonia spike. You could also, as budsreef suggested, add some of the live rock (any piece without corals attached would be best) to this and hopefully start the seeding process early. There shouldn't be a problem with letting the rock go dry but, if it isn't truly dead, then, when you do add water, you will get a tank cycle out of it.

Thats kind of what I had in mind and I am in no hurry (except to get started). I will probaby let her run for 60 days or more before I begin adding livestock

 

[budsreef]

Yes, live rock would need to stay wet as much as possible. If you plan on aquascaping with the rock dry, then do that first, then add water, sand and live rock, and let it all cycle.

 

[fish scales2]

You could do a 20 gallon water change out of your 75 and place in 175, I would do this 2 or 3 times over the next week (keep a powerhead in new tank) Next weekend you could place your cooked rock and several pieces of live rock out of your sump. Continue doing waterchanges into the 175 every couple of days and by the following weekend you should be able to change everything over. Test the water in the 175 throughout the process but I doubt you will see much of a spike.

Two weeks ago I broke down a 125 gallon system and setup a new 180 gallon system the same day. This was an all SPS tank that was packed full of coral. I used 100 gallons of new saltwater and the rest was existing water out of the 125. Corals got a little upset but no spikes and the coral perked back up within a day.

 

[basscyn]

Fish Scales2;303327 wrote: You could do a 20 gallon water change out of your 75 and place in 175, I would do this 2 or 3 times over the next week

Three 20 gallon water changes in a week?

So I'll have 60ish gallons of water in the 175. Then begin adding the rock?

Continue doing waterchanges into the 175 every couple of days

So I have topped it off at this point?

 

[basscyn]

WILLIAM1;303003 wrote: Wheres the pics????

Well...not much to see right now William. But here it is. It came with a plastic canopy (I dont like). I found a deal on a 72" aquamedic 4x250 T5 fixture (needs new bulbs) I will hang for a while. But I plan on building a bowfront canopy on down the road.

Gonna go through the wall and tie in a 70 gallon rubbermaid sump from Bud and 17 gallon macro display fuge. My even tie in a cryptic as well!
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[william1]

WOW thats a nice looking tank man. Is that the one you traveled a little for...

 

[basscyn]

YEP!
Stole it off Chattanooga Craigslist!

 

[budsreef]

Very nice. I definitely want to see this when you get it set up.

 

[fish scales2]

BASSCYN;303336 wrote: Three 20 gallon water changes in a week?

So I'll have 60ish gallons of water in the 175. Then begin adding the rock?

This way any rock that you put in (cooked or live) will be submerged in water. You can put new sand in the 175 and go ahead and seed the new sand with existing sand from you current system.

So I have topped it off at this point?

not yet, after 2 weeks you will have 120 gallons in the 175. At that piont you should be ready to switch tanks. Move everything from the 75 over. Rock, coral, fish and inverts.

Your bio-load is not changing only your volume of water so you should see minimal if any spikes.