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Coralline Coralline
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  • Posted on: 23/2/2007 16:17
Re: What is Live Rock? #21
yep, i did mean to metion that...
i think its pointless and expensive having live rock at all if you arent going to have a reef set-up! for fish only i would juust use normal canister filtration....
Gill

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Scooby Scooby
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  • Posted on: 23/2/2007 16:46
Re: What is Live Rock? #22
Thanks Gill & Ziggy.

Gill you say the rock converts nitrate to nitrogen and their is only a limited amount of space so do you mean the rock can only deal with a certain amount of nitrate at a time. Does the rocks capacity to process nitrate increase as the tank matures?
Coralline Coralline
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  • Posted on: 23/2/2007 17:27
Re: What is Live Rock? #23
yes, the limited space is the anearobic parts inside the rock when other bacterias and algeas live, so this capacity could increase as the tank matures. so imo its a bad thing to have a bio filter running along side as the rock isnt working to its full capacity anyway if the bio filter is doing the same job, but leaving those extra nitrates behind.
Gill

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Scooby Scooby
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  • Posted on: 23/2/2007 17:41
Re: What is Live Rock? #24
thanks think I saw someone somewhere say about filling there cannister with live rock rubble would this be a good idea instead of the filter media. Would the rock be ok without light?
Scooby Scooby
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  • Posted on: 27/2/2007 21:31
Re: What is Live Rock? #25
Bump

thanks think I saw someone somewhere say about filling there cannister with live rock rubble would this be a good idea instead of the filter media. Would the rock be ok without light?
newbie newbie
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  • Joined: 28/2/2007 12:12
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  • Posted on: 23/3/2007 23:55
Re: What is Live Rock? #26
Have I killed my LR?

It was added into my new Orca on the 3rd March this year and it still has no sign of life, except for a few green shoots!

My SG was on the low side when the LR was added and my ph is still only 7.8 but rising slowly! Unfortunatly the LR was added in not-so-ideal water paramenters as my Refractometer delivery took loger than it should have!

As I have mentioned (and posted a pic of) on another thread, I have bubbles on the rock which I believe to be a good indication that there is life there but other than that - nothing! I hope that I have not killed my critters by being too hasty!

I must add that this is premium grade fijian cured rock from STM.
TROPICAL: 4 WCCM's, 2 Dwarf gourami's (1 male 1 female), 2 glass shrimp, 1 male guppy, 4 platties, 2 corys, 5 neon tetras
MARINE: Orca Nano TL450 - 4 BL Hermits, 3 Turbo snails, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 Royal Gramma
adamcrouch adamcrouch
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  • Posted on: 24/3/2007 0:37
Re: What is Live Rock? #27
I have filled my canister trays with live rock rubble along with some rowaphos

Nar the live rocl doesnt need light, sponge's will start to grow on the live rock in the external filter too
Vicky Vicky
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  • Posted on: 25/3/2007 10:47
Re: What is Live Rock? #28
How can you tell if your rock is still live? When I first put it in the tank I saw a little critter crawl out of a little hole and back in to another but have not seen anything else since, when I put the rock in tank it grew some aiptasia but I have got rid of that using nearly boiling water syringed in to centre.
BreadBoy BreadBoy
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  • Posted on: 4/4/2007 21:58
Re: What is Live Rock? #29
I have a question which is probably best suited in this thread......

I have a fluval 305 filter running my 200 litre tank. The tank is 10 weeks old.

I want to get some live rock in the tank, but have read (in this thread mainly) that it isn't good to have a bio filter and live rock.

I have a fish only tank, but would like some live rock (20kgs or so) to bring some more life to the tank, and it looks nicer than the tufa rock I have currently.

Would it be better to replace the bio balls in my filter with small pieces of live rock, to act as the filter media?

I assume it is safe to leave the foam pads in the filter if I were to do this?

Also, would it cause problems if I were to add this much live rock at once, or should I do it more gradually, and if so at what rate?

Hope that made sense!

Cheers,

BB
Coralline Coralline
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  • Posted on: 4/4/2007 22:18
Re: What is Live Rock? #30

yeah you shouldnt use live rock and normal bio filtration, the biofiltraion would be competing with the rock for nutrients, and the rock wont do its job properly.
20kgs of live rock wont be cheap, and if your running a fish only tank with a normal filtration system theres not much point shelling out so much - its so expensive because its live and if you wont be using is as filtration, its an expensive decoration! also adding a lot of live rock to your system will cause it to cycle again.
i you want some live rock for aesthetic purpoese just buy a few nice pieces and put them on top of the rock you already have. the tufa rock will eventually colonize with algaes and stuff the same as the live rock so you wont notice it in a few months. i would also leave the bio media in your system, filling your canister with live rock rubble would only be better than the bio balls if you were using live rock in the main tank too.
Gill

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