# GOT MY LIVEROCK!



## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

so my tank is finally up and running!!

today i went out to an LFS and bought my live rock. i ended up with 21.6lbs of mostly cured jakarta live rock and a bit over a pound of live rock rubble for my fuge.

the live rock is AMAZING! its full of purple coraline, little critters, sponges, LOTS of stuff. the lady (owner) of the store gave me a nice freebie live rock as well. it is a dark dark green colour with PINK coraline on it! and 2 little clam shells...also covered in pink coraline. it's pretty cool!!

so ive got my water into the tank, got the pumps and fuge running...and i hooked up a magnum HOB filter with the micron filter to clear up the cloudy water from the substrate. ill probably take that out tonight when i get home. tomorrow ill get the sunpod up on the tank and start the cycle!!!

ill get some pics up tomorrow. i would have taken them tonight but i forgot my camera and was in a huge rush.

i mostly just tossed the liverock in and i was planning on aquascaping tomorrow. but i did stack some of them up, but im not sure what it looks like cause the tank was so friggin cloudy!hahaha


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

cycling/mini curing the live rock int eh dark will help prevent or reduce algea blooms


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

lol cant wait to see! sorry about the the gif but I always wanted to use it! I am happy for you, lets get some 
pics


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

so nismo...i should use the lights at all? even the LEDs? wouldnt that hinder the coraline? or possibly make some die off?

would a very short light cycle be better? and slowly work up?

here's a pic i took with my phone today. sorry for the quality, it makes everything look too dark.


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## Chapz (Jul 9, 2007)

Looks great for now. Keep it going.

Im gonna buy live rock in the next few weeks. Starting to get my tank cycled once my filter media arrives.

Good job.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

thats a sweet aquascape

leds and actinics wont contribute to algea growth, i wouldnt worry about coraline, it would be more likely to bleach due if your light is more intense then what it was under,. besides if there are elevated levels normal associated with a cycle the coraline wont be growing much anyway, once things level out and the water is of good quality the coral will grow and it will become a chore to remove it from the glass


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i have my metal halide set to go on for about 4 hours a day. is that ok? or will it be too much? i spoke to someone else who said they just use the normal light cycle and hasnt had any adverse effects. so i took the middle road and cut my light cycle in half.lol

so should i just leave the LEDs on the normal schedule? i leave the blues on 24 hours a day, and the white on one hour before the MH goes on and on hour after it goes off.

also...my sand is about 2" deep in the tank (5cm roughly) is that a good depth? and how deep should the sand be in the fuge? it's probably about 3+" right now. goes to about 2-3cm below the height of the top of the baffle where the sand goes.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

everything sounds good. nice start


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

looks goood I agree with nismo nice aquascaping


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

how soon should i start increasing the metal halide time? maybe keep it at four hours for a couple of days...then bump it up a half hour every other day up to 8 hours? or should i give it more time?

also...there's some cool little plants on a couple of the rocks. is that a good thing? when i bought the rock the lady said it's pretty good stuff to have, because i asked her if i should scrub that off.

on another note...

scrubbing off live rock SUCKS ASS! i did it last night and it was pretty disgusting taking a toothbrush to dead rotting sponges. i swear i can still smell it.lol


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> *how soon should i start increasing the metal halide time? maybe keep it at four hours for a couple of days...then bump it up a half hour every other day up to 8 hours? or should i give it more time?*
> 
> also...there's some cool little plants on a couple of the rocks. is that a good thing? when i bought the rock the lady said it's pretty good stuff to have, because i asked her if i should scrub that off.
> 
> ...


are you in a hurry to burn money? halides arent cheap to run and the bulbs arent cheap to replace..

man i wouldnt worry about the light syscle until you have some corals, i would also suggest geting about half dozen sheet of window screen so you can acclimate any new corals to the intensity of your light in that shallow tank.. you might get away with it a few times but you will end up bleaching a piece..

if you were getting astink off that rock it was definately not fully cured at the lfs which is not a surprise, theres no profit in curing rock for a lfs they dont want to sit on stock for a month at a time so although you scrubbed it there will definately be a strong cycle as that rock cures more..
good cured live rock should smell like the ocean not rotting clam (sulfer)

try to get some good close up pics of this plant matter.. could eb a million things, typically if its a good algae then its fine in the disply.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i was simply wondering what was best for the tank. the cost of the MH to run isnt a huge worry.

ill just take it easy for a while and see how it goes. ill take some pics of the plants tonight or tomorrow morning.

im concerned that i have bristleworms though. i got jabbed about 3 or 4 times last night when i was cleaning the live rock. little fockers. but i was reading that sixline wrasses can sometimes eat them, and that was one fish that i was planning on getting at some point.

some of the pieces are fully cured and had no smell. a couple of the pieces are uncured, and im anxious to see what will pop up on them. i smashed up one bigger piece that i had because it just wouldnt fit. i tossed the exta bits into the fuge.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Looks awesome.

I can't wait to get my little 10 gal going in the coming weeks.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

one thing for sure mettle...invest in an auto top off. look on ebay for a tunze osmolator. you can get them for the same price as a JBJ ATO, but it's far better. im waiting for my gfs mom to bring mine back as i got it shipped to the her place in the US.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puff said:


> i was simply wondering what was best for the tank. the cost of the MH to run isnt a huge worry.
> 
> ill just take it easy for a while and see how it goes. ill take some pics of the plants tonight or tomorrow morning.
> 
> ...


bristel worms = good

fire worms and eunicid worms = bad

typically worms arent going to prick or bite you but there are other things on the rock that can sting or have sharp points but that doesnt mean there bad for the "reef"..


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Puff said:


> one thing for sure mettle...invest in an auto top off. look on ebay for a tunze osmolator. you can get them for the same price as a JBJ ATO, but it's far better. im waiting for my gfs mom to bring mine back as i got it shipped to the her place in the US.


I looked it up on Ebay. There's one for $150 right now. Seems like a LOT of money to me, tbh. Especially since I'm trying to keep these costs on the dl. Thus far I will have everything I need except for lr and will be under the $200 mark I think. Which seems good to me.

Besides, where I'm putting the tank, I don't know if there's room for something like this. I don't get where all this equipment attaches to and all that... Have pics of one set up in action?

EDIT: Just wanted to edit to say I also found this product for around $180 from an actual distributor here in Canada. I feel the extra $30 would be worth having a real point of sale and actual warranty on the product opposed to most Ebay sellers.


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

ND's post has answered all of your questions, but I definitely wanted to drop in and say great job on the aquascaping. The rock looks great. Just remember, nothing good happens quick in a reef tank, only bad things happen quick. So, take your time.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Damn Nice Puff


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

very nice start puff.....i love the coraline you have on the rocks


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## Chapz (Jul 9, 2007)

Just keep working on it. Once u get some coral, its gonna look awesome.


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