Can I add live rock to my saltwater aquarium while my fish are in there?
by Aquaboy on Friday, February 12th, 2010 | 7 Comments
Do I need to let the live rock cycle without the fish or will it be safe to be in the water while it cycles/
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You can go head and put it in there. It will cure in the tank.
how can rocks cycle? or even live? :S
answer mine:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090626184159AAWQM6J&cp=3
it would be ok to add it while there are fish in there. There may be some die-off of the microorganisms that may alter the balance of your tank slightly, but this should clear up in a short amount of time, assuming your tank is already cycled and it’s just new rock you’re adding. To be safe, you could do a small water change before adding the rock.
i think that the fish will be fine if you add the rock while they are in there i am not positive though my mom has added a fake plant that was rinsed throughly into the tank that had 4 mollies in it…..it didn’t affect them @ all
As a local fish store employee (6 years) and reef aquarium guru (9 years) I’ve cured thousands of pounds of rock, fiji, tonga, marshall islands, crushed brazilian, christmas island etc.
In a large aquarium (150gal+) with a medium to light bio load, you can probably pull it off. In a lightly stocked medium sized aquarium (75gal+) you can probably do the same. Absolutely do not do it with a small aquarium (<50 gal), unless you are purchasing pre cured live rock from a local store. And when I say pre cured, it should be cured pretty well before you go ahead and toss it in there.
I’ve seen alot of weird stuff happen with live rock. On occasion you will find rocks (especially fiji) with sponge growth far up inside the porous structure of the rock. The sponge will be rotting and dying, releasing all sorts of chemicals (some they use for chemotherapy) and increasing your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.
If your aquarium is well cycled and established (at least 3-4 mnths pending) this will only result in nitrate build up and perhaps localized pockets of ammonia.
Further more, it’s possible that you inadvertently introduce an unwanted species of algae, bacteria, snail (i.e. pyrams), shrimp (i.e. mantis), formafarian, dinoflagellate, protozoan, or other nasty critter that may be impossible to exterminate, or could exterminate your live stock.
It’s important to ask yourself how much you care about your livestock, and how much you have invested.
For me, the answer is always clear, at home I have my three display tanks, three frag tanks, and other utility tubs on a common sump as one enclosed re-circulating system, representing over $4,500 spent and at least 2g’s (in frags) of profits pending. That answer is QUARANTINE QUARANTINE QUARANTINE, and that means rock too, and especially.
This type of neurotic obsession is what defines successful reef aquarium keepers from partially successful, and unsuccessful reef keepers.
Yes, you can as long as it is cured/cycled rock. Then it won’t be a real problem-I’ve added cured/cycled live rock to several tanks in the past.
You can add a small amount of rock if it is not cured. If it is fully cured than yes no problem. Just test your water after a day or so? if you test positive for ammonia just do some water changes to keep the ammonia levels down so not to kill your fish.
Uncured rock smells like rotten eggs.