Blog Comments

The water won't make any real difference in seeding the rock. Live sand or live rock is what will seed it.

ok i would not mix the rock then

A lot of Aptasia and Just don't like the look of it.

Is there some thing wrong with the rock currently in your tank?

I have not looked into VSV and had not heard of it until here. I began vodka dosing my self then my tank.. Just kidding... I like beer... as far as my tank goes I began vodka dosing three weeks ago and it has been a slow process with out great results yet beside very clear water. I have not begun to see a decrease in my nitrate which is at 10 ppm. the system is about 180 of "real water" and I am currently dosing 1.8ml daily

Water changes are the most effective way, and do so quickly.

Yeah I feel I have a failry decent understanding of the pricipal and design on how they work. Still not sure if I am going to to try either one yet. Currently my Nitrate is around 25ppm and my Phosphate is around .3 I have around 120-130 gal of total water volume in my system and I have been doing 40 gal water changes every other day for the past week to bring them both down. NO3 started at 50ppm and PO4 started at 1.0 I know both systems take time to bring the NO3 and PO4 readings down so I am trying to bring them down through water changes first and then figure out a way to help keep them down.

I never did any serious research into the VSV after I had a working game plan with Vodka only. I read good things about the combination, and both systems work. If you feel you've a good understanding of how to do either of them, proceed.

Personally, I would just treat the rock for the pest. They have a lot of good creatures in live rock that will be good for ya tank.

Well a little update. I got the pump back on thursday. I made a few modifications to my skimmer stand inside my sump and connected it all up. The result is a skimmer pump that is super quiet and working great. Lots of foam and bubbles. I will try to update with some pictures later on.

Well the rock I am getting is/was live rock. It has been sitting in a bin with water, but no circulation. I was thinking of maybe cooking the rock to try and kill off any algae or aptasia that might be on it.

Yes, that's doable. If you want to seed it and light it for coralline, then there's no reason to use a trashcan. A quarantine tank or bin should be fine.

That is my concern about taking out live rock and putting in base rock, the lack of filtration in the tank. I was also thinking of taking base rock and seeding in a brute trash can for a couple of months before using it.

Yes, I've had liverock cooking in a trashcan in total darkness for years, actually. Occasionally I'll pull out a piece to use, but I never seem to put some infested stuff in the trashcan for whatever reason. That's how I had rock ready to go for the angled tank.

Yes, base rock can become live once again, but it can take 6 months or longer to be viably beneficial. Most people won't wait that long to add livestock, which could easily overload the system's biological filtration due to the rock not being ready to maintain it.

After some time the base rock will become live rock. Have you ever tried to cook live rock? Does that really work and kill off all pests yet keep the rock alive?

That's good news! Now we just need to know how it works on your skimmer.

I understand your frustrations. If you want it to be live rock, you have to treat the pests. If you want it to be base rock, nuke everything. Myself, I prefer live rock.

Sent the pump to Reef Dynamics on a Wednesday. They recieved it Friday. Jeff called me that afternoon and said that the impeller is bad and the pump is ok, he also recomended I do the inlet port modification. After talking cars with him for a while he even through in a updated air inlet port for free. Pump was shipped on Tuesday and Scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I love dealing with Jeff, allways top notch service.

what would happen if you soaked the rock in a seperate container of salt water with a bottle or 2 of joe's juice or another less harmful substance, hopfully just killing off the aptasia.

Beacuse the Live rock I am getting is free. Or yes I would just be buying base rock