Adding rock

[Armywife]

Hello everyone! I was wondering if someone might tell me how to add rock/dried coral into my tank. I have read that you can add rock and it will turn into live rock, but what is the best way to do this? Also I have a huge box of shells and a huge piece of coral its cool looks like a tree kinda. I really want to add it to my tank but not sure how to do this safly I don't need to think its ok just to place it and crash my tank..... So my question is how to do it....

Thank You.
Army wife

[Texreefer]

How new Is your tank and what do you have in it?

[uriah]

Also, what kind of rock? Dont want anything that will release heavy metals into the system over time. As for turning the dead rock into live rock, you will need to seed the tank with a few pieces of live rock first.

[allan]

I've heard that term before, "seeding with live rock". Does this mean placing small bits of lr on, in, under the dr, or is proximity the key?

Allan

[jpond83]

i would think that you would want to put the live rock on top of the dead

[jpond83]

put the dead rocks in the sand bed

[hobogato]

you just need to put some live rock in the same tank with dry rock and the bacteria will colonize the (not so) dry (now) rock and it will then be live rock. this takes a while (a week or two at least), but not too long. under ideal conditions, bacteria can double their numbers about every 20 minutes. it will take much longer for the rock to start looking like other live rock with growth of coraline algae, etc.

if the coral you are wanting to add is bleach white, you may want to soak it in RODI water for a few days to make sure there are no chemicals left behind.

make sure any shells you add have not been polished. those chemicals may cause issues in your tank.

[moe]

AH so that how u get that look? Does the continue become whiter as time go by, or would they subcome to the algae?

[hobogato]

once you put a coral skeleton back in salt water, it will usually turn green or brown and eventually it will get coraline and other things growing on it.

a long time ago (giving away my age a bit) people used to keep tanks with bleached acro skeletons for decorations and they would have two sets for the tank. when the white ones started to get green and brown in the tank, they would switch them out for the other set they had that was still white. then they would bleach (with chlorine bleach) the green and brown ones, soak them in tap water for a day or two, and then keep them in storage until the ones in the tank turned brown/green and do it all over again. this was also the time of undergravel filters with powerheads on the top of the tubes and crushed cora in a layer (like the gravel in a FW setup).

[Bill S]

Ace, you are dredging up the old times... Dolomite substrate and bleached coral (at $50 a head).

Be careful with your dry rock. Many/most times, this is live rock that was just set out to dry out. It may have a LOT of organic material in it - so add small quantities if your tank is established and has fish/corals in it.

[Goofball310]

I still know people bleaching corals, but he key is a VERY thorough rinsing.

The LR question has been thoroughly answered by the previous posters on dry rock and seeding, but we still need to know how old the tank that the rock is being introduced to is. Seeding dry rock will cause the tank to cycle again, and put in danger any fish that may already be in the tank.

[moe]

thx for the tip on the bleach rock. I will try that look on my 55gal (maybe).

[roscozman]

I too will be placing DR in a 75gal FOWLER. This is rock we had in our 125gal but stayed in buckets with no circulation. We have since rinsed off with fresh water and left out in the back yard to bleach with the sun.

Is it okay to introduce this DR (along with some LR) in a new set up tank with no fish?

Also we had some coral skeleton given to us by a fellow maastard and it did exactly what Ace said, turned green and brown. We didn't have any issues and our fish loved the new hiding spots.

[Armywife]

Ok I said I was new.... I was waiting and waiting for messages in my mail box. I have a tank that was between 6-9 months old I have had for 2 months (we moved it from one side of san antonio to converse every drop of water with it) its 75g. I have some live rock with it 20lbs or so. I found a box of shells, corals, sand dollars, and 2 coral disks forgot what thier called also drift wood. I got the box years ago at a good will it was jammed full and was $2 bought them to decorate with but never did. Was just wondering if I could add some of the stuff since my tank looks kinda bare. So I don't have any "rock" but have seen some in diffrent stores. I have one big sandstone (I think) that came with the tank was told that corraline alge would not grow on but its turning purple. Also in the last week or so I have been getting some green alge in the tank is this normal? ok? I added more lights and was thinking that thats probably why.

Thanks for all the advice its verry much appricated!!!
Armywife

[Armywife]

OOps kinda forgot I washed everything in tap water with a cap of bleach rinced them and put them in the sink with tap water and declorinater and now they are air drying.
thanks again
Armywife