Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Live Rock?

4K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Jason4390 
#1 ·
I have currently cycled my 75g brackish aquarium. I was wondering if I could start adding live rock (which would be from a not so LFS) to my aquarium over the months to take over the filtration. Is live rock as effective at lower salinity levels? The LFS has the live rock stored, of course, at a marine level salinity. Would I have to do any acclimation procedures if the live rock would work? My whole goal is to eventually, after I tire of the brackish scene, turn the tank fully marine. This of course will be years away, but the addition of live rock will be much sooner if I can get some of these questions answered. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
 
#4 ·
Sell the live rock to a marine fish store and purchase porous dead base rock. This way you are still creating live rock suitable for your tank, without the unnecessary of killing actual marine live rock.

The live rock essentially is going to become dead rock anyway in a brackish tank, it would turn live again once the tank is cycled.
Marine live rock sells for $6+ a lb so if your LFS gives you credit you can use that to purchase the dead base rock.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I don't have any live rock just yet. With the research I've been doing I believe you have found the best solution. But I still have one big unanswered question. Can the live rock completely take over my filtration of the brackish tank just like in some marine aquariums given there is enough rock in the tank? If so, can it survive the acclimation from my low level tank (SG 1.004) all the way to the eventually full marine enviroment over the years without any more cycling? And you said after my tank is cycled? It already is, will the bacteria growth cause another cycle? Last one, I swear! Is there any way to "seed" base rock in my situation?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top