We're starting a 75 gallon reef tank in the science department in our school to be a part of the menagerie we currently have going (2 terrariums, CA Cichlid tank, Silver Dollar tank, Office window tank with Angels and Coreys, an a planted aquarium with guppies.)
We're quickly running through our budget on this, but we have a student who has a small saltwater tank at home that his parents say they have sort of "Let go", although they still have a clownfish which they say "just won't die."
Not that they were trying to kill everything, but they said all of their other fish died, but this one somehow just kept going.
Anyways, they are tired of maintaining a salt tank, and want to use that tank to do freshwater instead.
They have been using tapwater in the saltwater tank, and I guess have an algae problem because of it, but I don't know how bad it is.
Should we inherit an algae problem to save money on some live rock? Our local suppliers are all charging around $8 per pound for cured, $7 for uncured. it could save us a ton of money to get some used rock from someone else, as well as the sand, too.
Or should we just start fresh and not risk inheriting problems with algae that will need managing from the get go?
If they have used tap water, the rock will have Phos locked into it. This will cause endless algae headaches for you unless you want to take the time to cook it. If you don't want to cook it,I would look into getting some dry rock (usually $2-4 lbs) and seed a few pieces of live rock. That is the best way I know of to safely save costs on the rock. Same goes for the sand - it can leach problems into your rock.
well theres things you can do such as put the rock in a dark container of saltwater with a strong powerhead and do many water changes over some time to clean up the rock. you could also get that rock with some saltwater and scrub it down real good....then set up your tank and continue good husbandry. LIVE rock is usually $8 a pound but dry rock at my lfs is $2.50 per lb thats robbery your stores doing!
I had actually wondered about that. I had read about using "base rock" but wasn't sure if the bacteria would eventually colonize that rock as well. So am I understanding right, that base rock will eventually have the bacteria move in, if there are other pieces of live rock present?
We're in no rush and definitely want to do this right. We've been planning it out since November, and have been slowly putting together components when we have time. Our hope is to be ready for fish before school starts again in September.
Half our live rock came from a koi pond from a guy that gave up on his tank. The other came off his patio after a year of sitting in the sun.
If it is free I would get a big Rubbermaid Brute trash can and let it just cook away in salt water for a few months with nothing but a powerhead and a heater.
We let ours do this for three months and still had some green algae for about three more until we burned out the crud in the rock.
In your sort of environment I would try to get cured rock to begin with on top of base rock. With extra hands around and fish that look "so hungry" any extra crud in the tank will just add to problems.
Dr fosters and smith, aquacon, coral reef farm are all good places to purchase live rock IMO and they normally have some sort of special going. That would be a good way for you guys to get the reef going right.
If you began cooking rock now you could easily be ready for fish by September. Also watch craigslist for folks that just don't want their tank anymore this may be a good way to pick up some more equipment at a huge discount or free.
Well, took the majority of advice here, and went with Marco Rocks. Mixed the salt, got 'er all filled up, now I just have to wait on the weld on to arrive in the mail to fix the skimmer. Will probably go out tomorrow and get the live rock going, should only be a couple days without skimming. Weld on arrives Add LR and some hermit crabs on tuesday, to give the students something cool to see before they leave for the summer, weld on should arrive wednesday, then install the skimmer thursday and we're off to the races!
If you don't mind a suggestion, the rockwork could use a little reorganizing. If you think of the rocks as boxes, you want to stack them on the corners not the flat sides. I think changing the direction of a few rocks could give you more height and more open sandbed.
Here is a pic of my tank for example when I first stacked my Marco rock. The rock is a central island, not touching the glass on any side (just a little contact with the overflow). Notice how you can easily see most of the back of the tank through the openings between the rocks.
Remember to leave enough room between the rock and glass for cleaning the glass on the sides as well.
If you don't mind a suggestion, the rockwork could use a little reorganizing. If you think of the rocks as boxes, you want to stack them on the corners not the flat sides. I think changing the direction of a few rocks could give you more height and more open sandbed.
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The picture is a little deceiving, but there actually is a lot of open sandbend, its just underneath the rocks.
I have a few smaller pieces all along the bottom on top of egg crate, then stacked everything else making all kinds of little arches and tunnels underneath.
I did take your advice on one of the bigger pieces, though, and added about 8 lbs of live rock today along with some hermit crabs. The right side looks the most deceiving, there's actually lots of open sand bed over there, and a cool little sand dune that moves around depending on how I have the powerhead on that side pointed.
I think it looks much better. That one really big piece that you rotated upright was one of the ones I was refering to.
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