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Moonstream
06/08/2011, 08:24 PM
Im setting up two new tanks on either side of my 40g LPS tank, a softy BC29 and gorgonian dominated small-shrimp NC24.

both tanks are being setup with dry rock, and seeded with a few extra pieces of live from the 40 (I'm re-scaping and want a more open feel to the tank). anyways, I have two questions:

1) I dipped all pieces of rock several times in a water/vinegar mixture (probably a cup or two of vinegar in about 3g of water). I let all the rocks dry, and forgetting that I had not washed them off yet I aquascaped the (still dry, sandless) BC29 with some. I'm very happy with the scape I got, and would rather not remove them to rinse them off in FW, as I doubt i'd be able to get the same scape again. would it be okay to use them as-is, without rinsing them again?

2) in cycling both tanks, I want to add a few pieces of rock from the 40. my issue with the 29 is that the main rock I want to add has three hairy mushrooms on it. my hope is that the bacterial colony living in this rather established piece of rock will be enough to deal with the minimal if not not-existent cycle of the dry rocks. I'd also be adding a bit of sand (not a whole lot though) and some larger pieces of rubble.

any help is great appreciated as well as needed!

disc1
06/08/2011, 09:08 PM
1. I think you'll be OK. As long as you don't smell vinegar go for it. You didn't really use a whole heaping lot in your rinse.

2. As long as you're willing to do the slow cycle they will be cool. They might not be too happy about huge ammonia spikes if you're going fast.

Moonstream
06/09/2011, 07:38 AM
I assume by slow vs fast cycle you mean allowing a natural dye-off on the rock to supply an ammonia spike vs adding ammonia. if this is the case, yes I plan to allow a natural spike in ammonia. my plan is to let it sit for a week or two with perfect readings across the board, and then start moving corals over piece by piece. once a decent amount of algae has grown, I'll order my cleanup crew, and eventually begin adding fish in a few months time.

Crazed
06/09/2011, 07:52 AM
1) Agree with disc. It's probably okay. Test the pH if you're worried--if vinegar remained on the rock, it should have pulled down your tank water pH obviously.

2) Also agree with disc. Just stock slowly--don't dump in 4 fish at once, or that might spike pollutants in the water (ie, ammonia) that the mushrooms might not appreciate. Also, if you're putting corals in right away, definitely make sure to check the pH as I mentioned above--a lower pH will affect them more than fish. :)

Moonstream
06/09/2011, 08:05 AM
haha, dont worry I've done this before, I dont plan to be dumping anything into the tank too quickly.

I assume that if the PH is too low, I should just do a big waterchange?

disc1
06/09/2011, 09:53 AM
I assume by slow vs fast cycle you mean allowing a natural dye-off on the rock to supply an ammonia spike vs adding ammonia. if this is the case, yes I plan to allow a natural spike in ammonia. my plan is to let it sit for a week or two with perfect readings across the board, and then start moving corals over piece by piece. once a decent amount of algae has grown, I'll order my cleanup crew, and eventually begin adding fish in a few months time.

That's exactly what I mean. Some people get in an all fired hurry to get fish in their tank and start dumping in raw shrimp and dead fish or whatever. That may get a good cycle going fast, but those shrooms probably wouldn't like it.