Seeding Dry Rock and fish?

[jeo1997]

Hey guys, I am new to the hobby have had the tank about 6 weeks, my PH is between 8.0 - 8.2, ammonia is just about zero; some traces but not as high as 0.25, nitrate is 0 and nitrite is 0, the temperature is at 26 degrees Celsius (around 79 degrees Fahrenheit) and the salinity is 1.025, is this safe for fish and corals. Also, I am getting some live rock, if I get one piece and the rest dry will it seed the dry, if so how long will this process take? Would it be better just to get all live rock?
Thanks, much appreciated, Joe :bounce3:

[shifty51008]

what do you already have in the tank now? any rock or sand and if so how much?

[thegrun]

Until there is no trace of ammonia you need to wait.

[E Rosewater]

If you're using an API test kit you will likely have a false positive for ammonia.

No matter what you do, give at least a few months before adding coral. Figure out what you're doing and make sure you can keep the water chemistry in line with fish before adding coral.

[FunInFloridaSun]

I would add the rock now and keep testing a while longer.

[Fizz71]

All the above are valid...

We need to know what's in there now for rock.
If there is LR, then need to see if the ammonia reading is a false positive..those yellows are hard to see aren't they. :)
Add nothing but rock until the ammonia is zero...but if there is no rock in there now that's moot at this point.

And dry rock is technically seeded the next day after it's in with live rock but being seeded doesn't mean it's ready for a full bioload. What I try to do is have enough live rock to handle the immediate bio load, and not worry about the dry rock. Then just slowly over the next year add to the bioload slowly and slowly let the original dry rock slowy catch up. Slowly. :)

What you have to remember is we're talking about bacteria that will reproduce to reach an equilibrium in your tank. You could have 500lbs of dry rock and 2lbs of LR in a 300g tank for 3 years with nothing but a clonwfish in it... At the end of 3 years I still wouldn't consider that to be the same as 502lbs of live rock and then add 30 fish to the system at one shot...the tank would crash. But adding 30 fish over the course of 3 years would be fine. Did that make sense?

[jeo1997]

Those yellows are hard to read! So what your saying is I can seed the live rock but it will still not be the same as LR? That does make sense but. There is no live rock in at the moment. Would I be ok to add live rock and my first fish at the same time if the levels are perfect? I also have bio balls in my filter which I believe act as what LR does, am I correct?
Thanks, Joe!

[jeo1997]

How do you tell if ammonia is false positive?

[Sn8kbyt]

Those yellows are hard to read! So what your saying is I can seed the live rock but it will still not be the same as LR? That does make sense but. There is no live rock in at the moment. Would I be ok to add live rock and my first fish at the same time if the levels are perfect? I also have bio balls in my filter which I believe act as what LR does, am I correct?
Thanks, Joe!

If there is NO live rock in at the moment then you have not cycled the tank. Add your planned live rock and wait until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and showing some nitrate before adding a fish.

[Fizz71]

If there is NO live rock in at the moment then you have not cycled the tank. Add your planned live rock and wait until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and showing some nitrate before adding a fish.

+1

You need to get a bacteria source and a place for it to grow in there or you just have a tub of water. If you add live rock and it's fully cured you MIGHT be able to add fish right away but I don't recommend it. I've actually seen tanks go from empty to teaming with life successfully (and NO it's not from "Tanked" episodes) but it takes a lot of well cultured live rock that spends limited time in the air on transport. (Too long out of water causes die off and spikes the ammonia)

Get the rock in and get some ammonia in there..either ghost feed the tank, toss in a dead shrimp or use an ammonia additive. I've never done the third one so somebody else would have to explain that one to you. Test everyday and if a week goes by and you don't have any ammonia or nitrite but you DO have nitrate then you'd be ready for a small fish or atleast a CUC.

But again..no matter how much dead rock you add in with the live rock, after a week you'll really only have a little more than the original live rock's bacteria and bio load capabilities.

And if after a week you still have ammonia...well then you didn't have enough cultured live rock and you'll need to be patient and let the full cycle happen.