Leaving rock in the ocean to seed new tank

[Blake45]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I never suggested you not bleach the rock. You've done it already. I've done it myself. My suggestion was to help you avoid algae.

The two months of lights out while cycling is a proven method for starting new tanks with the 'good' bacteria, while keeping algae and the bacteria that favor algae at bay.

By the way, welcome to RC! Best of luck with your tank.

This just brings me right back to the beginning, though. I know that I can leave completely cleaned dry rock in a tank and that after months, some nitrifying bacteria will eventually colonize the rock. But I want to seed my tank for more diversity and a better base. Some people buy products, some people seed with with sand/rock from other established tanks. This was my idea of something new to try. I can still cycle a rock that I left in the ocean in my tank with the lights out. I was never worried about algae. I was more looking for unforeseen problems that might arise from trying something like this. A little bit of algae or some die off doesn’t seem like enough to stop me from trying it though. Thanks for the input thought. I’ll probably cycle the rock from the ocean in the tank with lights off.


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[Blake45]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I never suggested you not bleach the rock. You've done it already. I've done it myself. My suggestion was to help you avoid algae.

The two months of lights out while cycling is a proven method for starting new tanks with the 'good' bacteria, while keeping algae and the bacteria that favor algae at bay.

By the way, welcome to RC! Best of luck with your tank.

Just to clarify, my reasoning for doing the bleach bath was just to break down any organics. I’m trying to avoid having rock that’s basically a soil bed for algae. I know some people do it to sterilize completely because they like having a very controlled environment. Those aren’t my intentions. So I can see where the confusion came from. Hopefully that makes sense.


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