29 gal FOWLR, eventual reef

**smaug** · 01-02-2012, 01:16 AM

Im a bit paranoid about getting live rock from a system that had fish in it. If any parasitic infestation is present then you just introduced a vector into your system. The live sand would worry me even more if there were fish in the system. If I trusted the shop very much then I suppose my fears would be assuaged .
I do wish to qualify my statements as coming from a newbie to sw keeping. Im a bit paranoid from my first few months of the experiance battling ich and or velvet.

**Ashurbarnipal** · 01-02-2012, 01:38 AM

Hmm, I'm not sure how much to trust them, as I'm p new to this region. I'll do what I can with the liverock, but I'm not sure how much choice I'll have in the matter. Nearest place with liverock is three hours away. :/

**sheamurai** · 01-02-2012, 06:42 PM

Best you can do - no matter where you get your live rock from - is to examine each piece while still in the water, for bad critters. If you take them out to look, things like aiptasia shrink to nothing and you can't see them.

I got a coral from a trusted source - by gawd his tank is gorgeous - but even so I got aiptasia and bristleworms from it. The rock I got from Big Als tho, was clean...the reverse of what you'd think...

**Ashurbarnipal** · 01-02-2012, 07:14 PM

Yeah, my fish friend told me as much. Unfortunately, I was wrong, they didn't have any live sand at all, but they did give me a net full of sand from an established reef tank. Also, all the live rock was from a tank with fish. I got 7 pieces, four medium sized ones and three smallish, but not tiny, rocks. Once the water clears from the crushed coral, I'll post pics, see if it looks right

**sheamurai** · 01-02-2012, 07:19 PM

Well, I'm thinking sand from an established tank IS live sand. I'm with smaug on that bagged stuff - waste of coin.

Do you know how much weight of rock you purchased? For a 29 gal, you'll be wanting 45-60 lbs of rock. 7 pieces doesn't quite sound like enough, unless you are going to add dry rock later.

Waiting for pics...

**Ashurbarnipal** · 01-02-2012, 07:38 PM

I think maybe 35? They sold it by size, not weight.

I could go back later this week and buy maybe two or three more.

edit: to be honest, I'm a little uneasy about stacking the rocks which I'd need to do even more with more rocks, any advice there?

**smaug** · 01-02-2012, 07:40 PM

At this point

**sheamurai** · 01-02-2012, 07:55 PM

Mine are just stacked, against the back and not attached or glued or anything. I do have eggcrate on the bottom. Also, place rock first then sand, so the rocks don't shift if sand gets washed or moved from under the rocks.

You can check out other peoples marine tank journals as everyone has done their own thing concerning setting up the rock.

**Ashurbarnipal** · 01-02-2012, 11:00 PM

I did place the live rock on the glass before putting in the crushed coral.

The water has cleared enough that you can kinda see the rock. Taking a bit to fully clear, cause of crushed coral (which I washed 3 times) Most of it is Atlantic, Fiji rock.

I apologize for the quality, my normal camera is on loan and I just have my camera phone.

Also, it's kinda of hazy, but there is a rock to the right of the red one to the right.

This pic kinda hides on of the rocks on the left side

Namely this one.

Keep in mind, they're also partially buried under 20 pounds of crushed gravel.

**Ashurbarnipal** · 01-02-2012, 11:16 PM

Out of curiosity, would adding a bunch of deadrock obtained out of town work if I wanted to convert it to a reef in the future? (which I'm not considering any time soon, mind)