# Live Rock.. dead?``



## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

I am new to SW, and just spent everything i got from selling my FW livestock.

It's a FOWLR...Fish Only With Live Rock.

Got 10 lbs of Live rock, which i hope i didn't kill.
I added tap water + sea salt and aerated with an airstone (15mins), then added live rock and heater. FORGOT to add De-chlorinator.

What is the chance that i killed the live rock.


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## thharris (Jun 29, 2010)

Depends on if you were able to catch it fast, I don't know anything about salt tanks, but from my understanding alot of whats "live" is inside the rock so you might be ok


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## toytech (Sep 26, 2010)

I never add de chorinator to my water , i just filled my tank with 50 fresh gallons right out of the tap and everything on my rock is fine , the stuff that grows on it can survive huge salinity swings being out of water ,too hot, too cold, its tough to kill.,


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## MadgicBug (Apr 22, 2010)

Depends if you LR was cured or not. Curing means that it has been in a SW tank and all the die off has occured and the good "bugs" have have inhabited it. If it has not been cured, its a longer process.

If it has been FULLY cured, I would run it in a bucket with a powerhead for 1 week. (heater is not really required if you house is around 72F) just to be safe. There are lots of train of thoughts about this...some just put it in others will go through an abbreviated curing process again.

You can probably check online or Reef centeral on how to cure LR. 

To save salt, I cured mine at the lower end of the salinity. I think around 1.017 or so (can't remember) 

Just an overview:
10lb is not a lot, but you will need something like a 20 gal or a small rubber maid container, protinen skimmer and a power head. You will need to watch for die offs and monitor the Ammonia, Nitritea and Nitrate. You will need to do some WC to get rid of some of the die offs and nitrate. Can't remember how long but it took me around 6 weeks to cure rocks that just came off the plane and there was a lot of die offs and a quite a number of WC.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Bring your water to King Ed's, Big Al's or J&L (the 3 closest SW LFS) and have them test it for you. No ammonia, nitrites or nitrates & you'll be ok. Don't know if your live rock is cured or not. Hard to say for sure whether you're going to have problems or not. Usually, fresh tapwater is not a good idea. I usually have my new sw in a barrel with powerhead for a day. I don't add dechlorinator for topup water though since its a small amount going into a large vol. of salt water.


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## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

MadgicBug said:


> Depends if you LR was cured or not. Curing means that it has been in a SW tank and all the die off has occured and the good "bugs" have have inhabited it. If it has not been cured, its a longer process.
> 
> If it has been FULLY cured, I would run it in a bucket with a powerhead for 1 week. (heater is not really required if you house is around 72F) just to be safe. There are lots of train of thoughts about this...some just put it in others will go through an abbreviated curing process again.
> 
> ...


Hmm i believe it was partialy cured, i got it from J&L's they did mention there was going to be some die off.

I've put the LR now into my 10g tank with the live sand.. I guess i'l wait till my tank cycles though the die off. (not fish in there yet)

I just saw this odd looking tiny crab, i guess the chlorine wasn't too high.


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## MadgicBug (Apr 22, 2010)

You will get some die offs. Let it run and monitor the Nitrate. Once you are at 0 then your good. when you do WC during curing, take the rock out and clean up the debrise underneath it.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Freshwater will kill most thing on live rock if left for too long, since it's a 10 g tank. Premixing salt in a bucket isn't hard, I have extra buckets if you need one pm me!

Watch out for crabs especially hairy ones as they can eat your fish when they get bigger, they usually attack fish when the lights are out as the fish lay there quietly... I would premix the salt 1 day prior to changing it!


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## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

tang daddy said:


> Freshwater will kill most thing on live rock if left for too long, since it's a 10 g tank. Premixing salt in a bucket isn't hard, I have extra buckets if you need one pm me!
> 
> Watch out for crabs especially hairy ones as they can eat your fish when they get bigger, they usually attack fish when the lights are out as the fish lay there quietly... I would premix the salt 1 day prior to changing it!


Hairy Crab!!?
i saw 1 that was really really small like 0.5 cm, not hairy just small and wide, brownish purpleish..
Would i want to remove him?

The live rock seam to have some... sea trees growing on it  Pollups maybe there called...

Just addded some fish pellets and will start monitoring nitrate  need to use my liquid testing kit.. a Pain compared to the strips.


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## MadgicBug (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes Crab....I bought LR to add and for another tank at OA and it had crabs in it.

I had a hard time removing one and had to use a screwd driver to kill it and dig it out.

I use to find them in the rocks, flush them out and drop them in my sump.

The way you can tell if they are dangerous or safe is by the pincer. If its pointy, get rid of it. If its blunt, chances are you scored yourself a emeral crab.

I think I had one in my main tank as one of my large bangaii was ripped to peices. My Hawk fish disappeared....Hawk fish are pretty tough in reef tanks.

It was either a carb or a small mantis...didn't see any crushed snail shells or hermits, so I figured it was a crab.


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

Fish Whisper said:


> Hairy Crab!!?
> i saw 1 that was really really small like 0.5 cm, not hairy just small and wide, brownish purpleish..
> Would i want to remove him?
> 
> ...


The presumption is that all crabs are bad until proven friendly. Remove and isolate in something like a breeding trap, take a picture and get an ID. Any sharp pincers and/or hairiness equates to an evil crab.


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## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

fkshiu said:


> The presumption is that all crabs are bad until proven friendly. Remove and isolate is something like a breeding trap, take a picture and get an ID. Any sharp pincers and/or hairiness equates to an evil crab.


Its Hunting time.. if i can only find him


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