Adding CaribSea LifeRock?

[laezur]

I am the king of dumb questions at the moment, so here comes another one to keep you entertained!

I'm looking at 20-40lbs of Caribsea LifeRock here and wondering if I'd be able to somehow begin using this in my tank, while moving the rest of my rock without absolutely murdering everything that is good about my tank right now?

My plan of action would be moving the current rock structures all to the sump, so that I do not just remove all of that diversity, and then adding the new rock structures to the main display and allowing them to cycle in-tank hopefully from the bacteria on the sand and the rock that would now be in the sump. This would GREATLY increase the aesthetic and practicality of my display tank as the current rock is not ideal, doesn't include enough spaces for fish to swim through and blocks a lot of the flow around the tank.

Possible? Not possible? Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Reefahholic]

If you have established rock that you are trying to change out with more pleasing dry structures then I’d suggest to first let the dry rock cook in a brute can with heat and flow for at least a few weeks before you add it to the tank. Use some water change water to fill the brute. After you’re ready to add it to the main DT, I’d keep as much of the old rock upstairs with it for a long as possible so that the biome will transfer into that rock as well. The biome will stay mostly around the old rock, so having it in the sump will be less effective and take longer.


Ever seen somebody setup a frag tank plumed into a display and have all these issues in the frag tank and yet they share the exact same water. That is became there is zero biome in the frag tank. It’s all in the DT with the rock and established surfaces.

 

[laezur]

If you have established rock that you are trying to change out with more pleasing dry structures then I’d suggest to first let the dry rock cook in a brute can with heat and flow for at least a few weeks before you add it to the tank. Use some water change water to fill the brute. After you’re ready to add it to the main DT, I’d keep as much of the old rock upstairs with it for a long as possible so that the biome will transfer into that rock as well. The biome will stay mostly around the old rock, so having it in the sump will be less effective and take longer.


Ever seen somebody setup a frag tank plumed into a display and have all these issues in the frag tank and yet they share the exact same water. That is became there is zero biome in the frag tank. It’s all in the DT with the rock and established surfaces.

Ah okay, so i should still let the rock cycle? I know CaribSea liferock is advertised as painted with beneficial bacteria so it's a quicker start. I don't have a brute lying around because I'm living in a flat, but I can potentially come up with something else there.

Out of interest, no biome would be able to transfer from the surrounding sand and stuff? If I was to flesh out the new structure with a couple of the rocks I already have, some of the bigger ones for example, and then move them out in a couple weeks time leaving only the new structure, would that also work?