Cooking LifeRock to change Aquascape?

[Aeiyr]

I'll try to keep this short. I have a 14g IM nevo Peninsula. I hate my aquascape. It's my first tank. I went with marco rock, and the rock they sent was massive. i'd have only been able to put two lumps/rocks in and that's it. I broke one up, tried to make an arch/donut but it doesn't look great and my fish don't use it in a way i'd like to see. My hermit crbas just hang upside down on it. I also made two janky stacks of rock using flat shelf bits that at the time, i thought "these will be nice when I get corals" My inverts dont enjoy having to climb them to forage and they honestly crows the middle row (if you do the 3x3 grid rule for aquascaping) and nothing else. And through feeding I've noticed a lot of dead flow pockets.

I wanna start over. The tank is 8 weeks old. young, I know. It has WAY too much cuc - 10 scarlets, 10 blue leg, 10 nassarius and 9 astrea - THis is due in error to Dr. Reefs that sent me 10 of everything when i only ordered 6 very very small crabs, and 8 snails. I have had issues keeping them all fed and frankly I've decided to ask an LFS if they want them free of charge or for very little credit. I just can't keep them at this rate as it's putting a lot of waste into my small system.

The question is this. I will not do this unless it can be safely done at all. I will not risk the life of my livestock being picky about the visuals. But I also want a habitat for them to thrive, and this aint that. I've been looking into the Nano LifeRock kit from CaribSea. It includes two semi long "arch" type pieces, and 4-5 palm sized rocks equalling 10 pounds I could stack to make something a lot more natural looking and maybe have a little one for a GSP island later on. Honestly I wish i had done this from the start as I have wasted more than it would have cost me to do this trying to create something by hand, which I ended up enjoying less than I thought I would.

LifeRock is said to come with bacteria seeding inside suspended in dormancy to jumpstart a cycle. Can I "cook" the 10 pound kit of liferock in a 5 gallon bucket with some Microbacter7 or fritz or whatever else one might use, with a heater and a pump to keep it circulating for about a month or so and then just removed the frankly less than 10 pounds I have now and put the LifeRock in.

I also have plenty of bio media in a back chamber. Maxspect ceramic balls advertised to equal 10 balls to 20 lbs of rock. I have about 25 in the rear chambers. Some will be coming out to make room for a new Skimmer, but that'll be done slowly as well and is a completely separate venture.


Man.. I really did not keep this short..

 

[fishface NJ]

You will be starting over at square one if you go with the dead LifeRock.

 

[Aeiyr]

You will be starting over at square one if you go with the dead LifeRock.

I figured to a degree that I would. Hence the cooking the rock to culture the bacteria. It must be possible to do this in some capacity is it not?

 

[Aeiyr]

You will be starting over at square one if you go with the dead LifeRock.

As I mentioned as well, I have plenty of existing bio media for the nitrification cycle. the rock I initially used and would be removing is dry marcorock that was just rinsed in RODI water before use. Other than livestock the only thing growing was a very light case of diatoms, and I wouldn't be detroying much, if any microbiome at this point. At least I don't think. So would cooking/cycling new rock in a bin to replace the old rock work?

 

[saltcats]

Yes, you can cycle the new rock in a bucket (probably don't even need the heater, unless your room temps are really cold).

Is it just the CUC in there, no fish? If you're keeping the same biomedia in the back chambers too, I don't see that switching out the rock for a tank with just a few small crabs etc would make much odds (assuming that you do get rid of most of the excess). Might need to provide nori for the snails until the new rock grows algae again.

I feel at 8 weeks, your tank has barely *left* square one, so it's probably the best time to start over the scape. The longer you wait, the bigger disruption it'll be.

If you have any smaller pieces of your current rock, maybe you could leave them in temporarily after setting up the new scape, and pull them out after the new rock has established itself.

 

[Aeiyr]

Yes, you can cycle the new rock in a bucket (probably don't even need the heater, unless your room temps are really cold).

Is it just the CUC in there, no fish? If you're keeping the same biomedia in the back chambers too, I don't see that switching out the rock for a tank with just a few small crabs etc would make much odds (assuming that you do get rid of most of the excess). Might need to provide nori for the snails until the new rock grows algae again.

I feel at 8 weeks, your tank has barely *left* square one, so it's probably the best time to start over the scape. The longer you wait, the bigger disruption it'll be.

If you have any smaller pieces of your current rock, maybe you could leave them in temporarily after setting up the new scape, and pull them out after the new rock has established itself.

Aside from the far too numerous CuC, I have two mocha clownfish I acquired as my first and likely ONLY fish for this tank because as they age they may pair, and I don't want to lose anything if the female goes carawack on something.

So yes I agree in the statement of barely leaving square one. As for CuC the snails are all to penny size. I will likely keep all 9 astrea, and keep the 5 most active blue leggies and largest scarlet, and half the nassarius. That's it. the rest gotta go because trying to feed them as caused a bacterial bloom (could be start of the uglies but I know this hasn't helped the problem any)

On the note of original rock, the tank is crowded with the current structures in an awkward way, but i can certain break plates off the flat structes and tilt them up against the back, and even toss some in to cook to new rock as well while I wait. if it will help.

I read an old post on another forum board where someone said to cook the new rock with water from a water change. Thoughts on this?

 

[saltcats]

Aside from the far too numerous CuC, I have two mocha clownfish I acquired as my first and likely ONLY fish for this tank because as they age they may pair, and I don't want to lose anything if the female goes carawack on something.

So yes I agree in the statement of barely leaving square one. As for CuC the snails are all to penny size. I will likely keep all 9 astrea, and keep the 5 most active blue leggies and largest scarlet, and half the nassarius. That's it. the rest gotta go because trying to feed them as caused a bacterial bloom (could be start of the uglies but I know this hasn't helped the problem any)

On the note of original rock, the tank is crowded with the current structures in an awkward way, but i can certain break plates off the flat structes and tilt them up against the back, and even toss some in to cook to new rock as well while I wait. if it will help.

I read an old post on another forum board where someone said to cook the new rock with water from a water change. Thoughts on this?

I don't think using water change water will make much impact honestly. Putting a piece of your current rock in the bucket with it would likely do more. I cycled my rocks for my first tank in a bucket before setting up the tank; just make sure to keep it topped off, and ghost feed it to let the bacteria establish (and any pods/brittle stars/etc if you do seed it with current rock).

Maybe get a seachem ammonia alert badge to keep an eye on params after the rock transfer?

 

[Aeiyr]

I don't think using water change water will make much impact honestly. Putting a piece of your current rock in the bucket with it would likely do more. I cycled my rocks for my first tank in a bucket before setting up the tank; just make sure to keep it topped off, and ghost feed it to let the bacteria establish (and any pods/brittle stars/etc if you do seed it with current rock).

Maybe get a seachem ammonia alert badge to keep an eye on params after the rock transfer?

I have a badge currently in the tank so I'm ready on that end. I might seed pods but with the one bottle I bought prior, with these stupid shelf rock things I made they aren't porous enough for them to take home in. One of the reasons I want to make the change as well.

When you say ghost feed, could I just drop half a cube of mysis shrimp in? I've only ever dosed ammonia chloride.

 

[saltcats]

I have a badge currently in the tank so I'm ready on that end. I might seed pods but with the one bottle I bought prior, with these stupid shelf rock things I made they aren't porous enough for them to take home in. One of the reasons I want to make the change as well.

When you say ghost feed, could I just drop half a cube of mysis shrimp in? I've only ever dosed ammonia chloride.

Ammonia chloride would work too, I didn't know if you'd have any on hand already!
When I was cycling mine I seeded it with live rock to start, so I wanted to drop in actual food for the pods/brittles.

The mysis would work fine. I know some people don't like to cycle a tank using food because it introduces other nutrients etc besides just pure ammonia, so it's worth reading up to see which camp you fall into. I always just used a bit of fish food, easiest option IMO.

 

[Aeiyr]

Ammonia chloride would work too, I didn't know if you'd have any on hand already!
When I was cycling mine I seeded it with live rock to start, so I wanted to drop in actual food for the pods/brittles.

The mysis would work fine. I know some people don't like to cycle a tank using food because it introduces other nutrients etc besides just pure ammonia, so it's worth reading up to see which camp you fall into. I always just used a bit of fish food, easiest option IMO.

Well it's just dry Caribbean liferock so, no microfauna or anything to look after. The pump I use for both mixing salt and changing water is a big ol 2600gph koi pump. The impeller alone is enough to keep water around 80f without a heater so I think I'll just drop the rock in, drop in the pump and dose 2ppm ammonia chloride and leave it for a couple weeks before checking It.

The primary goal of this is to be able to swap the rock for a more natural scape without gut punching the nitrifyiers I have now.

What's a good turn around time for ammonia > nitrite > nitrate to consider it done cooking and safe to swap out? I've heard some people aim for 2ppm ammonia within 24 hrs but I'm not experienced enough to know if thats a good bench.