Hello friends,
I've had a nice little 45 gallon mixed reef tank going for years now just waiting for my boys to get old enough not to mess with (and preferably appreciate . . . and of course years later help out with!) a larger "forever" tank in the living room.
Anyway, I have a friend who would like to set up a 70ish gallon reef aquarium and I thought I'd help him get started. Of course I could give him some sand or something, but since he was in no hurry he was wondering if he could throw a few pounds of "dry/inert or whatever you call it" live rock in the display (I could easy "hold" a few pounds in the corner) or less so in the sump, or even but some of those bioballs or ceramic things in the sump then transfer it over to get his new reef aquarium going (of course he would have to then add an ammonia source to really get things going).
Anyway, my question is: how long do you all think it would take for a meaningful population of beneficial bacteria to seed the dry rock or whatever he puts in my aquarium for the purposes of then transferring to his new set up to get it going? He is not really in a hurry, but man when I look at this chalk white dry rock and then look at the live rock in my aquarium there is no comparison and I wonder if it would take months to really seed this stuff properly and if a random cup of sand wouldn't just do the trick better than 4-5 pounds of dry rock sitting in my aquarium for a weeks then transferring over. Same question for those bioballs or ceramic things.
I doubt anybody has an exact answer but I welcome input.
Thanks!
I've had a nice little 45 gallon mixed reef tank going for years now just waiting for my boys to get old enough not to mess with (and preferably appreciate . . . and of course years later help out with!) a larger "forever" tank in the living room.
Anyway, I have a friend who would like to set up a 70ish gallon reef aquarium and I thought I'd help him get started. Of course I could give him some sand or something, but since he was in no hurry he was wondering if he could throw a few pounds of "dry/inert or whatever you call it" live rock in the display (I could easy "hold" a few pounds in the corner) or less so in the sump, or even but some of those bioballs or ceramic things in the sump then transfer it over to get his new reef aquarium going (of course he would have to then add an ammonia source to really get things going).
Anyway, my question is: how long do you all think it would take for a meaningful population of beneficial bacteria to seed the dry rock or whatever he puts in my aquarium for the purposes of then transferring to his new set up to get it going? He is not really in a hurry, but man when I look at this chalk white dry rock and then look at the live rock in my aquarium there is no comparison and I wonder if it would take months to really seed this stuff properly and if a random cup of sand wouldn't just do the trick better than 4-5 pounds of dry rock sitting in my aquarium for a weeks then transferring over. Same question for those bioballs or ceramic things.
I doubt anybody has an exact answer but I welcome input.
Thanks!