Rubbermaid sump add in

[diablo243]

Greetings all, just picked up a 100ga Rubbermaid trough and 100+lbs of dry rock. Going to acid bath the rock and then want to start curing the rock in the trough. Question is, during this process should I "cure" the rock isolated to that tank and then once it's cured add my tank to a loop through it? Or should I just tap right into my tank now and let it cure through the established water in the tank currently. My concern would be cycle spikes with SO much dried rock but then my concern adding it later is getting two large volumes of water in close enough Parma sync to combine them. Any advice appreciated! Thanks all

 

[mcarroll]

I'm confused/curious – you're just adding a giant tub of rock to an established system?

Nothing wrong with that I guess, but why, if you don't mind saying? :)

 

[steve&mari]

Personally I'd let it cycle till there's no way it's going to cause the tanks stability issues. Then test everything and plumb together.

 

[diablo243]

I have several tanks and want to cultivate live rock to have and to give. Figured if I'm doing that why not tie it into my existing system for additional volume and bio filtration. The long and short though is I want good clean live rock when I need it and then have some to give and trade as locals need it.

 

[Robthorn]

I would do it separate and do water changes from the main system into the new rock trough.

I would recommend against doing the acid wash in the trough if you planned to do that. It can cause issues in the material of the trough.

If you plan to keep this a long time I would coat the inside to keep it from deteriorating and leaching into your tank. Recent issues in the industry with long term use of those Rubbermaid stock tanks.

 

[mcarroll]

I would do it separate and do water changes from the main system into the new rock trough.

I would recommend against doing the acid wash in the trough if you planned to do that. It can cause issues in the material of the trough.

If you plan to keep this a long time I would coat the inside to keep it from deteriorating and leaching into your tank. Recent issues in the industry with long term use of those Rubbermaid stock tanks.

I haven't heard about this issue, but for additional reasons I agree I think I'd keep it separate. One among those reasons is that I think too much live rock can have an undesired effect in a closed system. I've seen a few tanks built like this with an XXL volume of live rock, and I only saw downsides....none of them were in any way better than a "regular" tank.

 

[Robthorn]

I know where I heard it from but I won't throw anyones name out there just in case it is wrong but it was supposedly linked to breeding issues in hatcheries. Might have been multiple breeders. I don't use these things so I really didn't pay full attention. Just thought I would mention it in case you want to research it a little bit.