live rock hanger-oners

Losing organisms on new LR is a fact of life, but I can think of a few things to keep die-off to a minimum.

1) Use as much LS as possible. 10 - 30% LS from other established tanks is a good figure to shoot for.

2) watch nitrogen values and change 10 - 25% of the water if values rise to a dangerous level. Newly mixed saltwater is caustic and can burn coral and fish gills. Always aerate saltwater with an airstone for an hour, or aerate it by pouring mixed saltwater vigorously back and forth between buckets 3-4 times before adding it to the tank.

3) Resist the urge to stock all the LR at once. In fact adding say.. only 10% of total desired LR per week would definitely keep nitrogen levels low enough to ensure a minimum of die off. (See my Tank of the Month to see how this worked for me and how well stocked my tank became within the first month or so.)

4) When transferring LR from a local aquarium, try to keep it always submerged in tankwater. Place it in a bucket underwater and deliver it to the other tank or the transport container maintaining it underwater.
Ask the LFS clerk to not shake the LR after removing it from their tank. You want the rock to hold as much water in it's cavities as possible to help maintain life.

5) When introducing rock, that has been out of the water, into your aquarium... turn, twist, and shake it when resubmerging it to release those pesky air bubbles. Air in the cavities of the rock is one of the biggest causes of die-off.

6) Add algae like Caulerpa ASAP; either in the RDP Refugia or the main tank.

7) Use a Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis Refugium!

8) Because LR usually has algae and algae helps with nutrient absorption (the nitrogen cycle), having the lights more on than off is best in my opinion. (I know this goes against what some may have heard)

This became more points than I realized initially, but I hope it helps and isn't too long.
Mark

Crazy Tarzan said, "and not all I got was uncylced."

May I suggest that all LR has to "cycle". Whenever it is taken out of water, even for a moment, air is going to get in it and some organisms are going to suffer.
That's why the best way to move LR is to keep it constantly submerged. Of course this is not practical when shipping. Though lately, some companies are starting to ship in water. Still, when it's moved into the box and into only a little water, it's going to have die-off.

Oh the amazing organisms we would see, if LR was NEVER removed from water and was shipped to us from the ocean in large volumes of circulating water!

I agree with everything you said Marcus...100%

One of the things I've come to appreciate is that you and others currently in the hobby that really have tried things and read the literature and thought about it, do have a lot of good methods.

When I started in the hobby 10 years ago, the idea of buying a box of LR(live rock) was almost unheard of. WMAS club members that bought livestock were sorely disappointed when more than half of the animals died.... Hey, we were still trying to persuade people to get rid of their bleached coral in favor of 3 inches of substrate, a plenum, and LR!

Back then, all 15 of us were absolutely amazed as LeRoy Headlee of GARF visited and described his method to cut and propagate a Mushroom Leather!.. A simple leather coral!! (current avarage attendance at meetings is around 60 and there are more than 100 paid members, most of them probably eagerly anticipating next months semi-annual coral propagation seminar!!!)

When coral became available all across the country, I wondered whether it would catch on. By the time it all came to the point where shippers could ship reliably healthy and long-lived organisms, I didn't need much. I already had my tanks full and was constantly giving it away to new hobbyists that were dumbfounded that such coral could be grown and propagated.

So I guess what I am saying is that I'm an old man and realize that I'm a little out of touch with current practices. I got EVERYTHING from the LFS(local fish store). I bought a few pieces every couple months and waited for them to "grow into" my established tank and thus no real "tank wide" cycling occurred. The die-off was handled by the existing bacteria, critters and clean-up crew. There was hardly a bump in nitrogen compond levels. So that's why I suggest taking it slow with LR a few pieces at a time, especially on a limited budget like I was on.

Not that what I suggest is outdated or doesn't work. It seems to work very well. I get excited when I see ways to make a beautiful reef on a shoestring. My experience with adding a few pieces of LR and coral to a tank full of clean and free, Utah Aragonite materials has been surprisingly successful and I was happy to hand it over to my niece.
Hi McKenna

Well, all this info is very helpful.  I am not adding all the LR at once since there are budget constraints to be considered (something about getting hitched eats up all your extra $).  I wasn't planning on getting any live stock until I had all the LR in and cycled so when thats done I'll start looking at a fish or two.  You guys are great and I'm happy to find so many "locals" who are in this hobby and willing to lend advice or help out with stuff.  Hope I can come to a meeting someday and meet some of ya.  But keep the suggestions coming, and I'll keep reading and learning.  Thanks,

Nathan 

Can anyone recomend a decent book on tank inverts so that I can figure out what types of corals, shrimp, crabs etc to place in my tank and not have any major or deadly conflicts?  And where I can find that book?

Thanks ahead of time,

Nate

It's by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner.  I have a copy of it.  I got mine from Ebay for $27.00, they retail for $42.95

 

No problem Marcus!