I'm just starting my first reef tank (125g) and sump (50g) but would like to use some lava rock as very porous base rock because of (a) its porosity, (b) its initial color contrast (I know eventually it will be encrusted and probably unidentifiable, (c) the ability to sculpt the rock to create flat bottom to add more stability to the base and also create a few more holes and crevices to serve as a coral base and attachment point for some of the macro algaes and (d) ready access to large, shape-able pieces.

Is there a chemical difference between the reddish or more black lava rock that would cause a problem in the aquarium or sump environment? Is there a reason that I wouldn't want to use this as base rock? It would appear to be a great, low cost alternative to the suggestion to "find the most porous live rock you can."

I appreciate the education.

klinemw

True lava rock is very safe in saltwater environments. Artifical lava rock may not be because of the rock and paints used to make it. Lava rock may disolve silica into the water because of the porous nature of the rock. If silica is of significance to you, use coral rocks.

good answer neon shark! If you do use it, be sure your live rock or base rock is deep enough in it not to be affected by crumbling or dissolution.

I have heard that some lava rock is too high in iron for reef tanks, however if you are going to have macro algae they will probably be happy to consume any extra iron.

Thanks for the responses to my inquiry about lava rock so far.

I heard that the "more red" lava rock has a higher iron content than the "more black", but a culture of macro algae will balance and "take up" the iron and other heavy metals that might leach from the lava rock.

The impact of additional silica released into the reef aquarium is unknown to me. What problems does this cause...more diatoms, well is that a problem and how big of problem is it? Increase in nitrate levels, again, wouldn't that be balanced out by the macro algae? I wasn't planning on trying to include sponges in my aquarium, but wouldn't that be a positive for them and for clams, mollusks, and snails? What impact would that have on corals? I was planning for softies primiarily, but maybe that would be good for some of the stonies?

I've even read about dosing additional silicates to increase the concentration in the aquarium. If the lava rock releases silicates into the water, would that eliminate the need for any supplemental dosing?

Does that mean that the real problem with the lava rock in the reef aquarium is the potential release of some hazardous heavy metals in concentrations that could have a negative impact on the reef without a balancing take up by the macro algae. I guess that could increase the less desirable algae, but might not be a factor with the culture of macro algae...am I on the right track with my risk assessment?

Right now it sounds like I should think about strong washes to get any loose materials off any selected lava rock and maintain a strict regimen of 15-25% partial water changes until I determine if some bad stuff might come out of the rock. Signs of continued distress from the corals would be a warning sign and some relief after a partial water change would be an indicator that the chemistry is off.

Klinemw

You seem like you have alot of questions haha. That's good. the more question, the more you learn and grow.

I'm not so sure whether having sponges inside of the tnak would be good or bad, but just try it out and see what happens. The moment you see something wrong, change everything. Because making your own aquarium is all about testing so just be careful as to what your currently doing.

And I think you should take the risk and see how that goes. Good luck... I hope I helped!

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Thanks for your input. I found some base rock at one of the local "marine only" fish stores that is getting close to the look I was hoping to achieve, but if you ask me this still has a volcanic base rather than a coral base and is darker in color. This rock is fairly porous and has some holes that fish and invertebrates should love. It also has some ledges that will serve as great platforms to mount corals. The rock provides some of the vertical surfaces I was hoping to create for the look of a wall or cliff rather than a pile of rubble.

Putting a couple of the pieces together, after sorting through hundreds of pounds of rock, allowed me to create a very narrow vertical crevasse with a nano power head completely hidden from view that generates flow from behind this rock structure toward the front of the tank. The 1/4"-3/4" gap varies between the mated vertical faces which are 12-15" tall to 6-8" wide. One piece is shaped like a foot from the ankle down (the toes would be toward the front of the tank) and the other mated to the inside of the ankle is like a domed pillar with a big part of the side of the dome missing. If I can figure out how to email myself the pictures from my phone (yes, I'm really that old), I'll post a couple and you can see if my description matches the pictures.

If I get a chance this week, I may try to pick up a couple more tall pieces of this stuff to play with.

I also decided to "harden off the tank" with some blue damsels to create the first bio-load to keep the live sand and rock fed until I am really confident that the tank is well stabilized. It also starts the long process bringing some life to my new base rock. I may be one of the few that actually likes the hardiness, color and activity that the damsels bring to the tank, but if they start to get too aggressive, they'll be traded off for something else down the line. They went into the tank this weekend...so far, so good.

I did violate one of my rules and didn't quarantine these "sacrificial" damsels for thirty days before putting them in the tank. They did get a fresh water bath and none of the LFS water went into the tank with them. I hope that they do well and that I haven't polluted my tank not only with the chemicals that may leach from the new rock or any bio-hazards from the fish.

klinemw

sounds like you have a great setup started there! hope it keeps working for you. If you havent already, you should be adding your clean up crew. they'll help to break down waste and excess foods to be further digested by the bacteria.

Big algae bloom started Tuesday morning...the bioload plan kicked into gear. Within 72 hours of adding the fish I have brown hair algae over an inch long covering a substantial portion of various parts of the tank. Fish looked great, mushroom coral looked great, my couple of test ricordia polyps looked great, just other areas of the tank started looking pretty shabby. Ammonia barely registered and Nitrite also in the barely detectable range on my test kit.

Immediately suspected my test kits were old when I got them a couple weeks ago so had LFS test water, with same results... Added a mixed bag of about a dozen snails, four tiny hermit crabs, and a 2.5" Lawnmower Blenny late yesterday (Wednesday). --violating my quarantine regimen, again--

Everything still looks great today, in fact better than ever, just still have this algae problem. I even just found what looks like a couple of additional coral polyps on one of the "live" rocks added from the LFS before the bloom. (I wouldn't call it a live rock just because its been in a tank of water so it would grow bacteria, but they do. Well maybe they were right after all.) Can't identify them yet because of my lack of knowledge not because they're not big enough to identify. One is a tall, but well proportioned tree shaped soft coral with a white body and multibranching branches starting from about half way up the stalk. It's about 3/4" long already. Its in a location that I would have thought I would have seen it right in the front of the tank. The other looks like a flat disk a little bigger than a pencil eraser with short yellow green arms all around the perimeter of the disk. I don't know what they are but I think I'm happy to see them...

Where the cleaning crew has worked you can see a real positive impact on the algae already. Is it possible for the cleaning crew to catch up with the growth of this algae? While I'm "forcing the tank" would a second lawnmower blenny fight with the first one in my 125 (8 square feet of bottom area)? Would I be better off adding more snails? I hate to change anything because it appears to be going very well except for this algae mess in parts of the tank. Where it remains, it almost looks like its growing at a rate of 1/4" inch per hour...if that's possible?

I think I'll do a partial water change tonight, just because I can, not because I suspect that I have a major problem. If the crew can't catch up then eventually I'll have a problem, but for now it appears that there is just another parameter that needs to be dialed in, but heck if I know what it is.

That's the update on my mixed reef at this point...

Klinemw

Friday afternoon I added another dozen Astria (sp) snails and 5 peppermint shrimp (three holding eggs). Wow, this expanded cleaning crew with the Lawnmower Blenny has really helped clean up a good deal of the hair algae in the tank over the last 48 hours.

I have a couple of tufts of macro algae starting to grow on two different rocks and found another polyp of something. The polyp is a small flat disk with yellowish arms/tenticles radiating all around the outside edge of the disk which is a little whiter yellow. No idea what it might be.

Also saw about a 1" pink bristle worm. I've always heard that if you see one you probably have dozens. Will watch to see if I discover more.

I can see how the Lawnmower Blenny gets his name. This prehistoric looking little fish opens his huge mouth and literally scrapes the algae away. This really looks like someone scalped their lawn with the lawnmover. He's fun to watch and much less shy than he was when we first put him in the tank. How likely is it he would eat smaller peppermint shrimp, say between 1/2 and 3/4 inch long? There are so many chambers for the shrimp to hide I might never see them even if they haven't been eaten.

The eggs carried by the peppermint shrimp will likely never hatch, but regardless it is a good food source for some of my critters. Maybe eventually I can get some to survive in a refugium after the tank has fully matured.

What livestock to get next? I would like a couple of nice coral starts but don't know what fish to consider. What's hardy enough to tolerate another tower cycl

I'm planning to put in some more base rock, but I don't really want to go through another cycle. I found a couple more pieces of this base and its almost ready to go into the main tank.

Klinemw

Its just best to wait until you have all your rock in your tank and set up before you add coral or fish. If you need to move things around or go through another cycle, this can stress your fish or kill them. Be patient and you'll spend less money replacing fish and coral that would have been killed.

Letting those rocks sit in a bucket for a few weeks will keep it from causing another cycle in your main tank so you're doin good there.

The algae bloom may dissapate and get under control after a few weeks. I had a bad one for a while then figured out a feeding schedule and what not and everything is in a good balance now. So keep going with what you have and go slow with it, things will work out if you stay in the right path.

Thanks for the good advice.

Can you tell me why adding base rock to an active aquarium causes it to "cycle" again? I would understand it the rock is dirty or has some kind of bioload that it adds to the tank, but if it's "dead" how can adding this to a tank cause it to cycle?

Now, I'm not doubting that it happens, but I sure don't understand why.

My algae bloom is now under control and my "crew" is making significant headway to stay ahead of the algae growth. I am seeing new life (soft coral branches, polyps, bristle worms, and some other type of tube worm appear in the tank quickly, each contributing to the environment in one way or another. All of the livestock I introduced to the tank appear to be doing great and are showing no signs of stress. There were a couple of frayed fins when they were put into the tank, but that has all cleared up now (in 5 or 6 days). I wouldn't have bet the fins would heal so quickly.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Mikel Kline
klinemw@aol.com

As long as it had been sitting outside for awhile in the air and not in someone's tank, then it probably wouldnt cause much of a cycle at all. I missed the part that it wasnt just "live rock". So just make sure you keep tabs on the parameters to make sure nothing comes of putting it in.

Interesting phenomenon has occurred in my new mixed reef tank...

Last night I stumbled across a couple of pieces of "Tonga Rock" at the LFS in one of their sump troughs I just had to have. This stuff really looks like it's big branches of old multibranching staghorn coral. One of the pieces is about 2' long with a few branches, the other is not so long, but with much more branching. I love this stuff...it reminds me of a section off to the left of Cocea (sp) Beach in St. Thomas and takes me back there with the strong vertical rocks already in one part of the tank.

-- I know, another rule violation: always cure live rock from other tanks and let it sit isolated in a quarantine tank for a few weeks before you introduce it to the display tank --

-- and the second violation: add your rock before you add the tank livestock of fish, invertebrates and corals --

You've got to know where the line is so you know when you've crossed it!

That said, the five peppermint shrimp that I've had in the tank for 3-4 days (earlier, recent rule violation) all suddenly came out and started climbing over the new rock. The shrimp had been so shy that I had only seen one or two at a time (the same bold ones) until that new rock went into the tank.

There may be a couple of things going on here, but I'm looking for more opinions. Here are my guesses:

1. There was something on this new "rock" from the LFS that, while invisible to my naked eye, the shrimp recognized as an attractive food source. No other reaction to the introduction of this rock by the fish or any members of the cleaning crew that just went on as if nothing happened. I have no idea what I might of introduced into my tank with the addition of this rock.
2. These branching structures were familiar to the shrimp instinctively as coming from their wild habitat.
3. The shrimp have been in tank long enough to overcome their "shyness" and were coaxed out with the introduction of the new rock.

I suspect a combination of all of the above. This morning everything looks great, healthy and thriving. I am going to swap the position of the two new pieces of rock for aesthetic reasons only.

Comments?

Klinemw

I'd say mainly 1 but could be a combo of all factors.

Still rushing in, on Monday this past week I added a small rock with two different kinds of zoanthid on it; one orange and one bright green. The rock is situated so both kinds of zoanthid get about the same flow and light. The orange polyps look like they are lovin' life, but the green, not so much. The green polyps just aren't as open or stay that way as long as they were at the LFS. They don't look like their about to die, just less happy.

Is this typical of the color variations in this coral? Do orange zoanthids prefer more light, or more flow, or different chemistry than the green zoanthids? Any suggestions -- should I move the rock to a different location in the tank to try and get both kinds equally happy? If I do move the rock, how long should I wait to see if things will turn around? Is it possible that it just takes this kind of zoanthid longer to get acclimated to the environment in my tank?

Obviously they don't all like the same thing...is this fairly color-typical?

Klinemw

Dipped the Zoanthid rock again in ReVive last night to see if that might help the bright green Zoa perk up a bit. This morning it appears that it might have helped somewhat. We'll see how it looks after a couple days.

Added another mushroom rock (blue with cream spots) to the tank last night. During the dip, a bunch of tiny little "bugs" and a couple of "little shrimpy looking dudes" jumped from the rock. I have no idea what they were, but I have mixed emotions about killing them off and not introducing them to the tank. I know that you can introduce some really bad stuff into your tank, but how are you going to get the diversity of life in the tank if you don't allow it to survive or be eaten by something else...circle of life thing. Doesn't much matter now, they're gone.

Everything in the tank looks great. I even have a couple of the peppermint shrimp that I now see all the time. The "Tonga Rock" that may have caused them to come out of hiding has changed the dynamics in the tank. The blue damsels have taken up residence among the branching structure and all five of them now stay in closer proximity to one another than before the Tonga Rock was introduced. If I didn't know better, I'd guess that there was a big grouper in the tank that they're hiding from -- in plain view, but near the protection of the branching structures -- but not stressed. They look great and are very active.

How long will peppermint shrimp hold their eggs? It has been about a week since they were introduced to the tank.

Next additions will be more Zoanthids and either a Yellow Tang or Royal Gramma. I'm also going to look for some more of the Tonga Rock to have "spill" from the rest of my base rock.

Klinemw

Well the ReVive dip appears to have resolved all of the issues with my zoanthids opening fully. They look great! Everything in the tank looks super. One of the live rocks that had lots of purple and maroon encrusting algae is really starting to regain all its color.

The Lawnmower Blenny is just as fat and sassy as can be. It looks like if he eats any more he'll burst, but he sure looks healthy and happy.

The new blue spotted mushrooms appear to really be growing and I must have picked up this mushroom rock at just the right time because there are several new mushrooms that have started growing on the rock, almost completely covering any exposed surface that existed on the rock when it was added to the tank.

The tank is naturally moving past the brown hair algae phase to a green algae phase. The front glass is getting a thin film fairly quickly that removes easily, but is a minor annoyance. I'm confident that we'll go through this phase pretty quickly and I could probably help that along by removing some of the nutrients from my now overly nutrient rich water. My plan is to keep forcing the tank and push it as far as I can without seeing visible signs of stress on my livestock.

I could probably also slow the algae growth if I would shorten my lighting cycle. I hate to do that since everything (including the green algae) is doing so well and I think we'll move through this phase quickly.

It's been a week since I added anything to the tank, which I know is nothing in the evolution of the tank, but it seems like an eternity. Maybe I can find a couple more zoanthids frags to add from the LFS.

Klinemw

The ReVive did the trick with my green eyed zoanthids. They are doing great and after a little over a week, I now count one additional orange polyp and two additional green polyps on the rock! They look great!

Had the opportunity to add a few more zoanthid colonies this past Monday evening. A little different bright green and an orange with more of a creamy-yellow eye. Dipped in ReVive before they ever hit the tank and after 12 hours they are fully open and doing great as well.

I only see three or four of the peppermint shrimp at one time and two are still holding eggs after a week. I don't know how long this process will be and I've been too busy and too lazy to do the research.

The Tonga rock that I just added is really starting to "pink up" and I'm getting lots of color on many of the coral rocks. It hasn't started yet on some of my base rock, but its only been in the water about a month. I have one rock about the size of a large cantaloupe that is almost comply encrusted in three very different colors, a nice dark pink, a medium lavender, and a very dark maroon. Way cool and way ahead of schedule.

I picked up a small six line wrasse and a yellow watchman goby to add to the tank but I have placed them in a 10 gallon quarantine tank for the next few weeks -- so I'm back at following the rules to quarantine any fish that go into the main tank.

Two bad things have developed. One is that I think I found a very small Majano Anemone on one of my rocks that I'm going to have to decide what to do with and I had one of the larger hermit crabs in my cleaning crew kill and take over the shell of one of the margarita snails. The snail was on the side of the tank and overnight I discovered the crab in the snail's distinctive shell. I'm fine with this circle of life thing, but is this going to be a problem with my hermit crabs as they look for shells? I have added a few shells of various sizes for them to grow into, but I didn't think it would happen so soon or that the crab would kill the snail to get the shell. I understand why he liked it, the shell has a very distinctive colored swirl to it and is quite attractive. Maybe the crab didn't kill it but it died in the almost 80 degree water in my mixed reef tank. I know it didn't starve, it was a voracious algae eater and I hate to loose it. After a little research, as neat as they are, I don't plan to replace it because of its preference for cooler water.

I have just noticed some small white spots randomly forming on the back of the tank that may be (hopefully) the first stages of more Coraline algae growth. It's an area of the tank right behind the Tonga rock that is pinking up so quickly. We'll just have to wait and see. If its not, any ideas of what these small, smooth, oval white spots might be? They could be many places in the tank and not be identifiable or seen like they are on the back glass.

Next fish...Royal Gramma or Yellow Tang?
Next coral...probably a leather or maybe a start of a Ricordia colony?
Next invertebrate...fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp?

What's the best way to get small mysis shrimp to live in the sump or refugium? If I'm supposed to cook off the live rock before it goes into the tank to kill off all the undesirables, then how do you get all the good diverse marine life that I would like to have in my reef?

Witnessed some really interesting behavior last night under the "full moon" LED night lights; spawning activity of the peppermint shrimp...way cool to watch them race around the tank. Prior to all this dashing about, they all sat perched out on the ends of the tonga rock like Christmas tree ornaments swaying in the current. As expected, two fresh molts as part of the process. Also noticed that one of the other, uninvolved shrimp had dropped its clutch of eggs. The larvae are fish food at this point, but who knows, maybe I will rig up a larvae trap and a tank to try to raise the larvae at some point. I still only see four of the original five shrimp put in the tank. Perhaps they cannibalized the fifth shrimp, but there were never any signs that it had been attacked. I don't think they were over crowded in the 125 and there's plenty of algae and extra food matter in the tank for them to feed on. It's a mystery that may never be solved, unless of course the fifth one comes out of hiding at the same time as the others.

This is way ahead of the schedule I expected...this tank was dry a little over a month ago. Everything in the tank looks really healthy so far. Time to add another frag of coral...

Fish in quarantine look good and are behaving as expected; so far so good.

Klinemw