Water and rocks

I went to my local fish store and asked them about live rocks. I noticed that they were under freshwater tanks. When questioned, the person there said that it's rinsed with dechlor FRESHWATER, and is kept in freshwater, where the goal is that the bacteria will die, then you will have ammonia in your tank to restart the cycle. I thought the purpose of live rock was to instant-cycle your tank. I ended up buying dry rock as that didn't sound right, but... Is what they're doing right...?

If I only have snails, macroalgae and rocks in the tank, do I need RODI, or can I get away with RO or dechlor tap?

A local drinking water store sells RODI water, but they add ozone to it to kill bacteria. How long would I need to let the water sit before it's added into the tank? Can this even be used?

 

Sounds like they're curing the live rock, killing off any hitchhikers that came from the ocean and will become pests in your tank.

I think you always need RODI water, no exceptions, or you'll deal with nasty algae.

I personally don't keep saltwater yet, but this is what I've heard from research. Inverts are especially sensitive to tap water.

 

Definitely RO water. I used RO water for my reef to 15 years and never had issues. DI is good but not needed IMO if you don’t have well water and a good quality water supply. Not a bad idea though.

I have no clue what they are doing with the live rock. I’m assuming they are using it for cichlids. I’ve been in the hobby 27 years now and never heard that one before.
Just take it slow and you’ll be fine.

 

Curing live rock happens in salt water .
You can rinse live rock in fresh water to rinse it off but it ain't alive for long in freshwater ..Just not how it works .
live aquaria

 

I wouldn't trust any LFS that tries to kill live rock in dechlorinated tap water with no salt. Honestly it's completely counter productive if it's actual live rock as the whole point is to keep as much bacteria and life alive on it so that it minimizes the die off and the amount of time it takes to cycle. Otherwise you might as well just get dry rock and cure it yourself as it's much cheaper. That and Dry Rock or Live Rock, I wouldn't put in tap water with or without salt as it often has stuff that can cause long term problems for your tank (ie nitrate and phosphates which promotes unwanted algae growth).

 

Thanks everyone.. I didn't really understand the live rock in freshwater thing, but I'm glad that hearing about it raised flags after reading much from this forum!

 

Sorry, one more related question, I bought a small bag of aragonote sand. It looked only very lightly moist, but it says that it's live sand. Should I rinse this if it's actually dead, or use it straight from the bag assuming it's still live?

 

Use it right from bag .There should be a little pouch of 'Bio clarifier 'that may actually be the important stuff in the sand .
Besides what is in the sand [good or bad] will help you move your cycle along ..

 

I have done quick freshwater dips on things to try to get critters I didn’t want to come out of my love rock just never left it in there for more than a few minutes. Maybe that’s what they were doing and removing some of the die off that happened in transit and the guy didn’t explain it well. Who knows.

Yes sump the sand right on in no rinsing. Add the sand first then the water slowly to not cloud the tank water...... Too much.

 

As mentioned add the sand no rinsing, although the clarifying stuff doesn't do much (your water will clear up on it's own). Both times I have set up my tank I have never used it (recommended by my LFS)

 

As mentioned add the sand no rinsing, although the clarifying stuff doesn't do much (your water will clear up on it's own). Both times I have set up my tank I have never used it (recommended by my LFS)

Those products a gimmicks to increase revenue. I use no biological products. It’s funny how they think bacteria will live for 3 years in a bottle or whatever the shelf life is.

 

Thanks everyone!