[alt.aquaria] live Rock

hutching%elan.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Brad Hutchings) (01/17/90)

In article <3510@cpoint.UUCP> alien@cpoint.UUCP (Alien Wells) writes:
>In article <1990Jan15.170416.28220@agate.berkeley.edu> markh@sag4.ssl.berkeley.edu () writes:
>
>Having never (yet) done a mini-reef tank ... I can't help you with a lot of
>your question ... but ...
>
>>In 4-6 weeks I'll have a reasonably well seeded 
>>bacterial bed and I'll start to disconnect the UGF, siphon out gravel, etc.  
>
>Let me get this straight.  You had a working tank with a few fish and a UGF.
>You then added a trickle filter, and you plan to disconnect the UGF as the
>trickle filter gets established?  Sounds risky to me ... make sure you are
>very gradual about it, slowly decreasing the flow through the UGF until it
>isn't doing anything ...
>
>
>Good luck.
>-- 
>--------|	With Altzheimer's Disease, every day is a new day!
>Alien   |   		- Earl McKennon
>--------|     decvax!frog!cpoint!alien      bu-cs!mirror!frog!cpoint!alien

Ack! Don't reduce the flow through the undergravel filter gradually
or otherwise. You risk the development of anerobic areas in the gravel
bed. A much safer way to make the transition is to remove a handful of
gravel every other week or so. Just leave the UGF setup as is. When the
gravel has been completely removed, you can safely disconnect it.
It is always a good idea to test the water regularly during the transition
to assure that you are not removing too much gravel, too soon.

Brad

richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) (01/17/90)

The Tufa ``Base rock'' around here is $4 per pound. Thats still
expensive when you consider how much you need. Isn't there a
cheaper way to buy Tufa?

Jeff@wisdom.UUCP (01/19/90)

Just a little waring, even if you do purchase "cured" rock, by the time it is
shipped and installed in the tank, it will more than likely have to be recured
because all the organisms on the rock probably will not survive the shipping
process.

					Jeff


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