Adding to your Tank Help?

[MarbleShark]

What is the proper procedure for adding additional live rock or substrate to your tank?

I put some of the live rock I had in my refugium. Now I could probably use a little more in the tank. If I put more in would it start a cycle?

I have fine substrate. I am looking to add a little course substrate because I would like to get some Pearly Jawfish and I have been told they do better with a little course substrate. Would I scrape the top layer off the sand bed I have now and then lay the new substrate on top or what?

Thanks!

[tatuvaaj]

Originally Posted by MarbleShark

What is the proper procedure for adding additional live rock or substrate to your tank?

When adding rocks the most important thing IMHO is to try not to change the orientation of the existing rocks as much as possible. The sponges and other filter feeders grow on the rocks according to the flow and light available to them and if you change these conditions, they might die and pollute the tank (and you'll lose many wonderful and beneficial animals).

For the sand, in my experience the best way is to push the old sand to side and add new sand to the empty space created. This way the vertical gradient (oxygen and nutrient etc) in the old sand stays the same and you'll lose minimal amount of sand bed organisms. (I hope this makes sense, my english is less than perfect )

You'll most likely hava a "mini cycle" when doing something like this if you use fresh live rock. Well maintained aquarium should handle this without any major problems.

[Cougra]

The reason that jawfish need/prefer coarser substrate is so when they build their tunnels they don't immediately collapse. The coarse substrate will act as natural walls/barriers to hold the tunnels together. A good mixture of various sized substrate material will work really well. The only problem with this is that over time the fine substrates will work their way to the bottom of the sanded and the coarsest particles will work their way to the top and they will become detritus traps, so you'll need to either make sure that you syphon the substrate well during each water change to remove as much detritus as possible before it sinks into the substrate to cause potential problems in the future.

When adding the new substrate, if you are only adding a bit of the coarse substrate to add a structural base, then I would add a couple handfulls on top of the existing substrate.

However, from the look of your tank, I think that you really need to add a few more inches of substrate in order to support a Jawfish as they do need to burry themselves completely in the substrate. In this case I would probably either use tatuvaaj's suggestion or slowly build it up adding a thin layer of the new substrate every couple days until it's at the new depth.

As for moving your live rock over to the main tank, it shouldn't start a cycle because it should already be cured and it's been in the same system for a while, however I would recommend that you try not to remove it from the water if at all possible by transfering the rock fully submerged in a bucket of water. This will drastically reduce the possibility of dieoff because sponges and very sensitive creatures aren't going to be exposed to air. Even though you shouldn't get any sort of mini cycle, keep an eye out for ammonia and nitrites.

[tatuvaaj]

I agree with Michelle about the mini-cycle. I assumed you were adding fresh live rock and not rock that has been in your aquarium. Sorry!