Did I make a mistake?

[Foolkiller]

HI,

I started a FOWLR 29 Gal tank and I was curing my "pre-cured" live rock during the tank startup. For the first week I didn't use my Fluval filter but the 2nd week I did. I filled my Fluval with a good amount of Activated Carbon but I read in a book that that might harm many of the organisms and good alge by removing trace elements. Is this true? My LR is premium figi that I got from liveaquaria. Also what might I expect to see happen to this LR when it comes back to life?

P.S. the book suggested two tablespoons for 10 Gal. Is that a good ratio?

Thanks in advance
Jim

[trigger16]

Personally I do not like to use much Carbon. Very few times in a bag in small amounts I put on the sump.

How do you know your LR is dead?

Carbon does remove some trace elements, but I do not think enough to kill your tank.

[Foolkiller]

Sorry - my live rock is not dead but I'm waiting to see what happens when it thrives. I have some green and purple stuff that seems to have lost some luster from delivery and curing. I was wondering if fans, clams, sponges, soft coral all come back after curing.

[Joey88again]

Why dont you go ahead and make it a reef instead of a FOWLR? All you would need is a good lighting system and a calcium additive.

[Scubaman]

I to have a fowlr and it sems that most of the organisms will come back after cycling- give it a few weeks.
The only thing keeping me back from making it a reef is the lighting-I can't afford metal halides.

[hounddog]

I do not believe that you should give up a reef just because you can not afford MH's. PC and VHO will grow and thrive most corals. You can always upgrad to MH later if you think it is necessary. I know many (including myself) who do not have or plan to have MH on there tank. I will put anything in there except SPS or clams. I will try some SPS when my tank is a year old. The only thing I would not add without MH is clams. I believe they need MH to survive. Check e-bay for your best prices on lighting.

[Foolkiller]

Thanks for the replies. To be honest with you I'm not sure, the more I learn about this hobby the more I want to do a reef. I made sure my fish selection was reef compatable so far. Lighting is real confusing to me. Right now I only have a NO with an 18W 50/50 bulb on my 29 Gal - and I question wether that is good enough to keep my "good" algae. I'm planning on upgrading my 55 Gal or getting a 46 Gal Bow. Still researching lighting options for those tanks. When I cycled my tank, I think I lost all the worms and sponges I had. I hope those come back.

[aconfino]

There are a lot of good articles about carbon. I personally think the more you use the better. There is speculation that carbon takes out good trace elements, but they can be replaced with supplements. Carbon also takes out a lot of unwanted chemicals, which are much more difficult to remove without it.

As for the rock...give it some time and make sure to give it some kid of mineral supplements and proper light. Good quality rock can look terrible at first and flourish later.