Can I add liverock to RO/DI water, while filling the tank ?

[Ginzo]

Hi,

I'm about 1/4 of filling my tank with RO/DI water (starting my tank) and I was wondering if I could add some liverock (maybe 20-30 pouds of it) to my tank right now, instead of waiting until it's full ?

Will the liverock be ok in RO/DI water ? Or should I wait to add salt to it and get the water at the right temperature ?

Thanks,
Ginzo

[puffer21]

Live rock needs saltwater to live if you place the rock in ro water the rock will die and it wont be live. You want to wait untill there is salt in the water.

[Sk8r]

No! Go back! Don't!
Ro/di water is aggressive when it comes to dissolving things---like metal, like chemicals. It's chemically 'vacant' because it's had everything stripped out of it. It's beyond just 'fresh water', it's all the way over to 'proto water', and it would kill your live rock even more efficiently than tapwater.

Mix salt into your ro/di while it's still in buckets: 1/2 cup of, say, Oceanic salt, per gallon of ro/di. Mixing it in the tank is not as efficient and takes longer...like days, instead of 6 hours.

You can use the white plastic buckets they sell in the paint dept at Lowes. When you've set up your tank, you'll use them around the house for carrying things, drip-acclimating fish, storing equipment: ours have migrated to the garden, where they store tools, contain plants awaiting potting, etc. You will find 10,000 uses for them. Right now you need them to get your tank going.

You need them for water changes: for mixing new salt water, for an autotopoff bucket, for 10,000 things around your tank, too.

If you are a huge tank, you can use a new Rubbermaid Brute trashcan for water-mixing: that is reefsafe. Just wipe it out with white vinegar before use to get any storage crud out of it.

[hansmatt]

The RODI will kill any life on the liverock and you'll end up with a stink of a dead system. Wait the extra three-4 days to fill, mix, temp adjust etc. If you rush things now (or ever) you'll regret it for much longer

[Ginzo]

Thanks for the awnser guys !

No worries, I haven't put a rock in my tank yet