Live rock and temperature

[Benkidu]

I'm interested in getting uncured live rock to start my cycle to get me as much biodiversity as possible. I like what I see at KP Aquatics but it's from Florida and I'm not sure how it would take to sub 70 degree water.

I have had trouble finding sources for live rock from cooler water sources, does anyone have advice?

 

[pkilian]

Do you have anything else that lives in the tank right now? You could increase the temperature to around 80F for a few weeks to encourage growth of bacteria on the rock, and then slowly decrease the temperature over the span of a week or so.

You can do a final test by adding a specific amount of ammonium chloride to the water and testing it every few days to see how well the bacteria handle the load.

 

[Benkidu]

I just filled up this tank last week with live sand and a little live rock.

Soon I'll take a 10 gallon tank that has been cultured for years with cold water inverts (I've recently filled it with bioballs) and take the water, filter media, gravel, periwinkle snails and little neck clams to seed this 65 gallon.

Then I would like to buy 30 or so pounds of uncured live rock from Florida and see how many little inverts can survive a gradual transition to this colder room temperature. During the winter parts of Florida's oceans go down to the upper 60s so perhaps some things could make it.

I'd much prefer to buy rock from cooler water environments but it seems to be a small unfilled niche. I could get things from Cape Cod but that could be too risky.

 

[RCLasley]

I just filled up this tank last week with live sand and a little live rock.

Soon I'll take a 10 gallon tank that has been cultured for years with cold water inverts (I've recently filled it with bioballs) and take the water, filter media, gravel, periwinkle snails and little neck clams to seed this 65 gallon.

Then I would like to buy 30 or so pounds of uncured live rock from Florida and see how many little inverts can survive a gradual transition to this colder room temperature. During the winter parts of Florida's oceans go down to the upper 60s so perhaps some things could make it.

I'd much prefer to buy rock from cooler water environments but it seems to be a small unfilled niche. I could get things from Cape Cod but that could be too risky.

Did you ever find a supplier or did you end up acclimating it yourself? How did it work and what tips would you recommend to someone trying to do it?