Use Coral From FW tank for SW tank??

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings All- I just setup my first SW tank and had a question about adding rock to a tank. I will be receiving my LR soon (thank you Jim!!) and was wondering if I could use some coral that is currently in my FW tank.

This coral has been in there for 2 months and has some algae growing on it. Is this 'live' material beneficial to help the SW tank cycle or is this material not suitable for the SW tank since it has been in FW?

THanks for the help. -Matt

 

[Joe Fish]

You have coral in your fresh water tank? I'm confused. What kind of "coral" do you have?

 

[Lotus]

If you're talking about dead coral skeletons, you could add them to the saltwater tank, but it will contain no beneficial bacteria. It would basically be the same as adding base rock. It will provide a place for bacteria to colonize, but won't contain any itself.

In general, saltwater bacteria are killed in freshwater, and freshwater bacteria are killed in saltwater.

In a freshwater tank, dead coral skeletons will raise the hardness/pH of your water, which would only be a good thing for Rift Lake cichlids.

 

[MatthewLaw]

I have some 'dead' coral that bought at my LFS and some (now dead) coral that I actually dove for in Curacaco. I brought it back, boiled it 3x, and put it into the FW tank.

If the dead coral with some algae on it isn't really going to help the SW tank, I may just wait and see if I should use it as base rock in the future.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I'm thinking a coral skeleton. Should be fine, just was it off real good. Should be fine, meaning you can put it in as base rock.

 

[MatthewLaw]

thanks for the help!