Have patience?

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by Myka

Personally, I would also replace the aquarium gravel with sand. Look for aragonite sand like the Caribsea Select. It doesn't have to be "live", which I think is a very well done marketing scam.

+1 on the replacing gravel with sand... it just looks more natural. Specially if the gravel is that epoxy coated colorful junk

Originally Posted by leezard

Ok here's another question -- do I need to get an aerator or airstones for air flow? There's lots of water flow and such, so how does the air get into the water? Or is that part of the point of the "live" rock?

Quick lesson on O2 in water...

Water diffuses oxygen in and carbon dioxide (among other gasses) out passively across air to water intersections... so any air to water contact will provide gas exchange.

For our purposes this includes the water surface of the tank itself, and to a lesser extent the millions of tiny bubbles in your skimmer, if you decide to run one. This is why you can put more fish in a larger tank, not because the volume of water itself is larger (though a larger water volume is more stable, in regards to temperature, salinity, etc.)

Just a quick question leezard, have you checked the salinity of the tank water to see exactly what it is at? Or tested any of the other levels for that matter (Calcium, Alkalinity etc.)? If indeed the tank was set up for a year without water changes (or by the sound of it, any form of livestock including liverock) I'd be curious to see what everything is sitting at.