StringerBell wrote:

The Rock is being sold as Cured---but its being shipped about 1500 miles by
Fed-Ex. I couldnt afford the dealers who ship the Rock fully submerged in
water. I figure this person is shipping it damp---so I figured plenty of
stuff would die before it reached my door. Thats why I thought my
refridgerated Bio-Spira might still be usefull to my new aquarium.

Yeah, it'll be shipped damp - probably soaking wet and wrapped in wet newspaper.
There should still be a good bacterial population, which is the main thing
you're looking for. Curing removes the gross animal population, such as sponges.
I agree that Bio-Spira *might* be useful, and I believe that it can't hurt
anything. Pszemol is correct that it shouldn't be necessary. I certainly
wouldn't go out and buy some. That shipping/dieoff situation is the main reason
that I'm buying smaller lots of uncured live rock and curing it in my tank. The
consensus is not to do what I'm doing, by the way!

I guess this would mean setting up a small tank with my main aquarium water
and the
Bio-Spira.?

Actually, my quarantine tank simply has a Fluval cannister (with bio-beads,
carbon, and floss in it) and a cheap protein skimmer. I made a lousy choice with
the skimmer, but that's what I get for not researching it more than I did.

I was curious about the quarrantine thing---I understand the
avoid-contaminating-disease idea behind it---but it also seems that the
animal`s stress level would be raised by adding yet another acclimation to
its hectic life .It`s a long way from Fiji to Jersey!

Yep, that's a problem. Would you rather have to move all of your fish into
quarantine for three weeks 'cause you have an ick outbreak and adding copper
will kill all your live rock animeebles? That would *really* put stress on your
fish!

With any luck, you will rarely use your quarantine tank, so it will never stay
cycled for any appreciable period. Instead of Bio-Spira in the quarantine tank,
what you do is to change half the water in the quarantine tank every week when
it has inhabitants. If you get a nitrite spike, change more often. Use water
from your main tank for the water change and make up new water for the main
tank. You can also stock the quarantine tank with some live rock to serve as a
bacterial source, but, if you get an outbreak of ick in the quarantine tank,
that live rock will die from the treatment.

Some people also recommend "dipping" new purchases in some sort of bath before
quarantine. You'll see references to freshwater baths, formaldehyde, etc.

In any case, I just lost all my fish (including a powder-blue tang I'd had for
over 7 years) because I failed to quarantine a new fish. Back in the FO days, I
would've just dosed the main tank, but things get more complicated with FOWLR.

Its starting to seem that this Marine thang is full of Catch-22s--
and us mere mortals have to choose lesser-evils all the time.

You got it!

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.