Live rock or dry rock. Which do you prefer and why?

[mallorieGgator]

So, I know that this has been talked about many times but many beginners find themselves being pushed to buy expensive live rock by LFS to start their tanks. This happened to me when I started out. I ended up with all sorts of bad hitch-hikers and algae that made my life difficult. I must have pulled 40+ crabs out of my tank. So for my new tank I started with dry rock that had minimal organic matter on it as well as a few choice pieces of live rock that were clean from my previous tank. The results are nice in that I have no pests! However, the tank is taking awhile to get out of the cyano, diatom, hair algae stage. It's finally coming around and I'm glad with my decision to use mostly dry rock.


So, what are your experiences?

Do you use dry rock, live, or a combo?

Please explain what you use and why so new reef hobbyists can make informed decisions. :smile:

 

[btkrausen]

I used to always use live rock, but this tank I tried dry rock and wasn't happy. I didn't acid wash or treat with lanthanum chlorine so it leached phosphates like crazy. I'm actually in the process of curing some new live rock to replace a lot of the current rock. Then I'll treat the current rock with lanthanum and put it back in the tank if I decide I want more rock.

 

[mallorieGgator]

Maybe that is why I'm having algae and cyano growth. It's not coming from over feeding or from my RO/DI so is it possible my rock is leaching it into the tank?

 

[skinz78]

I too used to use live rock but have recently changed my opinions on it. I loved watching all the unknown critters come out of it, but now I am into the dry stuff. With dry you get a lot more rock for the money and you don't have to worry about the bad critters....

 

[Zeither18]

i mixed my rock 3/4 is dry rock. when i received my dry rock it was full of sponges and crab legs and all kinds of crap. i did the acid and pressure wash and all sorts to get rid of all the dead stuff. when i cycled it, it still leached phosphates a bit but not too horribly long but i have heard lots of horror stories.. i had algae probs galore that i blamed on the rock but im stupid and had to change my bulbs so all is good now. im glad i went with dry..lots more work but time is cheap and live is expensive

 

[Saltgator]

100% dry. Possibly adding more to my 240.

 

[Trex]

I have always used live rock, and think that I always will. However, I can see the advantages of using dry rock and not having to worry hitchhikers -- than again, you won't get any hitchhikers.

As the years go on, the qualitly of live rock isn't what it isn't to be. I remember (( back in the '90's )) that if a rock didn't have a couple of Xmas tree worms it was just an average piece, even though it would still have lots of different types of life on it. I really like seeing different things pop up every day when starting with live rock.

 

[steamer51]

I started my 55 in 2006 and was lucky enough to find a fellow reefer breaking down a tank. Super quality live rock full of life with absolutely no pests for a great price. I cycled the tank with all the rock that seeded new sand. Since I kept it wet there was a very small, short cycle with no losses. No major life, fish etc. were added and a couple of Kenya trees, hermit crabs, snails, micro stars, worms, pods etc. survived the cycle. I enjoyed the micro life there for eight months before adding anything else and the tank is very stable. I make mistakes and sometimes neglect to a point that would crash a less stable tank and have never had any problems. I didn't have any pests at all for over two years until I put some Macro Algae in that was hiding some aiptasia. Future tanks will be a combination of dry and live rock since I have plenty of both on hand.

 

[feh]

Are you running GFO or anything to help?

 

[Wy Renegade]

I'm also a fan of the mixture, with the majority being dry and a smaller amount of well cured, high quality LR with no undesirable hitch-hikers. I tried my personal 65 with all man-made and ended up hating it because it didn't have any of the diversity that I had in all the tanks with LR, so I ended up adding pieces of LR to introduce the biodiversity I wanted.

 

[cdness]

I started mine with all dry rock and maybe one piece of live was added years later. I still have diversity with all the different stuff that comes in on frags. I liked getting more for my money as well as no pests. Also I didn't have the phosphate issues people are talking about now. Maybe it was from a different quarry or something.

 

[btkrausen]

So for the fun of it, I'm testing my dry rock to see how much phosphates it is really leaching. I tested a bucket of new RO water after sitting for a day with a powerhead, and then tested after a day of adding some of the live rock to the bucket. I'm measuring with a Hanna Checker. Results are in:

Pure RO: 0.02
***Live Rock Added***
Day 1: 0.06
Day 2: will update tomorrow

Looks like the rock is definitely leaching some phosphate into the water.

 

[Selt1018]

I am new to the hobby. I had someone I know suggest dry reefsaver rock. I love the way it looks so far we did some aquascaping and have some arches and other formations that look really good. It was cheap well within the budget I had allowed for the setup of my aquarium. I kept some rubble to use as plugs for the coral so I can just place them where I want and with the porousness of the rock it sticks together easily without glue or ties.

Next tank I may try live rock but ive just heard horror stories about some of the stuff you end up bringing home with it.

 

[MattinIdaho]

I have 100% dry rock and would do it again. I have all Pukani in my tank except for 1 20lb shelf rock and imo there is no rock that can compare to the look I get from from the Pukani. I just like that look and think it's outstanding rock. Mine did leach phosphates for about 6 months but that does not bother me at all. It's a new tank. 6 months is nothing in the scheme of things and it was actually very interesting to watch the whole process. I also just really enjoyed watching the rock change as the corraline started to grow on it. Watching the whole dry to live rock process happen was just a really neat part of watching my tank.

 

[cdness]

So for the fun of it, I'm testing my dry rock to see how much phosphates it is really leaching. I tested a bucket of new RO water after sitting for a day with a powerhead, and then tested after a day of adding some of the live rock to the bucket. I'm measuring with a Hanna Checker. Results are in:

Pure RO: 0.02
***Live Rock Added***
Day 1: 0.06
Day 2: will update tomorrow

Looks like the rock is definitely leaching some phosphate into the water.

I would be interested in seeing what would happen in four different buckets in the following config to really see the difference:

1. Bucket of just RO for a control sample
2. Bucket of RO with a piece of dry rock
3. Bucket with a piece of "just shipped" uncured live rock
4. Bucket with a piece of fully cured live rock

This way you can tell what is leaching phosphates and how much and what levels. Use comparable size rocks as weight would be hard as there's no water weight to the dry rock. Just testing dry rock, doesn't give you the control sample or something to compare it to. If I had a photometer I'd do it myself, but unfortunately haven't bought one yet.

 

[shred5]

I have used all Dead rock on my last two tanks. I really like the new key largo rock from Marco rocks.

Phosphates dont necessarily leach from the rocks but can be comming from the stuff dead in the rock. The old marco rock was not pre cured and when I put it in water a few days latter it smelled so bad. I then bleached the rock to oxidize anything in it and it solved the problem. Some dead rock will have have dead worms, sponges etc dead inside and as they decay they will leach nutrients back into the water.

 

[Reef Breeders]

I like to use dry rock, as it is very easy to store and cut/drill, and scape. After that, I get some live stuff from a trustworthy source, and add that to seed the rest. This has always worked well, and I have seen dry rock grow coraline within weeks.

 

[swissgaurd]

ive always used premium live rock with excellent results.on my present setup i went completley dry marco.ok nice looking rock,i thought to myself wow look at all the holes for sps plugs,well guess what the plugs dont fit,
dry rock is cheaper ,there is no life on it,its missing the benificial bacteria,i ended up purchasing liverock and added it to my sump.the cycle takes much longer than 6 weeks,takes months.
once i added the live rock the tank came alive.

yes i like the dry but i prefer the live

vic

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...9832-vics-225-gallon-inwall-build-thread.html

 

[M@!]

On my last tank I used dry rock. Since this was going to be for a seahorse tank I didn't want any hitchhikers. I cooked the rock for about a 6 weeks. Blowing off the detritus and changing water weekly. I had very little cycle and I have no nuisance algea problems. This worked out great for me.

 

[Cuong L]

I use to use live rocks but hated it. Couldn't glue them well under water and always had aptasia and other pest. I also heard that if the previous owner treated it with copper, it can soak into the rocks and cause a problem in the future.

Now I only use Marco dry rocks. Much safer. They seem to coraline fast and give me better aquascaping. I run a phosphate reactor so I don't get NTS for long.