Anyone used Reef Cleaners Florida Reef Rock?

Greybeard · Feb 13, 2018

BRS's 160 used dry rock... and has been fairly successful

If you're saying there's something about the Florida mined dry rock that Reefcleaners is selling, well, my tank is Reefcleaner's rock. I am having problems, but I do not believe them to be rock related... I'm fairly certain that my issues are related to how I went about implementing the Triton system on a new, sparsely populated aquarium. And... those problems are being dealt with... what few SPS frags I have at this point are once again growing and coloring up.

If you're saying that you can't keep an SPS reef on dry rock... I suspect there are any number of beautiful aquarium photos around here that would stretch that theory all out of shape.

Live rock is rock... nearly all of it these days is farmed... in many cases from the SAME Florida mines that Reefcleaners uses. If the 'right' combination of flora and fauna can be grown on these rocks by dumping them in the sea for a few months, then there is no reason why the same flora and fauna cannot be grown on these rocks in a tank. Add in the ability to limit undesirable forms of life, and the cost of shipping wet rocks via airmail, and you'll know why the vast majority of new reefs use dry rock.

Bdrake · Feb 13, 2018

Pests are blown way out of proportion. I've purchased well over 1000 pounds of live rock in my time reefing and never seen one negative hitchhiker coming from my rock. Frag plugs are a much more likely culprit for pest introduction.

Midrats · Feb 13, 2018

Saving money is the only advantage to dry rock. Unwanted guests will find their way into your tank one way or another, and quality freshly harvested live rock is the least likely vehicle. It'll more likely be a frag or snail that brings something in and the barren surface of dry rock is a ripe substrate on which it can gain a firm purchase.

Ento-Reefer · Feb 13, 2018

I don’t disagree that live rock is great and makes a really nice reef. It also gives a huge jump start to the system. However , I absolutely believe the same can also be achieved with dry rock that is well seeded. Will it take longer? Yes, but that really isn’t a problem. I will document my reefs progression with weekly videos in my build thread as I am now really interested to see if I will encounter any of the problems others seem to be having.

[Cameron] · Feb 13, 2018

Having done tanks both with live and dry rock, I would never do live again. Pests don't make it into a dry rock tank easily if precautions are taken especially problematic inverts. It is difficult to prevent it with live rock. As for getting dry rock to work as well as live rock, seed pods and phyto early on to boost the natural life cycle. Use some clean chaeto to keep the nitrates/phosphates inline in case of an overdose on phyto.

Pntbll687 · Feb 14, 2018

g5flier said:
How old is your tank using this dry rock?

The tank is fairly new, August 17. BUT the rock had been through three tanks over a 2.5yr period. I always tried to use as much water and sand from the old system as I could to keep things stable. I had to move several times, and move the tank within the house/Apt a few times as well.

I know that there are some rock out there that will leach phosphates after an extended period of time. Carib Sea base rock will do that, but you're looking at a 3+ year time frame until it happens.

If you're looking for another option, Carib Sea makes "life rock" that had painted on dry bacteria that will become active over time, and does not leach phosphates. The have some pretty sweet new arches and cave shakes they just came out with.

Leland Foley · Feb 15, 2018

There are many variables, I doubt it’s your rock. Assuming you’re maintaining your Alk, Ca, and Mg levels properly, you could simply have a very low nutrient tank. You may try adding some more fish and feeding them more often to spur some better coral growth. What is your lighting? Coralline loves low light areas, maybe you don’t have the proper lighting for sps corals. What is your flow like in the tank? Are you over using carbon and/or using a carbon source to lower nitrates? In some newer tanks, especially with dry rock that’s fairly sterile in terms of releasing nutrients, you can starve your corals.

-Leland

shred5 · Feb 16, 2018

Your not the only one it is happening too, other have too.. Happened to me. Soaked the rock in bleach rinsed soaked it in vinegar etc.. 6 months it was still leaching massive amount of phosphates. Ended up pulling the rock out and throwing it away and using live rock. I had another tank done with dead rock and no issues at all. Cycled nicely.

Most dead rock is now mined rock and you have no idea where it came from or what died in it or what leached into it. Could be farm land near by and pesticides or fertilizer or diesel fuel from the equipment. I mean who really knows. I mean there could be so much dead and rotted in it and just massive amounts of phosphates..

I have been in this hobby 30 years and used live rock most of the time and no bad hitch hikers other than a few crabs and shrimp which are easy to catch.. People have way over done the issues with live rock. Live rock is fun to see what grows out of it. You might even get a coral that no one has or cant be had. I miss real high quality live rock. Live rock is exciting not boring like dead rock. People have got more pests buying coral but people still buy them.

Here is a video where Mike Paletta had issues to and ended up pulling dead rock out.