Back and forth on live rock or dry rock

[smokin'reefer]

Tbd, I just started my new tank with recently bleach cured rock. I'm only about 3 or 4 months in but so far I like it. My other tank was 100% live and although I loved the biodiversity and the cool critters I decided to avoid as much of the bad as I could. Stuff like aiptasia bristleworms and gorilla crabs to name a few. I know all these can be accidently brought in later.
I am doing the Zeovit system and so far only had a very short ugly stage. Lights out for the first month or so and added cuc when algea came on. Now everything is clear.
Fingers crossed.

 

[BackToTheReef]

I know there are risks that come with LR but honestly, there is plenty of good stuff that comes too. When the next tank goes up after my move there will be a mix of real live rock/maricultured rock and dry rock that's soaked for at least a little while before it goes in the tank.

No experience with just dry rock so I can't help there.

 

[jeffrey750750]

if i decide to go with live, what's my minimum light cycle for live rock?

 

[mrpizzaface]

I was facing the same question. I was afraid of hitchhikers, and convinced I needed dry rock to make a cool aqua scape, but I was concerned with all the stories about the difficulties people were having with dry dead rock. I saw posts where people had talked about curing live rock and I decided to go that route. I am purchasing pukani from tank breakdowns in my area and putting the rocks into a dark tub with saltwater, flow and skimming. I should be able to take care of any unwanted pests and hopefully maintain the bacteria. Maybe I will add light in a couple months and some fish to the bin.

I don't understand the whole negative space aquascape idea. I think the important thing is to leave enough space for the coral to create its own negative space aquascape down the road. To each their own but these rock sculptures seem like a waste of time when the goal is for them to be covered 18-24 months down the road (maybe since they are made using dead rock it will be more like 36-48 months down the road). In that case I may want something cool to look at too.

 

[Tired]

I wouldn't put live rock in the dark. You'll kill off the macroalgae, the helpful non-pest algae that outcompetes pest algae for you, and any corals that may have come in. It won't do anything about aiptasia or gorilla crabs, either.

Bristleworms are helpful detritivores, not pests. They're just creepy.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

Get some Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock. It was the best decision for me when my tank was starved for biodiversity. My tank is now much more stable than it used to be, covered in sponges and creatures, etc.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Having set up tanks with real live rock collected from the ocean vs my current tank that I set up with all dry rock, there’s no question that setting up a reef system with live rock is a far superior way to create a happy thriving reef tank. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t put any dry rock in my tank ever again.

 

[IKD]

Does anyone have experience with starting with dry rock in the display and using live rock in the sump to seed it? I wonder if the seeding process will still work this way even if it is slower than putting the live rock directly in the display. My thought is that certain pests would not be able to get to the display like gorilla crabs or maybe even fireworms this way.

 

[Katrina71]

As much live as you can get!

 

[mrpizzaface]

if i decide to go with live, what's my minimum light cycle for live rock?

I wouldn't put live rock in the dark. You'll kill off the macroalgae, the helpful non-pest algae that outc

Get some Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock. It was the best decision for me when my tank was starved for biodiversity. My tank is now much more stable than it used to be, covered in sponges and creatures, etc.

do they still just use the man made rock?

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

do they still just use the man made rock?

Yeah. It looks great to me! Chunky, but realistic in the sense that it is not perfect shapes.

 

[Snoopdog]

Yeah. It looks great to me! Chunky, but realistic in the sense that it is not perfect shapes.

Well the stuff I got from KP Aquatics was rather porous, not the dense man made crap I have seen at places like Petco.

 

[Tired]

Chunky but biodiverse is probably preferable over porous but dead, as long as we're not talking about, like, solid marble blocks. I got my live rock at my LFS, so I can't vouch for different 'brands', as it were.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

Well the stuff I got from KP Aquatics was rather porous, not the dense man made crap I have seen at places like Petco.

that us good.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Remember, you can scape with live rock just like the BRS video did.

Put rock in tote with SW, have another tote with SW, take rock out of first bin and break it up, put in second tote, then fill a few spray bottle up with SW. while making your scape, spray the rock with the spray bottle. Super glue and activator work when the rock is wet, as does any good epoxy. When scapes are done, put in totes or brutes with appropriate equipment connected to them and let the epoxy or cement cure. Just be sure you use a cement that is not high alkalinity in itself.

for flat pieces or shelves, a diablo fire and rescue blade for a saws all will cut the rock just fine.

Now this is more time consuming and more work, but it can be done with little to no issues. Just keep the rock wet.

 

[ReefBeta]

I will just use dry rock. My latest two tank both start with dry rock, so don't really have much of an ugly stage. Start nutrient export early and stock up enough clean up crew solved that pretty easily for me. Also wet rocks won't really allow me to build the aquascape I have now with mortar.

I won't mind adding some good quality live rock, but it's not easy to find good ones and they're expensive. I will NEVER bought those "live rocks" from LFS running in a bucket. I won't buy any of those live rocks that are not shipped in water. Those stuff are just as good as dry rock + bacteria bottles. Live rocks from old tanks are super dangerous too, as rock from old tanks are usually from not so successful tanks, and chance of pest are high.

Good live rocks are really expensive. Just took a look at kpaquatics', I would need to spend $1k more just on the rock to scape my 180 gallon. I would rather spend that money on getting some nice fish.

Lastly, if you like any big LPS like scoly, trachy, etc. you will have good chance in getting the same good stuff from the base of the frags, and it's practically free.

 

[ReefBeta]

Remember, you can scape with live rock just like the BRS video did.

Put rock in tote with SW, have another tote with SW, take rock out of first bin and break it up, put in second tote, then fill a few spray bottle up with SW. while making your scape, spray the rock with the spray bottle. Super glue and activator work when the rock is wet, as does any good epoxy. When scapes are done, put in totes or brutes with appropriate equipment connected to them and let the epoxy or cement cure. Just be sure you use a cement that is not high alkalinity in itself.

for flat pieces or shelves, a diablo fire and rescue blade for a saws all will cut the rock just fine.

Now this is more time consuming and more work, but it can be done with little to no issues. Just keep the rock wet.

superglue will work to keep the shape, but cement need to be cured for 24 hours out of water. So it won't really work unless you keep spraying water to the rock while it's curing. Epoxy is useless for rock scaping.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Use all dryrock in the main display and source aged Liverock (from a reefer). You only need 10-20LB in the sump and this will get your tank up to speed in 6months

 

[Snoopdog]

What blows my mind is how people will blow 10k on equipment and corals but blink an eye when they talk of 1k on rock. The live rock is more important.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

superglue will work to keep the shape, but cement need to be cured for 24 hours out of water. So it won't really work unless you keep spraying water to the rock while it's curing. Epoxy is useless for rock scaping.

I have no issue using low alk hydraulic cement on items that stay submerged. It takes longer to cure, but cures just fine.