I just ordered 40 pounds of dry rock for my 40b aquarium and I was wondering if I need live rock. I really don't want to battle with bristleworms, flatworms, mantis shrimp, annoying algae, and anemones. Will beneficial bacteria eventually colonize this rock? How long would it take?
Do I need live rock?
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Big G
captain dunsel
Welcome to R2R! Been just where you are today. Takes about 6 months for the entire rock to get to those darker reds & purples. Did you seed the tank with something like Bio Spira, etc. ? If you want to take just a bit of a chance, you could add some "live sand" to your tank. Doesn't take much. A small bag will do. But if you do add the live sand, best to let the tank go fallow for 76 days to make sure you are not adding in Ich or Velvet.
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The bacteria will eventually colonize the dry rock, but it'll take longer than if you add a couple small pieces of live rock. But it is possible
Big G
captain dunsel
Welcome to R2R! Nitrites will drop to or near zero; Nitrates will climb like crazy. Big water changes to lower the nitrates down to 20ish ppm. Some continue to either dose ammonia, ghost feed with a bit of flake food. Usually the first sign are a few pink or red or green spots scattered about on the rocks. Then you usually get some bright, almost lime green algae on the rocks. After that the "new tank uglies" which is various forms of algae cycles requiring some elbow grease: toothbrush, turn up powerheads while toothbrushing, wait a bit and then change filter socks - repeat as necessary along with regular water changes. 
mjlash22
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As already mentioned, dry rock will definitely be able to colonize bacteria, it will just take longer. If you have a LFS that sells live rock, but a couple pieces/lbs and add into the tank with the dry. I did that on my reefer 250 along with bio-spira and the tank cycled after about a week. First live stock after 2 weeks, no issues. Maybe to quick for most, but it worked for me.
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I did almost the same. I started with dry rock, argonite sand bed and bio-spira. I cycled for about 3 weeks while ghost feeding and testing. I got pretty impatient so I bought a couple tennis ball sized rocks from my LFS out of their Rubbermaid bin of live rock. Put them in and voila! 3 days later cycled tank. I have no doubt it would have cycled with out the live rock, but it could have taken another 3 weeks or more and I wanted my goby shrimp pair! I think next time I will wait it out. That was the beginning if introducing so many hitchhikers. Not just critters, but algae too.
Cherub
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I cycled my tank with in 2 weeks with bacteria and instant cycle sand. I had a bangaii cardinal in after 7 days, it's all it took. I had 130 pounds of dry marco rock. Never stuck any live rock into the tank.
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The answer is that you can go without, but it will take time to seed and it depends on what method you use.
mfinn
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I used Dr. Tims One and Only to cycle my new dry rock .
Add the One and Only, add a ammonia source and just test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Add the One and Only, add a ammonia source and just test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
scott11106
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Reel Reef rock is a great product that has all of the good things from live rock minus the bad things like algae and hitchhikers...
Lovemyreef2015
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HiddenUser
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Dry rock, raw shrimp in the sump, and some Dr Tims One and Only...I also used an Ammonia Badge to trace when the Ammonia showed up. Once the ammonia was gone I check to make sure I also had 0 Nitrite. Then I pulled the sludge that was once a shrimp, did a couple large water changes, and started to add livestock slowly.
Midrats
Valuable Member
Real live rock is the best part of setting up a reef tank. Problems and pests are grossly exaggerated. Dry rock comes with its own host of problems. It's completely devoid of life and an ideal site for the colonization of unwanted algae which is inevitable in the run in phase of a new tank. It looks like there's icebergs in your tank for a year. I just don't have the patience. Definitely get some real live rock.
chipmunkofdoom2
Always Making Something
Using dry rock over live rock may save you from mantis shrimp, but other than that, all the "pests" you mention routinely come in on corals and fish anyway (I say pests in quotes because many reefers don't consider bristleworms to be pests, but beneficial parts of their clean up crew). Unless you have a fastidious quarantine protocol, you're going to introduce those bugs at some point. I don't have any hard numbers on this, but I'm willing to bet that most reefers don't QT well enough to keep all algae, bristleworms, flatworms, aiptasia and nudibranchs out. Unless you are the exception to the rule, you are likely to get these problems even if you start with dry rock.
I'm also with what @squareriggersailor said. The most success I ever had in a tank was back when Live Aquaria still sold uncured rock. In reality, this was not true ocean rock pulled straight from the ocean and mailed straight to me. But it was rock that was very recently in the ocean and had an incredible amount of biodiversity. After the cycle, I had nothing but success until I shut down the tank. Only had a few pieces of bubble algae once, but other than that, it was smooth sailing.
anthonys51
Active Member
The problem with dry rock is it takes a lot of patience. Dry rock you will go through algae and diatoms blooms especially if you add too much too soon. As stated before I think the pest ate greatly over stated. You know how many people tell me there asterina stars started eating there Zoas. I started with 2 Zoas six months later I had 20 and they all of a sudden started dying. If those stars where suck zoa eaters they would never have grown in the first place. I always set my tanks up with aged live rock. Little more expensive but to me all the life I see is why I got into Reef tanks in the first place. I love inspecting my rocks and seeing bristle stars. Love seeing that 8 inch bristleworm crawling out of a rock to eat when I feed the tank
Welcome to R2R! Nitrites will drop to or near zero; Nitrates will climb like crazy. Big water changes to lower the nitrates down to 20ish ppm. Some continue to either dose ammonia, ghost feed with a bit of flake food. Usually the first sign are a few pink or red or green spots scattered about on the rocks. Then you usually get some bright, almost lime green algae on the rocks. After that the "new tank uglies" which is various forms of algae cycles requiring some elbow grease: toothbrush, turn up powerheads while toothbrushing, wait a bit and then change filter socks - repeat as necessary along with regular water changes.
If I don't run any light will I get any algae?
Big G
captain dunsel
You can leave the lights off while cycling your tank. That will minimize your algae growth. But you are going to want to turn the lights back on at the part of the cycle where you are doing water changes to lower your nitrate levels. Suggest you start with 6 hours of lighting at a low level. Adjust as necessary. You want coralline algae and light is needed for that growth.
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