Do the Dry Purple Rocks Really Cause Issues?

[Altohombre]

I'm planning a 200 gal reef tank and thinking about the aquascape. I've had a 46 gal for about 20 years and that rock was live rock. I can't remember if it was Marco or TBS, but it was the expensive stuff and eventually all the "good" live stuff died off the rocks probably because of poor management from me. Looking at tank builds and videos I'm seeing a lot of people using the "fake" purple rocks because it seems to come in nice flat pieces, interesting shapes, and sometimes fully prebuilt scapes. I'm also seeing in several posts people with these purple rocks seem to have more substantial cases of the "ugly" stage battles with phosphates and diatoms, etc. What I'd love to do is go from LFS to LFS and pick out rocks I love and piece them together, but it seems even the LFS are selling mostly the dry purple rock because it's less maintenance I'm sure. I'd rather not just buy a big box of rocks that will probably be only half useful. Anyone have thoughts on the dry purple rocks or how they ended up stocking their big tanks?

 

[Peace River]

Live rock is rock with living bacteria in and on it. There are many types of rocks on the market today including rock from the ocean, rock from ancient oceans taken from the ground, and various types of man-made rocks with a variety of shapes, colors, or porosity. My point is the bacteria is more important than the origin of the rock in most cases for cycling, etc, whereas the rock type matters more for the aesthetic of the tank. Often live rock will come with a wider blend of bacteria and will help your tank mature faster than bacteria from bacteria in a bottle, however the bacteria in a bottle will typically come with fewer surprises. Of course, you can also select a blend of each. Good luck on whatever direction that you choose.

 

[lapin]

I bought the big box of dry white Marco Rock. The 1200 lb box came as requested. 25 to 45 lb pieces. Not sure if they sell it in those huge boxes any more. Wholesale. The box was pallet size. Did fit in my pickup truck.
No issues with algae 8 years later.

 

[Ryanliyikun]

Dry purple rock is great for a big tank because it’s easy to aquascape, pest-free, and comes in better shapes, but it usually has a rougher ugly stage since it starts out sterile. A good middle-ground is using dry rock for the main structure and seeding it with a little real live rock or live sand, so you get the look you want without giving up the biology.

 

[BriDroid]

I bought two 20lb boxes of the purple Marco Rock “Perfect Mix” boxes. I went with 2 of the 20lb boxes vs 1 40lb box because I wanted smaller pieces and they told me that was the way to get smaller pieces. It came with a nice mix of flar sided base, shelf, and they hybrid rocks. It shipped really well with very minimal breakage and I got over 50lbs. I’m very happy with it. It looks great.

I have it in a Brute with saltwater in the garage. The water is crystal clear and when I tested for phosphate, it was 0ppm.

 

[IceNein]

I cannot tell you for sure that the dry rock causes problems, but as a complete novice I started a system with 50% dry rock, and 50% TBS rock, and I didn't have any problems at all.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and when you buy real ocean live rock, you are getting predators for diatoms, dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, and algae. The big four of "the uglies."

 

[IceNein]

Dry purple rock is great for a big tank because it’s easy to aquascape, pest-free, and comes in better shapes, but it usually has a rougher ugly stage since it starts out sterile. A good middle-ground is using dry rock for the main structure and seeding it with a little real live rock or live sand, so you get the look you want without giving up the biology.

This is exactly what I plan to do when I get a bigger tank. Get enough dry rock to make a nice structure, and then get a bunch of live rock to seed the life.

I mean, you could even sit the live rock in your tank for a couple of months, and then once your tank gets going, take it out and sit it in your sump as a refugium, after the life has migrated throughout your system.

 

[Bear22]

I've used both Caribsea and the Tropic Eden stuff. Would recommend both.

 

[NeedAReef]

dry rock has cause some phosphate spikes for me

 

[MoshJosh]

I love Caribsea "Life" rock, and have never had issues with it! That said when you are building your aquascape it can be a bit harder to blend seam/joint than with the white rock (I like superglue and sand on white rock joints), but purple epoxy works well enough!

 

[X-37B]

This is exactly what I plan to do when I get a bigger tank. Get enough dry rock to make a nice structure, and then get a bunch of live rock to seed the life.

I mean, you could even sit the live rock in your tank for a couple of months, and then once your tank gets going, take it out and sit it in your sump as a refugium, after the life has migrated throughout your system.

I did 50/50 live and caribsea purple in my old 120. Worked out well, get the premium,
I did 150lbs premium GLR rock in my 150 and had coral in the system in a few weeks.
I just did 35lbs GLR premium to my new system for a new start, $12lb to my door.

 

[ausmal]

Dry purple rock is great for a big tank because it’s easy to aquascape, pest-free, and comes in better shapes, but it usually has a rougher ugly stage since it starts out sterile. A good middle-ground is using dry rock for the main structure and seeding it with a little real live rock or live sand, so you get the look you want without giving up the biology.

Although I did deal with ugly stages, I did a 50/50 split of Live rock (for base) and caribsea life rock to shape out the aquascape. I'd say if I had my time again, I'd still do the same but I'd run my cycle on next to no lights.

When I make additions to tank I just throw some carib sea life rock in sump for a month or so. Last piece that went in display has not had a lick of algae.

 

[Science/G]

Life Rock is great for aquascaping. The arches are really nice. It took a little longer for my tank to mature though. Starting a tank with real ocean live rock and the life Rock would probably be the way to go.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

As others have stated, I would either do 100% live rock or do a mixture of both. The benefits of adding live rock to a tank greatly outweigh the cons, IMO.

 

[Altohombre]

Thanks for all the comments! Is there a dry rock brand you prefer?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Life rock and live rock combo, tank is currently 8 months old

 

[MegabiteOG]

Pros and cons to all methods. Going 50/50 as suggested is a good compromise if you want a more customized aqua scape.

For me, I wanted a quick start (I’m not very patient) and went with 100% live rock from GLR and 50/50 on real live sand from GLR as well and dry special grade from Carib-sea. My tank is now 5 1/2 months old and very happy with my choice for what I wanted.