Dry live rock?

Buckeye Ken

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I’m setting up my first ever saltwater tank and decided to use dry rock for aquascaping. I know that nitrifying bacteria can be added to the tank from a bottle, but other kinds of beneficial bacteria are best seeded by purchasing live rock. Yesterday I went to my LFS to buy a pound or so of live rock and was surprised to see that their “live rock” was dry. I was expecting it to be wet. When I asked about it, the sales guy said the dry rock was in fact live rock, but the bacteria were dormant. He said when the rock is put into saltwater the bacteria would become active. Does this make sense?
 

MarkyMark_

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There is a type of rock for sale by Caribsea named " Life Rock" which is just dry marco rock painted purple and coated with dormant bacteria which does become active when introduced to saltwater ( Note: I have never used this type of rock but im sure some other members here who have used this type of rock can chime in) . This is not true "Live rock".
 
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Buckeye Ken

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There is a type of rock for sale by Caribsea named " Life Rock" which is just dry marco rock painted purple and coated with dormant bacteria which does become active when introduced to saltwater ( Note: I have never used this type of rock but im sure some other members here who have used this type of rock can chime in) . This is not true "Live rock".
It is purple, so probably what is. Thanks
 
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fishhead1973

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I used the rock you’re talking about. Just didn’t won’t to introduce the unknown. Associated with wet rock. Seven months in and I could not be happier.
image.jpg
 
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Jay'sReefBugs

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When I was looking for rock about 2 years ago I found a great deal on amazon for " dry live rock " from caribsea. Think I paid like 79 for 40 pounds . But to be honest if I did it over again especially with the price hike they have on that stuff now I would just use normal dry rock . I like the look of it better now that it has that aged look rather then when it was first in my tank looked to tacky to me
 
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Buckeye Ken

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Yes, that's what I used, normal dry rock. So I was looking for a piece of live rock to seed beneficial bacteria. My LFS sold me a piece of the Caribaea rock. Not exactly what I was looking for.
 
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MaxTremors

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I can't believe new hobbyist are being tricked into buying painting fake Live rock... its madness they price it as such!
I agree. I don’t necessarily have a problem with rock such as this (I even have some in my tank), but it is not live rock and should not be sold as such. IMO, if you’re going to use dry rock or this ‘life rock’, it’s best to go 75% dry rock and then seed it with 25% real live rock. To me a reef tank isn’t a reef tank without all of the hitchhikers and microfauna (plus it’s just so much more bacterially diverse).
 
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Buckeye Ken

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I agree. That was my intention for buying a piece of live rock. To add biological diversity. Oh well, a lesson learned. BTW, I ended up buying a package from Indo Pacific Sea Farm www.ipsf.com which appears to add the biodiversity I was looking for.
 
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SaltFishTV

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I’m setting up my first ever saltwater tank and decided to use dry rock for aquascaping. I know that nitrifying bacteria can be added to the tank from a bottle, but other kinds of beneficial bacteria are best seeded by purchasing live rock. Yesterday I went to my LFS to buy a pound or so of live rock and was surprised to see that their “live rock” was dry. I was expecting it to be wet. When I asked about it, the sales guy said the dry rock was in fact live rock, but the bacteria were dormant. He said when the rock is put into saltwater the bacteria would become active. Does this make sense?
If it’s CaribSea Life rock then yes.
 
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karamreef117

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Best rock to start up in my opinion is the purple rock that's dry. I loved it since its dry and more looks natural!
 
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Cjeippert

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I can't believe new hobbyist are being tricked into buying painting fake Live rock... its madness they price it as such!
Purple painted concrete, sand, fiberglass. Get ready for a year of ugly stuff that takes over, diatoms, cyano, then treat it with chemicals and start the process over. Lots of hard lessons learned. Plus my emerald crab scraps and destroys the dry rock.
 
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