How many of you have used Walt Smith Fiji Ultra Rock?

[hybridazn]

Never used it but a good friend works with Walt in Fiji, yea I'm jealous... lol

 

[joekool]

The problem with LR is finding quality. I would have to set it in a tank and monitor it before adding into an existing reef. For new tanks great but I would wait a good amount of time before adding any coral or fish so that I could make sure that there is no terribles in with the good.

The Walt rock does look impressive and full of a bunch of stuff.

I started my tank with LR but I monitored it for some time before adding anything to the tank. I also have two rock roughly two feet wide each and are 40 to 50 pound range I got these from a tank that was taken down about 6 years ago couldn’t pass up the super deal I got on them. Lady paid a lot for them. I also had about 50 pounds of LR but like I said it was there from the start and monitored. So all my rock that has been added was dry rock and I’ve had for years.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Hey Rev ... if only you live around my neighborhood, I would gladly give away at least 5 bucketfuls of "used to be" live rocks but now dry ... for Free!!

 

[Midrats]

Aaaaand this is why I always use dry rock.

This is why I never use dry rock. Who wants a bunch of sterile icebergs in their tank for months? I will never understand this unfounded phobia with live rock. I have handled thousands of pounds of it and pests were never a problem. You guys are missing out!

 

[reefwiser]

Live rock was the missing piece of the puzzle that started the whole reef aquarium hobby. Back before we learned about live rock from Germany “Berlin Method” everyone was having problems with algae just like dry rock tanks now. Once we started get live rock from the ocean things turned around. When Florida shut down the collection of live rock and only those with lease could collect. People turned to dry rock. Dry rock is devoid of life it’s like a dirt field with no grass of coarse weeds will grow. [emoji3]

 

[stylaster]

Reminds me of the fiji rock we use to get back in the day aka about 20 years ago, nice to see you can still find good quality live rock

 

[d2mini]

The problem with LR is finding quality.

It's super easy with vendors like Tampa Bay Saltwater. Straight from the ocean and everything is shipped in water.
Been using them for years.
The Walt Smith stuff Rev posted looks good too, and TBS is now sourcing the man made rock from walt smith and seeding it for several months in their lease.
Win win. Easy peasy.

 

[Fin]

Live rock was the missing piece of the puzzle that started the whole reef aquarium hobby. Back before we learned about live rock from Germany “Berlin Method” everyone was having problems with algae just like dry rock tanks now. Once we started get live rock from the ocean things turned around. When Florida shut down the collection of live rock and only those with lease could collect. People turned to dry rock. Dry rock is devoid of life it’s like a dirt field with no grass of coarse weeds will grow. [emoji3]

I agree with this statement! Live rock WAS the missing link to success back in the late 80s - early 90s. Now I am wondering why I bought 120 pounds of dead Pukani to start my new tank. I will be loading up on GARF Grunge and other starter kits from other sources.

 

[PupChow]

Awesome haul, makes me miss the days when I would goto LFS and cherry pick fresh Fiji LRs for $9 per lb (probably Walt Smith Fiji). Nothing beats the constant surprise of what pops out of the rock work. Btw, anyone else see what looks like a baby octopus in the 5th photo?

 

[revhtree]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I can tell you that as of today the rock stanks like nobodies business! HA! I have it in a large tub with heaters and water movement. Will wait a few weeks until the smell is gone and then she should be ready to go! In the meantime I will be removing all of my current rock and moving all the coral to the frag tank. I'll keep you updated!

 

[revhtree]

Speaking of stink how much die off do you think I will get? I have already performed about a 50% water change. How often should I change it?

 

[tripdad]

Same as any other tank, watch nutrient levels and "gunk" build up. Change as often as necessary so you don't induce more die off than needed and to remove detritus. Don't forget to check ammonia levels.

 

[Midrats]

Throw a skimmer and some carbon in there to help maintain any life.

 

[reefwiser]

It’s the smell of victory. [emoji23] it will take a week with the amount of rock you have. The bacteria is multiplying right now to meet the die off of organics. So you get the smell. [emoji3][emoji106]

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Great looking rock Rev and good luck with the reboot!

I'm one who started with dry rock, figuring I would avoid problem hitchhikers and thinking also that it was better for the reefs somehow. Like many others, I've had to endure a very long process of the tank maturing. Also battled some strange stuff like chrysophytes for months. And it took nearly 10 months to start seeing any real coralline algae develop. After just about a full year, I'm finally seeing things stabilize and getting acros to grow. As many have said, I also didn't get to enjoy the process of seeing all the cool stuff that live rock can bring into the tank, which is one of the fun aspects of starting a new tank.

On the upside, I don't have any aiptasia, bubble algae, hair algae problems or other issues I dealt with back when I used live rock. I also know exactly what creatures are in there and haven't had to deal with giant worms, problem crabs or other weird stuff. I have managed to get a bunch of sponges and tunicates, that I guess came in on either frags or the two very small pieces of rubble that I got from a local coral farm to seed my coralline alage. Lastly, it's actually pretty cool to see my encrusted, purple, feather-duster covered rocks and think they came dry out of a box a year ago.

I've come to the conclusion that if you are very patient and wait it out, you can succeed with dry rock. But who really wants to wait over a year for things to stabilize?? I were starting out again I don't think I'd have the patience and am pretty sure I'll go live rock when the next upgrade time comes along.

 

[flsalty]

I'm not sure if this is practical in your situation, but we used to manually remove as much of the die off as possible in order to keep as much rotting organics out of the water as possible. This gives the living stuff a better chance to live.

 

[shred5]

It's exactly the reason I DO use real live rock!

Same 30 + years in the hobby and used live rock almost all the time. Used dead rock twice and once it lead to 9 months of fighting phosphates and got sick of it and went back to live rock...

 

[Ocelaris]

That's pretty amazing rock, and that's all man made base material? I too had live rock back in the day and watching what grew was amazing. This time around its taking forever to get the dried pukani to get any corraline algae or other life. I had some Florida reef rock from the previous owner and that has done awesome, but the pukani has been just dead rock.

 

[shred5]

Speaking of stink how much die off do you think I will get? I have already performed about a 50% water change. How often should I change it?

Where did you get the rock from? I have been looking for rock with some life.. I am not much of a fan of Fiji rock but it looks better than most..This rock has been around a long time.

Allot of pest are easy to trap, eventually they get hungry.
Put the rock where you can observe it. You may not get any..
But most Fiji I would get a mantis and gorilla crab or two.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Speaking of stink how much die off do you think I will get? I have already performed about a 50% water change. How often should I change it?

If there are no fish or Coral in the tank currently just skimmer and carbon will be fine as others have said. Just let it chill for a few weeks and make sure ammonia tests zero before adding anything. If there are fish or Coral in the tank that's another story...