How Much Tampa Bay Live Rock For 90G Tank?

[ShaggyRS6]

On my 120 I have 30lbs caribsea and 15lbs live rock that came from my nano and 15lbs live rock that came from my lfs.
Do half caribsea and half live.
I believe live is worth the minor trouble.

Understood! But I have nowhere to quarantine it.

 

[sfin52]

The amount of good guys that come off lr is better than dry. The microorganisms and cuc is amazing. There is hitchhikers that will be bad as well.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

I hear ya! I just don’t know what to do now. And I need to make my mind up before the end of Monday!

 

[AV8R]

I hear ya! I just don’t know what to do now. And I need to make my mind up before the end of Monday!

I would go with dry rock. I just ordered 80 pounds off of amazon for a new setup. It had free shipping. Then added a bottle of bio-spira. IMO even if it takes a little longer to cycle, it’s nice knowing you aren’t going to get any pests with it. Also it was relatively cheap.

 

[Small triggers]

I really liked the marco rock I used with my last tank... and for that I ended up ordering 1lb per gallon...

 

[StevePhx]

Within 12 months you won’t be able to tell the difference between dry rock and TB rock. The cool coralline fades, the sponges get eaten.

All you are left with is purple coralline and the pest.

Now I am wondering if I am going to go this way. The more I look into how many pests there COULD be the more I worry. I may save a lot of hassle by going the Caribsea Life rock route and then just seed as you normally would with Dr Tim's or something similar.

 

[melanotaenia]

I hear ya! I just don’t know what to do now. And I need to make my mind up before the end of Monday!

Get some of the live rock; if you cycle the rock or keep the rock in a large vat/tub for a few weeks and scrub off material that dies during transit from the shipper to you, you can examine the rock and remove anything that looks like you don't want it in your tank.

It is going to take a lot longer to establish your tank with dry rock alone, and I have seen a lot more success with reefers starting with at least some live rock in their systems.

 

[melanotaenia]

Within 12 months you won’t be able to tell the difference between dry rock and TB rock. The cool coralline fades, the sponges get eaten.

All you are left with is purple coralline and the pest.

That is not really true; live rock contains a lot of microorganisms and other beneficial creatures you will not get with dry rock that don't die and disappear after 12 months; although many sponges die in transit from ocean to aquarium, much of the good stuff survives if cured/handled properly, and provide many benefits for new reef aquariums that dry rock cannot provide.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Yeah, I Amy now do half and half and just Risk the critters!

 

[Retro Reefer]

I have about 30lbs of ocean farmed rock in my 40, all of my past tanks have been a wall of rock (2lb per gallon) and I wanted a more minimalist aquascape in my new tank.

 

[X-37B]

I have about 30lbs of ocean farmed rock in my 40, all of my past tanks have been a wall of rock (2lb per gallon) and I wanted a more minimalist aquascape in my new tank.

I like it. It gives more room for the corals to grow.

 

[WVNed]

I would do a 100 pounds.
it is messy when it comes
I did 140 pounds CaribSea Life and 150 pounds TBS but some when in the sump.
.

At $6.70 a pound it is great.
After 2 months

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Did you quarantine it though ? Or no

I would do a 100 pounds.
it is messy when it comes
I did 140 pounds CaribSea Life and 150 pounds TBS but some when in the sump.
.

At $6.70 a pound it is great.
After 2 months

 

[flchamp89]

One advantage of getting a little more is more aqua scape choices.

 

[WVNed]

I brought it home from the airport and got it in the tank as fast as I could.

 

[scabbedwings616]

I have about 100 pounds in my 90g tank. Some of which is in my refugium!

 

[JPergamo]

I had a remote fuge that i built, currently using it as a frag tank instead. When I set it up I purchased 15lbs if TB rubble. The only pests i can say it came with are a few crabs and an urchin. These were simply cool additions to a remote tank in my case. I have all sps colonies and mini colonies in the display. That being said, there is obviously a big risk of worse with live rock, but like others have said, I feel the benifit of much of the microfauna outweighs the risk. You can always use dry rock for main tank and add some ocean rock to a remote tank or sump area. Or quarantine the ocean rock for a time and wait a good long time to add it.

 

[foxt]

I have three tanks started with TBS. For the largest (220), I did 50/50 TBS/dry for a total of about 150lbs. I did not qt the rock. I did have gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp come in as hitchikers, and it took a while to get them all out. The mantis were the most trouble. That said, if there is a next time, I will do TBS again. At this point I probably have enough rock in my sump to seed any new tank I start, but I enjoyed the TBS process enough that I would do it again anyway.

 

[KLaRue]

Not sure if this is an issue or not. But on the question of whether or not to quarantine live rock before adding the rock to the dt, could ich tomonts be riding along with the rock and be inadvertently introduced into our tanks?

 

[JPergamo]

I have three tanks started with TBS. For the largest (220), I did 50/50 TBS/dry for a total of about 150lbs. I did not qt the rock. I did have gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp come in as hitchikers, and it took a while to get them all out. The mantis were the most trouble. That said, if there is a next time, I will do TBS again. At this point I probably have enough rock in my sump to seed any new tank I start, but I enjoyed the TBS process enough that I would do it again anyway.

Same here with mine for my remote tank. Absolutely a few gorilla crabs in there.