Keeping Spare Cycled Live Rock: How does this sound to you?

[revhtree]

I was thinking not long ago that it would be a great practice for reefers, if they have space, to keep "spare cycled live rock" in a sump, back of the tank, or in a separate system for NEW HOBBYISTS!

So what's the thinking on this?

My thinking is not only could we have some spare rock for emergency situations of our own but also this could be a great help for people who are setting up new reef aquariums. The idea would be for them to trade you some dry rock or non cycled rock for your established and cycled rock to help them along with their new system.

1. What do you think about the idea to keep extra rock for new hobbyists?

2. Would you be interested in keeping extra rock for this purpose?

3. Do you keep any spare cycled rock now for any reason?


@Mike&Terry image

 

[andrewkw]

I have no room for this and have never used true dry rock other than rock I had to acid wash for various reasons but I like this idea not only to share but for myself for inevitable upgrades and extra tanks.

When I first moved I kept a tank filled with live rock - real live rock for many months because it was basically irreplaceable. Now I have a pair of breeding lightning maroons in that tank. When I setup my frag tank I had live rock to go in and from day 1 it was ready for corals.

If there was a new local hobbyist looking for live rock I would certainly be willing to spare a couple of pounds to get them going.

 

[sp1187]

1. What do you think about the idea to keep extra rock for new hobbyists?
LFS does this. They are having a hard enough time these days. Don't need to cut in to their $$.

2. Would you be interested in keeping extra rock for this purpose?
See #1.

3. Do you keep any spare cycled rock now for any reason?
I don't have any Live/dry rock in the system.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Since the beginning of my current system, i've always kept some extra live rock in my sump. It's been apart of my overall filtration of the system. It's been useful at times allowing me to redo some of the display aquascape when needed in switching out rock to the sump.

With that said, I'm fortunate that my basement sump is large enough to do this. Not everyone has that luxury.

 

[najer]

This is tip of a 5 kg plate at the back of my cube end jungle, I can always lay my hands on live rock and I cure fake rock rubble in baskets.

 

[Seamore2001]

Isn't that what everyone is doing? It's just when you plan to make your rock available to someone else.

But seriously - when setting up a new tank I look for other hobbyists taking one down, and buy rock from them. In a sense, they are keeping rock for other keepers; it's just a matter of when they'll release it.

My most recent, and recently completed, build uses Fiji + Tonga + Marshall rock sourced from another hobbyist who was breaking down a long-time system. In fact there's still a significant amount of rock available, tempting me to set up another system just so I can grab it. I'm always scanning local forums for folks breaking down systems in case I need rock.

I've only had bad critters come on the rock once - one of my nanos is on permanent quarantine due to the hair algea plus aptasia plus flatworms in it that are resistant to attempts to erradicate. In general I suggest QTing LR just as one would other critters before adding them to the display tank.

 

[PicassoClown04]

This is AMAZING. I do it now because someone did it for me. I started my tank with 100% cycled live rock from a friend’s tank and completely skipped my cycle. The friend gave me some free frags and I had to put them in on the first day, they are all still alive! It was amazing and I really didn’t understand why everyone was having so many problems with ‘ugly phases’ and ‘cycling issues’ until I started a new tank using rock from my LFS. wow... the difference! Using the LFS rock was a million times more difficult. That tank has been up for a little over 7 months and is still nasty and going through the ugly phases. If all of my tanks could start with sumped live rock, I’d be so grateful and I think a lot of new hobbyists would stick it out rather than quitting before their tank is a year old

 

[154162]

I don’t do rock, but bio rings! I always keep a bag of bio rings, in case I need to seed the QT tank you never know when you need to break it down completely because of a desease, so having media on hand is great because you can start it back up after sterilizing the tank.
And obviously it’s good to have it on hand if anybody’s starting a tank, or they have a crash

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

I have a 40 gallon section of my sump dedicated to holding spare rock I had so it's live. Helps with filtration, and could spare some without any effect on my sytem I'm sure. Nobody that's seen my system asks about it. To be fair though, most people who see my system are visiting for frags, and likely already have plenty of rock.

I feel like purposely holding live rock to sell/give to new hobbyists would be good and helpful, but not much demand. I most often find new people don't seek out hobbyists for frags, snails, rock, sand...etc. until they've been in the hobby for some time and realize the price difference. I also think if you were to hold live rock, you should also try your best to ensure there are no pests on the rock. I'd feel really bad if I tried to help someone new and ended up giving them some invasive pest, or something that might drive them away from the hobby.

 

[burningmime]

My only concern here is pest organisms. I don't want to be giving aptasia or bubble algae away as a gift.

 

[laverda]

I have lots of extra cured live rock. Occasionally I will use some to swap out with other rocks for a variety of reasons.

 

[Silent]

This is a great way to support your fellow reefers if you have a mature pest free system.

 

[GrapevineReefs]

one of my systems I have the skimmer and reactors externally so the sumphas a ton of extra space outside of the fuge compartment that I have stuffed with live rock I also keep chocolate chips(for my harlequins), snails, crabs to keep it cleanish works out well for my situation!

 

[fish farmer]

1. What do you think about the idea to keep extra rock for new hobbyists?

If you have the space, sure, much like having cheap frags or extra equipment. I have some dry rock kicking around that I would never use.

2. Would you be interested in keeping extra rock for this purpose?

I don't have space for much extra live rock or coral frags and where I'm at there aren't many new reefers. I reached out to a couple of newbies on this forum about helping with new builds an/or free corals and haven't heard back. I work with another old reefer who may set up a new system in a year.

But I would have to be honest that my rock has vermitids, aiptasia, maybe some algae you don't want.


3. Do you keep any spare cycled rock now for any reason?

I have my sump full of small pieces for coral frags and some potential aquascaping changes.

 

[Tankkeepers]

I do not think this is a good idea as the bio diversity in a closed loop system eventually dwindles to a few dominant types and if your setting up a new tank using non bio diverse rock as a starter your tank may not do very well which is why I reseed my tank every so offten by removing a few pieces of old rock and adding in some new live rock from the ocean

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I have a good amount of spare rock in the sump. Trying to convince my gf’s mom to start a nano reef. She was the one to get me started into fish keeping so paying her back with a starter reef setup

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I like to have a little extra on hand for little projects and such. When I got my TBS rock, I didn't have room for a couple old pieces, and I ended up with a couple gorilla crabs and a mantis shrimp. So, now I have a dedicated "baddies" tank. I also really like the idea of giving a little piece of rock to someone new for diversity. I would have had a much easier time with my tank if I had gotten properly cycled rock in the first place.

 

[Jax15]

If I had the sump space, I would absolutely do this. As it is I don't have enough room, so I keep a bunch of bio blocks and spheres. That way I'd at least be able to seed a new system if necessary. But yes - keeping clean, cycled rock for others to buy/trade would be a great gesture.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I am acually planning on doing this, keeping extra cycled rock on hand. I have lots of extra dry rock (I bought a skid) and want to have cycled rock with good coraline coverage for future use. Supplying the the tub with heat, flow and minimal light is worth having nice coraline coverage. It should also help to stablize and strengthen the dry rock, which has a tendency towards brittleness.

Dennis

 

[StKi1da]

Whenever I have removed rock from my system it has unbalanced the tank i have had outbreaks of bubble algae and or dino, cyano etc. I tend to leave alone.