Lets talk about live ocean rock and why why we so scared bruh?

[LRT]

Ain't nobody scared of the Tang police!

Love you man i had a feeling this would get you in on the fun hahaha!

 

[jda]

Also, short sighted to care about a rock scape. Isn't the goal to cover those things with coral and not even see the rock?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Also, short sighted to care about a rock scape. Isn't the goal to cover those things with coral and not even see the rock?

I would say it is shortsighted to look at your rockwork as only a mounting surface for coral.

In my reef systems, the live rock is the backbone of the entire system. It's the buffer and what makes everything else work together.

As such starting with the highest quality most biologically diverse and stable live rock from the git, takes care of you down the road when you are able to grow and maintain coral with the intrinsic health the live rock has brought.

 

[LRT]

@jda I have a fancy mocha mix designer clown that's highly susceptible to ich. Ive been able to stress it out enough for it to show a cpl times through lately. Never lasts longer than a day or 2. Ive put fish directly in my system fresh off plane from ocean with no issues. Tons of rock and hiding places with surfaces covered in everything ocean. Disease dont last long on my reef

 

[HuduVudu]

Don't buy live rock hoping you will get a little snippit of coral. If you do it will die anyway. So will the macro.

Respectfully disagree. The coral and things I pointed out in my pics are 100% from my live rock. My only loss was a LPS that my fish killed and a clam that I killed.

If you don't ship it in water about half is goin to die. Shipped in water same day air. the tank can cycle in 5 days.

Mine wasn't shipped with water. No die off. Perhaps because they pulled the same day? Maybe?

You are about the same shipping distance as me, not sure why you had any die off.

 

[Reefahholic]

Because in a small aquarium outside of the vast ocean…a lot of these pests and algaes can get completely out of control. Then your reef turns into a nightmare. Which is why most people have shifted to setting up dry rock tanks. The added benefit of being able to scape your rocks w/o a time limit is even better.

 

[HuduVudu]

Because in a small aquarium outside of the vast ocean…a lot of these pests and algaes can get completely out of control.

That is definitely not my experience.

Things rise and fall. The longer you have the rock the more in equilibrium the tank will become.

Understanding what you are doing and having things right from the begining, makes things a lot easier, but it takes time and patience to achieve that. Fixing problems after the fact is great learning experience and necesssary to be better in the future but can be frustrating.

The added benefit of being able to scape your rocks w/o a time limit is even better.

I find that micro managing the rockscape sets up a mentality that is hard to shake in the future. Many fall for it's destructive song. We love nature because it's choatic and balanced. We try to make our tanks controlled versions of nature ... we fail.

 

[LRT]

I'll never understand how and why dead rock came about. To me dead rock defeats entire purpose of living reef.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I would say it is shortsighted to look at your rockwork as only a mounting surface for coral.

In my reef systems, the live rock is the backbone of the entire system. It's the buffer and what makes everything else work together.

As such starting with the highest quality most biologically diverse and stable live rock from the git, takes care of you down the road when you are able to grow and maintain coral with the intrinsic health the live rock has brought.

@jda was referring to scape alone. Live rock is the preference. Just that these nsa scapes are no so good for fish or all of the micro fauna that a rock wall can harbor.

I am also a fan of tons of nooks and crannies for the fish. As many places as I have dove, never saw “bonsai” style rock piles lol. Maybe part of the reason why I have 0 tang aggression in any of my tanks. Tons of places to hide if scared and tons of food for them.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I'll never understand how and why dead rock came about. To me dead rock defeats entire purpose of living reef.

I still use dead rock. Has to sit in my sump for a year lol. I can come in handy for those on a budget, but I still believe that live rock is needed for a base. This at least provides a good seed for the tank.

 

[LRT]

@jda was referring to scape alone. Live rock is the preference. Just that these nsa scapes are no so good for fish or all of the micro fauna that a rock wall can harbor.

I am also a fan of tons of nooks and crannies for the fish. As many places as I have dove, never saw “bonsai” style rock piles lol. Maybe part of the reason why I have 0 tang aggression in any of my tanks. Tons of places to hide if scared and tons of food for them.

My fish love my rock wall Mama clown is only fish i can find at night and that's because she decided she wants to live in Jawbreaker condo. No idea where the other fish sleep or hang out when I can't see them

 

[LRT]

I still use dead rock. Has to sit in my sump for a year lol. I can come in handy for those on a budget, but I still believe that live rock is needed for a base. This at least provides a good seed for the tank.

That's the only way I'd use dead rock. I did have 100 lbs walt smith that eventually seeded from gulf rock over the course of a year or so.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

My fish love my rock wall Mama clown is only fish i can find at night and that's because she decided she wants to live in Jawbreaker condo. No idea where the other fish sleep or hang out when I can't see them

I know where all mine sleep and at night, only clowns, Anthias and the small hippo are visible. The 13” des and the 12” hippo have huge crevices they sleep in. Anthias and small hippo are split between 2 huge acro colonies. Clowns are in the massive ltas.

 

[HuduVudu]

I'll never understand how and why dead rock came about. To me dead rock defeats entire purpose of living reef.

Walt Smith stopped providing quality live rock. Stores didn't want to do the work to de-pest the rock, customers wanted the cheapest prices prossible. This is the toxic stew that knocked live rock back.

Then the neo-sterile tank came back. Instead of giant dead pipe organ, blue ridge and stag colonies, we now have marco, quarried rock. Instead of pulling said colonies and soaking them in bleach we have chemi-clean and vibrant. In the absence of information the hobby falls back to the bleached sterile tank, because it makes the most sense to people that are new in the hobby.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

You guys have me rethinking my scape lol

Kinda wanting to just have two big boamies (sp?),with some pathways through them so flow is still effective, now lol

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I remember when making rock was the big thing, every forum had threads about DYI rock. But that rock is so limited when it comes to being porous and I reel the same about this man made life reef rock. They can make it look good with little crevices and color but will never achieve recreating real live rock. Marco rock is nice as far as being porous and I would definitely choose it over man made.

 

[i_am_mclovin]

I'll never understand how and why dead rock came about. To me dead rock defeats entire purpose of living reef.

I bought into that hype once. It was the worst tank I ever had. Took over a year before I could finally get SPS to live, and even then they never thrived. Had to deal with all kinds of “uglies” etc. Never again.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

You guys have me rethinking my scape lol

Kinda wanting to just have two big boamies (sp?),with some pathways through them so flow is still effective, now lol

It all depends on what you have stocked. Do the fish all have hiding places? Like places with only one entry and they can feel safe? To me, I base my scapes off of that and real estate for corals. My walls also have small powerheads behind them to keep flow moving back there.

You can do more of an open structure and fish can be fine. They just need some holes to hide.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

It all depends on what you have stocked. Do the fish all have hiding places? Like places with only one entry and they can feel safe? To me, I base my scapes off of that and real estate for corals. My walls also have small powerheads behind them to keep flow moving back there.

You can do more of an open structure and fish can be fine. They just need some holes to hide.

Gotcha. Well, then I’ll strike a middle ground.

is it a pipe dream to try to plan out where certain corals will grow into colonies and thus provide some hiding places as well?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Gotcha. Well, then I’ll strike a middle ground.

is it a pipe dream to try to plan out where certain corals will grow into colonies and thus provide some hiding places as well?

Yes and no. Acros can provide places under then, euphillia under and behind them and so on.