Live or dry??

person · Feb 18, 2024

Should I use live or dry rock. Also, how long would it take for dry rock to turn live? Do you know where the cheapest place to buy dry and live rock is at?

jabberwock · Feb 18, 2024

Real Ocean Live Rock - This is the way.

piranhaman00 · Feb 18, 2024

Do some research

WalkerLoves_TheOcean · Feb 18, 2024

My vote would be for live rock. When starting a new tank, the cycle process can take a long time, but with live rock, it already has the bacteria needed to cycle a tank, so the process will happen way faster.

I just put in roughly 3 lbs of live rock into my main tank, and I have found at least 13 different species of things in it.

person · Feb 18, 2024

WalkerLoves_TheOcean said:
My vote would be for live rock. When starting a new tank, the cycle process can take a long time, but with live rock, it already has the bacteria needed to cycle a tank, so the process will happen way faster.

I just put in roughly 3 lbs of live rock into my main tank, and I have found at least 13 different species of things in it.

Ok, thanks. Can you put coral on dry rock, or does it have to be live??

WalkerLoves_TheOcean · Feb 18, 2024

person said:
Ok, thanks. Can you put coral on dry rock, or does it have to be live??

Nope, it can be on dry rock, just make sure its cured rock.

jabberwock · Feb 18, 2024

Let me differentiate the choices.

Dry rock - fun to scape, lifeless, lots of places for algae to grab on to, but. You start without hitchhikers.

Wet live rock - a little harder to scape, has some bacteria, but likely not a very diverse population

Ocean live rock - pricey, but amazing micro and macro biodiversity. difficult to scape

I will never use anything but ocean live rock again.

person · Feb 18, 2024

person said:
Ok, thanks. Can you put coral on sry rock, or does it have to be live??

WalkerLoves_TheOcean said:
Nope, it can be on dry rock, just make sure its cured rock.

What’s the difference? Sry to ask so much

lil sumpin · Feb 18, 2024

Check out the microbiome cycle videos from BRS, I dont really enjoy their content cause they're typically just pedaling and trying to make a buck out of enthusiasts and hobbyists but those videos show in detail what you can expect from live rock vs dry rock.

slingfox · Feb 18, 2024

I went with dry Marco Rock and Caribsea live sand. I went through an intense 2.5 months or more dealing with a hellish ugly stage: diatoms (the easiest part), algae, dinos, cyano, and then algae again. During the middle of the dino war I bought some live rock from KP Aquatics. Those pieces of rock were noticeably more resistant to all the nuisance growth. Next tank I start I will go with live rock with KP Aquatics and live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater. These are not cheap options but the mass deaths in beginner coral and CUC caused by dinos plus all the money spent to combat the uglies means I would have spent less if I went live rock and real live sand (not the stuff in plastic bags) from the start.