Live rock concerns - is it really worth it?

[Fish Fan]

Hiya,

Due to a 3' storm surge from Hurricane Debby, we cleaned up the mess and moved to a new location. A few days later Hurricane Milton hit, so we stopped taking new orders and have had to delay October shipments until November.

Good news is this new location is bigger and better than previous, WoooHOO!
We are going to reopen with a 40th Year Anniversary Sale on Black Friday. Shipments will move out in the order they are received, so order early.

I'm so glad to hear from you here, and to hear that you ladies pulled through those storms safely! Best of luck at your new location! Rock on!

 

[Fish Fan]

@TylerAquatics I also suggest live rock. I got back into the hobby about 14 months ago, and I started two small tanks using live rock and sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater, a 10 and a 15 gallon. I just ordered a 150 gallon as my next tank, and I'm absolutely going to go with TBS live rock and sand. We were amazed at the amount of life and cool hitchhikers we got on about 15 pounds of rock and sand, I can't wait to see what's hiding in 100 pounds.

As for harmful hitchickers, I had only a few gorilla crabs that admittedly were a pain to get, but I got them.

And, if you started your tank with live rock and sand and then allowed it to run for a couple of months without fish, I believe you'd starve those isopods out.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I’m upgrading my tank and was planning on using the dry rock that has been in my tank for 6 months, and then new dry rock for the rest. Would it be worth buying just a couple of lbs of ocean live rock to help add biodiversity?

Also, and don’t yell at me, but what if I just took a rock out of a local SoCal tidepool? Would it benefit a reef tank in any way? Just kidding, I would never desecrate a marine protected area this way. But WOULD it?

 

[BryanM]

I’m upgrading my tank and was planning on using the dry rock that has been in my tank for 6 months, and then new dry rock for the rest. Would it be worth buying just a couple of lbs of ocean live rock to help add biodiversity?

Also, and don’t yell at me, but what if I just took a rock out of a local SoCal tidepool? Would it benefit a reef tank in any way? Just kidding, I would never desecrate a marine protected area this way. But WOULD it?

Cant answer the 2nd question.

I would use all the live rock you can afford. Its just that much better.

 

[BasementBox]

Live rock all day. When I started 20 years ago it was pretty standard, and I feel there were way less “new tank algae bloom” issues. The added biodiversity is well worth the potential risk.

This. Its resulted in me fighting cyano gha and now Dino’s. Since the Dino’s I’ve now brought 15 lbs of live rock from assorted stores to fight the Dino’s. I know some of these things happen to all tanks but I got smacked with it all.

 

[Üter]

I did first tank dry and second TBS live. Do Live. Sure I had a few gorilla crabs. I also have a Mantis but just left it be now. Bonus is the bottle stars, porcelains, urchins. Just get LR and let the system run for a bit and see what turns up. A few bulb anemones were there but I would totally buy from them again. hopefully TBS is able to get on their feet again quickly but worth the wait.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

In the near future after my 125 reef is fully stocked, im planning on setting up a fiji cube 11 gallon EXT. I'm thinking about using live rock this time. I'm pretty convinced to do it, but I'm mainly afraid of the potential of parasitic isopods. Are these guys even possible to remove and are they all that common in live rock? Thanks in advance :]

Ive maybe heard of someone having an issue with them once...ive been in the hobby a long time now so I wouldnt worry too much. I actually started a thread a long time ago on the topic of whether hitchhiker concerns are generally exagerrated. As I recall, the majority of people agreed.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Grew up with all Fiji live rock, before getting out of the hobby roughly 23 years ago. I recall very few struggles and I grew corals in my 180G at the time that was wondering how to return to the sea. Lol what do you do with wall corals that are 18"? I had never heard of fragging back then. Pests. Yeah after a while we found a mantis after it killed a couple fish so I trapped it. Some aptaaisa and bubble algae. I lived in a remote area so most of what I had was air cargo

Fast forward to last November in getting back into reefing. Both tanks started with MacroRock. Overall I have not had nearly as many issues as I hear from others but I imagine a lot of that has to do with having years of experience albeit very dated and out of touch. My main tank is doing fairly decent at this point, just under a year later but it's been a lot more work with dry rock start to get there then I recall ever with live rock start and I imagine I have another 6 months to a year to get the tank where I want it to be. Fiji live rock was much faster. Dead rock did not prevent Aptiasia or bubble algae. I've been able to keep up with accidental Aptiasia introductions so far - knock on wood. Bubble algae, oh well. Currently dealing with a bit of cynao, not all that bad but never heard of or experienced cynao back in the day

Long story short. If I ever start another reef tank it's likely to be started with a mix of live and dead rock. Been going back and forth if to add a bit of live rock to my existing tanks - likely to the sump . At this point I'm not sure how much it will move things for the better now that I'm 11months in. Of course I've been debating that for several months now - Lol - but never again will i start from dry rock alone.

 

[Flame2hawk]

Absolutely worth it. I’ve never had parasitic anything either, just the usual pests.

With that said, I ordered rock from KP Aquatics and loved it (I just went with base rock and there was plenty of life).

While I’ve never ordered from them, there’s also Gulf Live Rock and Salty Bottom Reef Company for Gulf rock and also @Eric Cohen with TankStop sells Australian Live Rock (heard it’s fantastic) and also Live Rock N Reef sells Florida, Australian, and Walt Smith Fiji live rock as well.

KP aquatics and Tankstop have my endorsement!

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Grew up with all Fiji live rock, before getting out of the hobby roughly 23 years ago. I recall very few struggles and I grew corals in my 180G at the time that was wondering how to return to the sea. Lol what do you do with wall corals that are 18"? I had never heard of fragging back then. Pests. Yeah after a while we found a mantis after it killed a couple fish so I trapped it. Some aptaaisa and bubble algae. I lived in a remote area so most of what I had was air cargo

Fast forward to last November in getting back into reefing. Both tanks started with MacroRock. Overall I have not had nearly as many issues as I hear from others but I imagine a lot of that has to do with having years of experience albeit very dated and out of touch. My main tank is doing fairly decent at this point, just under a year later but it's been a lot more work with dry rock start to get there then I recall ever with live rock start and I imagine I have another 6 months to a year to get the tank where I want it to be. Fiji live rock was much faster. Dead rock did not prevent Aptiasia or bubble algae. I've been able to keep up with accidental Aptiasia introductions so far - knock on wood. Bubble algae, oh well. Currently dealing with a bit of cynao, not all that bad but never heard of or experienced cynao back in the day

Long story short. If I ever start another reef tank it's likely to be started with a mix of live and dead rock. Been going back and forth if to add a bit of live rock to my existing tanks - likely to the sump . At this point I'm not sure how much it will move things for the better now that I'm 11months in. Of course I've been debating that for several months now - Lol - but never again will i start from dry rock alone.

I have to admit that I have a problem with live ocean rock thats been in the ocean for about as long as the ocean has been there...I cant help but periodically but a could new pieces every time a new shipment comes in! Its too tempting haha.

Id imagine the rock you got back then is similar to the Indonesian live ocean rock I get. I truly dont think you could have a better start when setting up a new tank. Personally, I prefer the pieces that are covered in coralline and sponges...feather dusters pop up later. I know a lot of people like the macroalgae and everything else on the Gulf live rock more so im probably in the minority here.

 

[Uncle99]

In the near future after my 125 reef is fully stocked, im planning on setting up a fiji cube 11 gallon EXT. I'm thinking about using live rock this time. I'm pretty convinced to do it, but I'm mainly afraid of the potential of parasitic isopods. Are these guys even possible to remove and are they all that common in live rock? Thanks in advance :]

I never used live rock and 5 years laster, I found a 6” green nasty mantis shrimp. Must have come in as a tiny baby and grew until he punched the hell out of two of my tough bottom dwellers.

Click click, click click, that’s their thing.

I might just try live rock next time for its diversity.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Yea locally when I ask about live rock they just laugh and point to the bin with dead rock and tell me this is what we sell and no one uses live anymore.
I could not get anyone to order it for me.
Back in the day, 90's, stores carried live.
Only time I see live is when someone breaks down a system and its useually dead thats been turned into live.

My LFS was willing to order case of Fiji recently but I had to take the entire case as they “are not setup for it anymore”. If only Fiji was back open when I got back in the hobby a year ago……. At this point I can’t justify a case of rock myself - can handle 5-10 lbs and like the LFS I’m not setup to store it while trying to split it.

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

Glad to hear it! Do you think things will have leveled out by Jan/Feb as far as orders and availability? I’m doing an upgrade around then and am hoping to buy about 200lbs.

Absolutely

 

[IceNein]

Ive maybe heard of someone having an issue with them once...ive been in the hobby a long time now so I wouldnt worry too much. I actually started a thread a long time ago on the topic of whether hitchhiker concerns are generally exagerrated. As I recall, the majority of people agreed.

On my recent pico package order from TBS, I got a couple of what I identified to be an isopod. I originally thought it was some sort of fish fry the way it swam around the tank in the morning. Eventually it sat on a rock and I got a picture of it, and it was an isopod for sure.

Couldn't tell you if it was "parasitic" or not. I have a tailspot, and it certainly hasn't bothered him. I haven't seen it in a couple of weeks, for all I know it could've been eaten by something.

If parasitic isopods were such a huge problem, you'd see people asking about them here every day.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

On my recent pico package order from TBS, I got a couple of what I identified to be an isopod. I originally thought it was some sort of fish fry the way it swam around the tank in the morning. Eventually it sat on a rock and I got a picture of it, and it was an isopod for sure.

Couldn't tell you if it was "parasitic" or not. I have a tailspot, and it certainly hasn't bothered him. I haven't seen it in a couple of weeks, for all I know it could've been eaten by something.

If parasitic isopods were such a huge problem, you'd see people asking about them here every day.

Id take some of the worse hitchhikers on real ocean live rock over a dry rock and sand startup personally.

 

[Üter]

Marco rock at 18 months vs TBS Base at 12 months. When they get back on their feet again, I’m ordering a nice big premium rock.

 

[schooncw]

The foundation of a successful system. I would never start one without live rock.