Live rock concerns - is it really worth it?

[alindell]

Best tank I've had was starting with dry rock. There's no telling what is on the live rock. Why chance it when you can build your own rock structures with dry Marco rock and within a month start a new tank. Just use some bottled bacteria like mb7 or turbo start. Throw a clownfish in and slowly increase fish load. That way you know you are controlling what good bacteria get in the tank and have dominance from the start. Live rock could have weird pests, algea or strains of bacteria that are not good for certain animals. Also if you have a different strain if bacteria from the start it may outcompete any new bacteria you add so you have less control. Almost every coral and fish I have had has survived and done well just starting with mb7 and turbo start.

 

[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.

Yes

 

[BryanM]

Live rock for the win. I used gulf live rock and am extremely happy.

 

[alton]

The biggest advantage to using liverock is not waiting for beauty.
12/16/2015 just placed in tank

2/21/2016

 

[X-37B]

Yea live rock in all my systems for 30+.
With live you get the benefit of adding corals as soon as the tank cycles. Takes a few weeks vs months with dry.
Plus the uglies are minimal vs dead.
My ext 170 with 150lbs of premium GLR.
4 boxes overnight to my door like the 90's, lol.
I had to remove some red sponge and a couple bivalves. Current bivalve count is 27.
Tank is 6 months old and has 30+ coral, 8 fish, and cuc. I had coral in the system within 2 weeks.

 

[exnisstech]

Best tank I've had was starting with dry rock. There's no telling what is on the live rock. Why chance it when you can build your own rock structures with dry Marco rock and within a month start a new tank. Just use some bottled bacteria like mb7 or turbo start. Throw a clownfish in and slowly increase fish load. That way you know you are controlling what good bacteria get in the tank and have dominance from the start. Live rock could have weird pests, algea or strains of bacteria that are not good for certain animals. Also if you have a different strain if bacteria from the start it may outcompete any new bacteria you add so you have less control. Almost every coral and fish I have had has survived and done well just starting with mb7 and turbo start.

It's great dry rock worked out well for you. Most of the post with problem tanks and nuisance algae are dry rock start ups. It can work but it hasn't worked well for my. My dry rock only start up has been a total pita. Added MB7 along with zeobac and a year and a half later I'm still struggling with nuisance algae. I have two other tanks started with dry rock and bare bottom and they are thriving and never really had an ugly phase. The difference is I packed these sumps full of old live rock and rubble along with all the nasty sludge scraped from the bottom of an 8yo sump that I never cleaned. No way bottled bacteria can compete with old live rock and sump mud for adding diversity JIMO

 

[Stevorino]

Looking back at my biggest mistakes in reefing the past 10 years, I consider starting tanks with dry rock to be among the top of the list.

 

[X-37B]

On my old 120 I used 50/50 live/dead. Guess which rock got the uglies?
I have 2 pieces of old dead, used to be live, rock in my ext50. Except for the back and glass the only rocks that get the uglies are the dead ones.

Just started this RS170 with a few pieces of live. Tanks 2 months with 5 nems and 2 clownfish.

I highly recommend to all nano reefers out there, use live rock!

 

[corosato]

I will always at least add SOME live rock, but I swear there was a nest of mantis shrimps in mine every time I catch one I find a new one....

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Good to know. Thanks! I'm not too worried about most pests and hitchhikers because I know they're easy enough to catch and get rid of. Those isopods I've heard of just sound like a pain

Any companies you recommend ordering from? I was thinking of getting it from Tampa Bay Saltwater

I used to get mine from my LFS... Never would order online. The shipping just cost way too much.

If you have an LFS, get them to order it for you. It's a lot cheaper, and you get a wide range of types of rocks. At least that's how it used to work lol.

 

[X-37B]

I used to get mine from my LFS... Never would order online. The shipping just cost way too much.

If you have an LFS, get them to order it for you. It's a lot cheaper, and you get a wide range of types of rocks. At least that's how it used to work lol.

Shipping is really not that bad, imo.
GLR shipped 150lbs to my door overnight for just under $10 a pound.

For what you get you could have paid $6-$7 a pound for dry sitting in some lfs thats calling it live.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Shipping is really not that bad, imo.
GLR shipped 150lbs to my door overnight for just under $10 a pound.

For what you get you could have paid $6-$7 a pound for dry sitting in some lfs thats calling it live.

No, I would get the exact box I ordered. Would show up to the LFS and never opened until I got there.

Shipping 15 years ago cost quite a bit. I want to say they wanted $50 to ship a box.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Absolutely worth it, look at these beautiful feather dusters, they were live rock hitchhikers.

 

[TX_REEF]

from personal experience, I believe any risks associated with real ocean live rock are totally worth it.

 

[X-37B]

No, I would get the exact box I ordered. Would show up to the LFS and never opened until I got there.

Shipping 15 years ago cost quite a bit. I want to say they wanted $50 to ship a box.

No? Live rock to your door for <$10 a pound in todays market?
Some are selling Australian live rock for $25 a pound and it does not have much but coralline on it. I know as I purchased some awhile back.
Either way live is worth the money, imo, once you factor in how much we really spend on our hobby.

 

[lil sumpin]

I started my nano with mostly dry rock because my LFS was in the same "terrified of hitchhikers" camp. I've since found a new LFS lol.. This was my entry into the hobby, I wanted to take a budget approach to really see if it was something I'd be doing long term. The cost of LR deterred me initially but it's actually something I'd have purchased if I could restart.

Hitchhikers will show up whether or not you use dry or live. After about a month or so I was able to source some 3-4lbs LR rubble from a tank that was well established over a decade. Those little chumks of rubble brought me aiptasia, hydroids, bristleworms, copepods and amphipods, chitons, flatworms, vermetids, micro brittle stars literally the whole shebang!

I've been able to manage some of the undesirables and some are still there but overall that little percentage of LR rubble definitely helped to create a more robust system. Pros outweigh the cons IMO

 

[X-37B]

I used to get mine from my LFS... Never would order online. The shipping just cost way too much.

If you have an LFS, get them to order it for you. It's a lot cheaper, and you get a wide range of types of rocks. At least that's how it used to work lol.

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.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

No? Live rock to your door for <$10 a pound in todays market?
Some are selling Australian live rock for $25 a pound and it does not have much but coralline on it. I know as I purchased some awhile back.
Either way live is worth the money, imo, once you factor in how much we really spend on our hobby.

I'm not sure, I'm talking about 15 years ago.

But yet, LR is way better overall.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

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.

Ya, that's not cool... I am pretty decent buddies with one of my LFS owners, so maybe he "hooked it up". I had allllll sorts of weird stuff show up on my rock.. A LOT of strange worms. It was super fun to unbox and look at everything.

 

[reneeL]

I love live rock. My rock came from Florida Gulf rock something like that. He was very helpful. The UPS was slow and it was in the heat of the summer the first order, major die off. Gulf Live Rock made it right. If you order this time of year the rocks should be better. He did not ship it in water they were moist in a paper towel. Rinse your rock with DI water. Put the rocks in large bucket with correct saltwater, strong current and observe, pests if any should show themselves. I put my rocks in a smaller aquarium a little at a time to observe. I have some really cool surprises. 2 rocks have biovalves and I have some corals, sponges, I went over each rock before putting it it my display. Ordered live sand too.
All that and now the rs front panel has bubbles in the seam and algae. Have clamps on the tank to stop what was going to happen. I have to relocate my critters.
You will love your live rock. Only a few pieces will work wonders.