Live rock? Is it worth the risk?

[sfin52]

For what it’s worth algea can and has been brought in from addition of live stock.

 

[homer1475]

I've done it both ways.

With that said, I would never start a tank again without quality live rock. You can't beat the biodiversity.

One of the best LR vendors out there ATM is Tampa Bay Saltwater. What sets him apart from anyone else, his rock is shipped in water keeping everything alive. There is almost 0 die off. Of course you pay for it, but nothing replaces quality LR.

 

[homer1475]

For what it’s worth algea can and has been brought in from addition of live stock.

Ahh I see how to quote now....

Anywho, most algae issues are not really issues at all if you control nutrients.

 

[Syed123]

I prefer a combo of live and dry. I have a ratio of 80% dry and 20 % live. You get a lot of cool algae with the live rock and neat critters. You can get bad pests too but I would take the risk.

 

[Alaura02]

Welcome to R2R! I am old school and a big proponent of live rock. Here are some live rock thoughts and tips off my head as someone starting a new build as well with live rock:

If you buy live rock from an LFS (local fish store) ask them where it is from and how they got it. Rock that was air freighted to them would have the most life. “Boat rock” probably spent a month dry on a boat. The bacteria and coralline would be okay, but not much other life.

LFS also often sell “bacteria rock” as live rock. This is basically dead or dry rock that has sat in vats and has good bacteria growth, but not much else.

All of these three above would get your cycle going quick, with varying degrees of other life. I also suggest you ask an LFS if they take in rock from broken down customer tanks. I found one near me that does this. It worries me that many of those who may leave the hobby did so because of major pest or algae issues with their rock.

Another way to get live rock is to order online. Whether aquacultured or imported, I would think about how fast you can get it depending on where you are. Air freight is fast, but makes better economical sense for large tanks. Ground shipping works, but expect more die off.

In any case, I would be prepared to cure any live rock in buckets or a new tank assuming there may be some die off and to just let them mature for a bit.

Great tips! Luckily I know the owner well at my lfs after many many years of going in for freshwater stuff so I can ask him anything and he is willing to tell me! I know he has all 3 mentioned above (bacteria, live, and dry). They also take in other people's broken down tank material and live stock but it is in an entirely different system on the other side of the wharehouse to prevent cross contamination and it literally has a sign saying "Buy at your own risk"!

So let's say I was to buy all live rock (which I am leaning towards) It there any thing I can do to reduce the chance of pests? Maybe something like dipping the live rock in Coral RX?
Thanks again!

 

[sfin52]

Dipping lr will kill off loads of beneficial organisms. Just be prepared to deal with anything bad that may enter. You can quaitine lr just in case.

 

[Neo Jeo]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dry-or-live-rock.342522/

Great to read! I went all dry and save a ton of $

 

[Tim Olson]

I started off with live rock and loved observing all the things that came along for the ride. Although, I've also had a number of problems with critters that came with the live rock.

I think I would do it over again, but I'd probably get some "better quality" live rock, if possible.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I also started with live rock, but i ran with no live stock for awhile.
Was able to witness any creatures that popped up while still able to treat without harm.

That said the bad hitchhikers ive picked up have been from later additions of inverts.

Bubble algae from chaeto.
Vermitids came with snails or corals. If your going to start off pest free your best bet is to qt EVERYTHING!! Otherwise all your best efforts of dry sand, dry rock, will be for naught as eventually those pests will make it in.

 

[sfin52]

@Gareth elliott completly agree

 

[Alaura02]

Thanks for all the input! I am starting to out together my plan now and this is the rough idea;

Buy the good quality LR and put it straight into quarintine. Estimating at least a month for quarintine unless something becomes of the lr and it has pests and such which then would prolong the qt.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Thanks for all the input! I am starting to out together my plan now and this is the rough idea;

Buy the good quality LR and put it straight into quarintine. Estimating at least a month for quarintine unless something becomes of the lr and it has pests and such which then would prolong the qt.

Great idea. Mine is in a bucket right now too, maturing. Today I found my first pest, a single Aiptasia.

Much easier to control in a bucket than a display tank!

 

[Snuggs]

I use a mix....to be cost effective. Would use straight live if I could

 

[Javamahn]

I am doing my second tank now after having a pest outbreak of dinos in my 1st. I will go slow with dryrock and add biodiversity as additives with Refugium muds and pods as well as good bacteria starters and allow time to get me there. Learned my lesson using someone else's live sand on craigslist

 

[Ambiturner006]

I did all live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I won't do anything else, even though I did have to fish out gorilla crabs for a few months. The other things that came with it were just amazing, and I had a tank I could enjoy from day 1. I'm still enjoying extras now, over a year later, just from the rock. It is really amazing, if you get it from a quality, reputable source.

Check out TBS rock! They even have a forum here on R2R and that other site so you can go back and see everyone's reviews. I still love seeing other people's pictures of their brand new TBS rock tanks.

 

[citymouse]

i started with live rock 11 years ago and i still have hair algae in my tank.... next go i will use dry rock and deal with going slow

I started with live rock and dealt with hair algae too, I recently set up a larger tank, didn't use any of the live rock I had to avoid the hair algae, I started with all dry rock, 3 months later, I have hair algae again! The only thing I moved into the new tank were my fish, no rock, I don't have corals, I have a small number of hermits and 1 snail, they looked clean going in, no fuzzy hair algae on their shells. I feel like I just have a knack for growing hair algae!

 

[stevieduk]

I am a serious newbie and have been doing a ton of research and am torn between live rock and/or dry rock.

I am think of doing 50/50 of dry and live but don't know if it is worth the risk of pests and parasites. What is your opinions? Is there any precautionary measures I could take?

My lfs (more of a local fish wharehouse) has a variety of live rock in a massive tank where I could examine them. He also has a massive tank of rock that comes in dry and he soaks them him self in a closed system. I feel the "pre-soaked" and conditioned rock is a great alternative to straight dry rock but I would still want to add at least a few small peices of live... UGH so torn on my options!

Please send help[emoji305] Thank you!

it depends on what you want. if you are trying to duplicate a little piece of the ocean, then you need live rock , plus it has other benifite as well bacteria wise. If you want a false looking tank that looks like it is groomed every day then buy dry rock.
i used to know a woman who would plant trees in her garden then keep them pruned to abou 5 feet tall and complained when they grew, my reply was why plant trees then , you are creating something that looks and is false

 

[User1]

I've done both methods. Live rock back in the day from Harbor Aquatics via Fiji flown in over night, maybe two day air, wrapped in wet newspaper. Some really good looking rock, sponges, algae, and lots of stuff alive that I didn't know what it was. So it looked really great, little bit of die off, and it was grand. Of course there was a small hitch hiker or two that I didn't really want along the lines of crabs but nothing I didn't find fun trying to capture. To this day that was some of the best rock I've ever purchased and it had its own cycle pattern. What was interesting is about 6 months into the rock into the tank I started to get some Sargassum algae that I never saw before. That was really cool stuff that reminded me a lot of kelp. It was grown on some of my lower level rocks and reached up to and floated to the surface. This sort of bio diversity you won't get using dry rock. You just won't see it - it isn't there.

Having said that I just completed a cycle using 150 lbs of dry pukani. A rather nice looking rock, various sizes, with BRS shipping me some that could be used for my front yard landscaping. Ok, I'm kidding. No, not really - a few pieces are extra huge but I don't mind because my tank is 30" tall as well as deep so it fills in nicely. While this is all grand again here is the deal. They are bare rocks. There isn't anything on them. They are dirty, they need to be pressure washed, they need a bleach bath, they need more rinsing, more dosing of lanthium chloride, more rinsing, pressure wash, and did I say rinsing again? Yeah - ok, you get the idea. Some people use acid baths - which removes rock which you paid for (amount varies but some report 5%, some 12%, others 25% or so). But with the bad comes the good. You start with a clean tank, nothing introduced, and you become little Miss Mother Nature, pretty much a bad butt, and create your own bio diversity. It really is a neat process starting from artificial saltwater, dosing ammonia, and waiting. Then testing, taking notes, and following what we call the nitrogen cycle. Then comes diatom blooms, hair algae blooms, and a host of other stuff.

So - both are cool and I think everyone should do both at least once. Chances are if you are in the hobby long enough you will. Now, having said that, and just completing the dry pukani rock I will say this now. I personally will never go this route again. I like the rock but what I find myself doing is going back to what I had before or users of TBS rock and how those rocks look. Then factor in I'm an active scuba diver it doesn't help at all. In time, over the course of a year or so, my rocks will look a lot alike what others have. That is the process. I see it happening now. The rocks I carried over from my 40 breeder with fish, corals, rock, and some sand boosted the life on the dead rocks.

So now it is just a waiting game and I need to sit back and enjoy the ride. Both work. Both are cool to watch and experience. My suggestion is make a list, write down some pro and cons of what you are looking for, and then see what your pocket book will allow. I don't think you will go wrong with either personally so just find what works for you.

 

[FartyParty]

My first tank had 100% live rock. In with it i got a bristle worm the thickness of a dime and nearly 1 foot in length. Eventually i broke that tank down due to a leak, but kept that worm in a 10 gallon tank for another year just by himself. There isnt much point to this story, other than dont be surprized what comes with your rock. I have never seen a bristle worm that big in the 10 years since.

 

[Mark Gray]

Just my onion but I really like dry rock. I have had rock strait out of the south pacific and had some really cool and really bad things come in. Now things have changed a lot better ways to control and eliminate pests. But I can also buy anything I want in my tank now, so I think dry rock and buy what you want.