Live rock

[Legal Reefer]

Depending on where you live you can get live rock and be up and running fairly fast. I got mine from a company that sells aquacultured live rock. It was in shipping with fedex for almost two days so there was some die off. You can have some air shipped and pick it up at the airport but that's fairly expensive. I didn't have a lot of life such as corals or any hitchhikers other than a few bristle worms. I did have a good amount of coraline algae though, and my tank cycled very fast. I was hoping for more hitchhikers myself. Dry pukani would be a lot cheaper, and would go a lot further in aquascaping your tank. Since I was just starting a very small nano I didn't want to wait for the curing and time it would take to grow the coraline. My next will be mostly dry seeded with some live. My tank has been running for two months and four days. Only 7.5 gal. so it wasn't too expensive to go the live rock route.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

That’s kinda what I was hoping to hear, I figured being it will be a complete new system why wouldn’t I be able to allow the rock to cure/cycle in the tank all at one shot. I have no problem with leaving the tank sit with rock only for a little while to make sure it’s healthy and ready for inhabitants. I was just worried I was going to be waiting around for a few months with no tank setup after have planned for it to be set up for Christmas.

Should I be skimming while the rock is curing and tank is cycling?
Any suggestions as far as WC during this time.
Light, no light?

I was planning to still add a small amount of wet live rock to help seed the dry, and for the algaes and so on. Been looking into ARC and TampaBay Saltwater for that.


Sorry to bombard you with so many questions

No, I wouldn't skim. I would ghost feed just a bit though and build the filter and add nutrients.

The arc is strait up wild and live. Good seed but you may get some pistil shrimp and crabs.
Me, I'm into that.
And there are ways to get them out the a lot of modern reefers forget.
Hyper salinity being one of them, or just putting it a bucket with a snail trap or shrimp Trap and a powerhead.

 

[reefwiser]

Real live rock is the way to go dry rock doesn’t have the bacteria in the rock like the rock from the ocean. I learned this 30 years ago with the first live rock tanks. Every algae problem you see in the forums we had back then with the dry coral pieces we used in our tanks. Real live rock has so much life that it out competes many algae’s that plague dry rock tanks.

 

[g5flier]

If you are on the fence with DRY vs LIVE this a fantastic read, well worth the 5 min it will take you to read it. Mike Paletta is the author and one of the reefing community's best coral keepers. https://reefbuilders.com/2017/07/08/revisiting-my-elos-tank-after-18-months/

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

Depending on where you live you can get live rock and be up and running fairly fast. I got mine from a company that sells aquacultured live rock. It was in shipping with fedex for almost two days so there was some die off. You can have some air shipped and pick it up at the airport but that's fairly expensive. I didn't have a lot of life such as corals or any hitchhikers other than a few bristle worms. I did have a good amount of coraline algae though, and my tank cycled very fast. I was hoping for more hitchhikers myself. Dry pukani would be a lot cheaper, and would go a lot further in aquascaping your tank. Since I was just starting a very small nano I didn't want to wait for the curing and time it would take to grow the coraline. My next will be mostly dry seeded with some live. My tank has been running for two months and four days. Only 7.5 gal. so it wasn't too expensive to go the live rock route.

Nice looking tank! Which company did you use for live rock? I’m between Pittsburgh and Morgantown as far as location, so getting live rock shouldn’t be to much an issue. I’m thinking I’m gonna do a 50/50 with live and dry

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

No, I wouldn't skim. I would ghost feed just a bit though and build the filter and add nutrients.

The arc is strait up wild and live. Good seed but you may get some pistil shrimp and crabs.
Me, I'm into that.
And there are ways to get them out the a lot of modern reefers forget.
Hyper salinity being one of them, or just putting it a bucket with a snail trap or shrimp Trap and a powerhead.

I’m all about getting some hitchhikers! Just worried that if they are true pests I won’t actually know, or be able to take care of it in time being I’m completely new to saltwater and so far this forum has been my life line. I’m thinking of going with a 50/50 mix of dry and live

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

If you are on the fence with DRY vs LIVE this a fantastic read, well worth the 5 min it will take you to read it. Mike Paletta is the author and one of the reefing community's best coral keepers. https://reefbuilders.com/2017/07/08/revisiting-my-elos-tank-after-18-months/

Thank you for that! Great read! Definitely some info I needed

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I’m all about getting some hitchhikers! Just worried that if they are true pests I won’t actually know, or be able to take care of it in time being I’m completely new to saltwater and so far this forum has been my life line. I’m thinking of going with a 50/50 mix of dry and live

If you like that stuff and find It as fascinating as I do I'd go for it.
The key will be patience and research. You can wait for the rock to cure in the tank or trap crabs and pistol shrimp.

That's the start of my dram tank btw. Six monts to a year of wild stuff. Then I might add a fish lol.

 

[K. Steven]

I started mine with 100% dry rock from Billy's Reef Connection, cycled in heated saltwater with a bottle of BioSpira and a raw shrimp. Good to go in a week. It has since encrusted with coraline algae, microfauna and epifauna that came in on frags and snail shells.

I used live rock in my first tank and will never do that again. Way too many pests and hitchhikers to deal with.

 

[Legal Reefer]

I got my rock from ARC Reef. They harvest it from rock they have placed out in the ocean and left for organisms to grow on and in. For every pound you purchase they plant ten pounds back. You can also call them to specify certain sizes you are interested in and they will try to accommodate. They shipped mine wrapped in a very thick wet sterile cotton towel placed in several very thick plastic bags. They also included instructions on care and gloves to handle the rock with. If I order live rock again I will be sure to brush any die off away in a bucket of saltwater before adding it to my tank. If I would have done that the first time I think it may have cycled even faster.

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

I got my rock from ARC Reef. They harvest it from rock they have placed out in the ocean and left for organisms to grow on and in. For every pound you purchase they plant ten pounds back. You can also call them to specify certain sizes you are interested in and they will try to accommodate. They shipped mine wrapped in a very thick wet sterile cotton towel placed in several very thick plastic bags. They also included instructions on care and gloves to handle the rock with. If I order live rock again I will be sure to brush any die off away in a bucket of saltwater before adding it to my tank. If I would have done that the first time I think it may have cycled even faster.

I’ve gotten mixed reviews on ARC, namely on the look of the rock. Rounded, not very pourous. How was yours? I just ordered some dry pukani from BRS and once the tank is fully setup I plan to order the rest of my rock, live. I’ve also looked into Tampa Bay saltwater for rock, but I’m not crazy about it coming from the Gulf.

Good to know about it coming with the extras you mentioned, gloves, care sheet. First to mention it.

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

If you like that stuff and find It as fascinating as I do I'd go for it.
The key will be patience and research. You can wait for the rock to cure in the tank or trap crabs and pistol shrimp.

That's the start of my dram tank btw. Six monts to a year of wild stuff. Then I might add a fish lol.

Now that’s something I’d like to see! Kinda got me thinking on a side project now! Lol

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Now that’s something I’d like to see! Kinda got me thinking on a side project now! Lol

Sounds like your about to get a small taste.
It'll be good.

You'll like this thread

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...rock-really-all-that-bad.303378/#post-3715394

 

[Flippers4pups]

I might even take this discussion a step further for myself, say experiment on a small scale per say.

Thinking to myself, if live rock is a key to a healthy biodiversity, especially in newly established systems. Why just stop there?

Why not add from time to time, say once every two, three years, a new piece of live rock? Don't get me wrong, not large pieces, but small, rubble size pieces from the ocean, not from someone's bin at the LFS.

Just to "re- inoculate" the bacterial diversity of strains. Can't hurt, could help!

@saltyfilmfolks, I will be looking into the Walt Smith Fiji mud.

https://reefbuilders.com/2017/07/08/revisiting-my-elos-tank-after-18-months/

This is what I read when it was posted. Couldn't agree more with Mike! It has been my experience. I'll never go "dry" again. Lesson learned.

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

Sounds like your about to get a small taste.
It'll be good.

You'll like this thread

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...rock-really-all-that-bad.303378/#post-3715394

Keep those great reads coming! DEFINITELY getting REAL live rock

Thanks so much for all the great info. Now I’ll be up for hours reading

 

[Fishboy&crazycatfishlady]

I might even take this discussion a step further for myself, say experiment on a small scale per say.

Thinking to myself, if live rock is a key to a healthy biodiversity, especially in newly established systems. Why just stop there?

Why not add from time to time, say once every two, three years, a new piece of live rock? Don't get me wrong, not large pieces, but small, rubble size pieces from the ocean, not from someone's bin at the LFS.

Just to "re- inoculate" the bacterial diversity of strains. Can't hurt, could help!

@saltyfilmfolks, I will be looking into the Walt Smith Fiji mud.

https://reefbuilders.com/2017/07/08/revisiting-my-elos-tank-after-18-months/

This is what I read when it was posted. Couldn't agree more with Mike! It has been my experience. I'll never go "dry" again. Lesson learned.

I like the idea, I think you’re exaclty right. Surely couldn’t hurt, possibly could help. Especially addding On a small scale. Or possibly even swapping pieces out? If it were possible. I’m sure having a large sized tank would make this a lot easier to do.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Keep those great reads coming! DEFINITELY getting REAL live rock

Thanks so much for all the great info. Now I’ll be up for hours reading

I'm an enabler. What can I say