Living Rocks: What makes the best rock for live rock? Let's discuss!

[LadyTang2]

We want pest free rock with real coraline, not painted. Doesnt need to be from ocean just a mature system.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

based on current realities regarding live rock availability probably a combo of dead rock of your choice mixed in with as large a percentage of the best live rock (relatively speaking) that you can find/afford for maximum bio diversity (mostly at the bacterial level). You have some risks with hitchhikers yes, but I think some of that is over-hyped IMO. Most can be managed with care and forethought, like curing in a separate system, fresh water baths, some scrubbing if absolutely needed. Just depends on what quality shows up on your door step. For better or for worse that's the direction I'm going with my current build. Just got my 60lbs of premium LR from KP Aquatics today in fact, mixing that in equal parts between two brute cans with the Marco rock i got as well. I'm just at around 50% mix by weight between the two.

 

[sp1187]

People use less rock now a days because there is lot of different bio media now. But the word enough is the tricky part of the question. I can use alot of bio media and have less rock but it will still be enough. I have alot of rock myself n could take some out n easily still have enough. I wonder how many people have tried no rock n lots of ceramic bio media, and how it worked out for them. I might experiment with a 10 gallonn a couple fish to see how it works like six months down the road.

150 Tall
2 years running.
5 MarinePure Blocks in the sump.
small pieces of rock that are only in the tank because something was attached that I wanted (mushrooms, nems, etc)
no more issues than what I read about here with other live/dry rock tanks.

hope to do a second in wall build, next to the current with predator fish I can't keep in the current, using the same process.

 

[Conrad Noto]

I don't think people do this anymore. They want either ghost white or painted purple for the most part. To be fair their other options are mostly limited. Gone are the days of sifting through big bins for that perfect piece. Worried you might get stung by a random worm or something else.

Occasionally you'd hear about people finding hitchhiker fish, or there was a very popular thread about a hitchhiker octopus. Sponges of all different colours and shapes. Other random things. Stometellas and other free cleanup crews. I know I still have a healthy population and the last time I purchased live rock was around 2008. A few aiptasia and other pests seem to have ruined the appeal for whatever reason. I did get hydroids from live rock then but 12+ years later it still hasn't taken over or ruined any of my tanks. That and the regulations involving live rock, despite the fact in many places it's used in construction.

Most of my live rock is from Fiji and Tonga. Unfortunately I don't have any tonga branch but some big pieces I got when I first started my 112 gallon reef in 2006. In late 2005 I started a nano and got a very small amount of Haitian lettuce rock. I still remember the awe of my very first reef store visit seeing 5000+ lbs of rock spread across all the coral vats. It was a brand new store that had nothing but the rock. The owner helped me section off a 2 foot by 1 foot area to build my first aquascape for my first 15g nano tank. Taking it home and hoping to see a worm pop out or identifying random pods was very exciting.

The one real legitimate benefit to dry rock is it can greatly improve aquascapes. You can do most of this with live rock too but if you want to spend days or weeks doing it then it pretty much has to be dry.

I chose other, depends, cost is a factor. 90gal or less i'd go all live rock 60% base/ coralline 40% Deco/premium. Larger tanks I'd 50% dry, 50% live. I'd also use dry to get a specific shape, size or configuration. My current tank is 30-40lbs dry rock from friends beach property, 100lb gulf rock, 50lb tonga branch and 100lbs plus various pieces live/dry from other places.

 

[Damian reef boi]

 

[mitch91175]

Unfortunately, options are limited now, but there is no substitute for live rock. You can only get cultured from either Fiji or the Gulf.

Bacteria in a bottle is not diversity and does not do the same thing as live rock. Dry rock can never become diverse unless you introduce that stuff into your tank.

Sponges, cryptic sponges, worms, all kinds of pods, starfish and all kinds of other unidentified microbes are super important. A trip to IPSF can get some of this if people start with dry rock, but then you have to wait many months for them to take hold.

You never used to see people losing so many algae, dino or diatom battles when real live rock was used. Real live rock was also devoid of bound phosphate. Also, saw fewer fish diseases - it amazes me that people do not want parasites or pests and start with dry rock not know that they are creating an idea sterile breeding ground for ich and other fish parasites when the ich has to fight for it's life in a truly biodiverse tank.

I have a mix going back to the 1990s from Great Barrier Reef to Marshall Island (the best), Fiji, Tonga, etc. The stuff is porous, lightweight and beautiful.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Every tank I've seen started with live rock I feel has been successful. Tanks started with dry rock seem more prone to having issues.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I am worried about the lack of diversity in my system and I'd love to have the guts to go with real live rock. To a certain extent I think some of the hitchhikers could be a lot of fun! That said my experience has been that I have a hard time dealing with even mundane hitchhikers. My big bristleworms are apparently too smart for my traps. I watched a peanut worm for a week wondering what kind of monster it was. I just don't feel knowledgeable enough to work my way through the good and the bad on real live rock.

 

[waynel]

People use less rock now a days because there is lot of different bio media now. But the word enough is the tricky part of the question. I can use alot of bio media and have less rock but it will still be enough. I have alot of rock myself n could take some out n easily still have enough. I wonder how many people have tried no rock n lots of ceramic bio media, and how it worked out for them. I might experiment with a 10 gallonn a couple fish to see how it works like six months down the road.

I can understand, kindof, wanting to simplify and use "technology", such as bio media. But, isn't the goal to reproduce what you see in the ocean and to give the living organisms, fish, etc, the same environment they would have in nature? That would mean live rock, sand, and everything that goes with it - too me, at least.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Carib sea life rock imo the best.
Buying different shapes, sizes, shelves, and arches makes for easy aquascaping.
Easy to cycle
It’s color
Worth the money and I personally won’t ever use anything else.

How long have you had that tank running with life rock, I have live rock in 2 of my tanks and I have had that rock for over 15 years, I then started a fluval 13.5 gallon tank with life rock 2 years ago and I have had many issues with it, currently going through dinoflagellates. I regret going that way now.

 

[mitch91175]

How long have you had that tank running with life rock, I have live rock in 2 of my tanks and I have had that rock for over 15 years, I then started a fluval 13.5 gallon tank with life rock 2 years ago and I have had many issues with it, currently going through dinoflagellates. I regret going that way now.

With a tank that small, issue could be other problems and not simply because of the live rock. You still need to maintain nutrient levels, etc regardless of which rock you use in the system. Not saying that you aren't maintaining the system, but a 13.5 gallon tank is way more difficult than a say 500g system.

 

[LRT]

I started with 100 lbs of Walt Smith Fiji.
0 life on it when shipped because that's the rules for shipping rock from Fiji. Rock is a cpl years old does come with coraline but super overpriced when you factor in shipping compared to other live rock available.
Looked at all my options which weren't many and then found gulf live rock.
Ordered 200lbs of it and I'll never order any other live rock again.
Comes packed full of life.
Yup some unwanted critters as well.
Nothing a little RODI dip, scrub and watching cant take care of.
All my rock is in my sump. I have a sock over my return pump that I change weekly to ensure nothing gets through to tables.
My sump is full of clams, bivalves, fans etc.
Even got a cpl hitchhiker rock flower nems, mushrooms that my wife has taken in and fallen in love with.

I also have a cpl frag tables full of crushed coral and nuisance algae that I'm about to remove and just crush up some live rock and replace now.

No fake rock for me

 

[RazorRamon]

Why does No ONE make dry Haitian rock? like imitation dry Haitian rock. There's no question aesthetically to my eyes at least it the most beautiful rock, and scapes very very easy. If I could still get any "live rock" it would be Haitian. However I prefer dry rock because of the lack of pests that come with it.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

With a tank that small, issue could be other problems and not simply because of the live rock. You still need to maintain nutrient levels, etc regardless of which rock you use in the system. Not saying that you aren't maintaining the system, but a 13.5 gallon tank is way more difficult than a say 500g system.

I agree a little with what your saying about volume, but I have the same age live rock in a 7 gallon, and my main 24 gal. But I thought I'd try the dry rock route, which I am regretting. I use the same collected natural sea water on all 3 tanks. I can't get coraline algae to grow in the dry rock tank even though I've put scrapping in there. The 7 gallon tank is the easiest tank I've had to run that tank is over 4 years old now.
7 gallon

24 gallon

13.5 gallon

 

[cdare99]

My first tank used live rock while it looked good(because the coralline algae) and had good diversity or algae and other life on it. I just never really cared for it because I couldn’t get the right sizes to make the structures I wanted. That and when I broke that tank down I found 3 bristle worms about 4” long and some type of carnivorous black crab probably 2” in diameter. That crab went unknown for like 2 years. My current tank it’s all dry rock except a little piece an anemone is on. Reason why I chose dry rock is because it’s fraction of the price, the only way I would have been able to make the structures I did, no hitchhikers, and that my lfs don’t really seem to keep up there live rock tanks. So how do I know it’s really worth the extra cost. The con’s about the dry rock for me is the lack of coralline algae and it does end up creating a sterile environment and you can definitely tell that.

 

[ChadmRoman]

How long have you had that tank running with life rock

Been running tank since Aug 2019. Started off from day one running triton method and have very little issues. The one I had recently was when I decided to take gfo offline, phosphates started to creep up and small spots of cyano started.
Otherwise no issues, no water changes, no algae breakouts. Just clean the glass daily.

 

[spllbnd2]

All my tanks where started with LR. I have a combination of Marshall Island, Fiji, Tonga and a few others that I can't even remember the names of. I dread having to start a tank using dry rock as the only source, due to hearing so many other reefers battling with so many issues when using dry rock.

Also as others have said, I will say it again... you do not get nearly as a diverse biological bacteria load using dry rock and a bottle of voodoo magic versus that of a system with live rock.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[MURedhawk]

I agree with others that live rock is very fun for hitchhikers, etc.
I have had many cool things including peanut worms, bristles, sponges, asterina and other small bristle starfish, stomatella snails, copepods, amphipods, etc.
I used part live FiJi and Tonga plus I bought dry Pukani.
I cleaned and soaked the Pukani. Pukani often has a lot of debris that needs weeks-months of soaking. (Power wash prior to soaking.) Pukani also has tons of holes and pores for bacteria to build and places to add corals.

This was about 8 years ago.
Now it is harder to find true live rock and if you can, it is very expensive, but definitely getting some of it adds coralline faster and makes for interesting critters.

I hope this helps.

 

[Mikeyjuice]

I see so many display tanks with very minimal rock, surely people aren't putting the rest in their sump as you would need somethig huge to fit the required amount. come to think of it it now makes me think that people are using less rock than required. let me know if my thoughts are wrong

 

[Fishurama]

I prefer starting with live rock, makes the cycle happen quicker/skipped altogether depending how much you add. Also looks better with all the coralline already on it. But it also costs more, so thats a major downside along with you can get some bad hitch hikers.

Dry rock is good for the hitch hiker issue, you know you wont get any, but have to cycle the rock. Everything has it's pros and cons

 

[Firedawg1983]

My current tank (Red Sea Reefer 625XXL) is the first tank I have started without using live rock. I bought all dry pukani for it. This is my 4th tank and going on about 10 years in the hobby and so far has been the hardest one to take care of. This tank is going on two years and has been a rollercoaster. Within the past two to three months, I am just now starting to get coralline to pop up. I’ve started to buy small pieces of live rock the past few months but I’m thinking of making an order to KP aquatics to raise that biodiversity population up and hopefully that will help.