Mixing live and dry rock? What order? 2 cycles?

[blecki]

I've never used 'real' live rock, but after continuously running for more than 10 years the dry rock I started with is indistinguishable. But it took all of those 10 years of hitchhikers to get here... if I was doing it from scratch I would grab some 'real' live rock and just stick it all in together.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve never used anything but live rock but the live rock you add with the dry rock will have everything you need. Put them all in and lets get the party started!

 

[DropOffNanoReef]

Yeah, that would be preferred, but I have medical bills to pay. Not everyone has an unlimited budget for a hobby.

I think what's best is what works for u ..

 

[PeterEde]

Living in Australia LR is 30 per kg. I started with dry rock because the LFS I bought my tank from said no one sells LR. They lied. With LR my tank cycled in 3 weeks

 

[7of9]

Living in Australia LR is 30 per kg. I started with dry rock because the LFS I bought my tank from said no one sells LR. They lied. With LR my tank cycled in 3 weeks

I wound up finding a good compromise for me. I went with local live rock from 2 different sources. Flying in rock from the ocean was just out of my reach this time around, but if I do another tank, that would still be my preference. I pretty much just tossed all the rock together and let it cycle.

My tank cycled quickly and now I’m fighting some nuisance algae, but corals and fish are thriving!

 

[PeterEde]

I wound up finding a good compromise for me. I went with local live rock from 2 different sources. Flying in rock from the ocean was just out of my reach this time around, but if I do another tank, that would still be my preference. I pretty much just tossed all the rock together and let it cycle.

My tank cycled quickly and now I’m fighting some nuisance algae, but corals and fish are thriving!

Or you can get bio media from someo0nes tank and use in yours to seed it is another option.

ie filter foam and bio balls/rock

 

[MnFish1]

I’m not going to be able to afford going all live rock, but I’d like to include some to help seed my tank. I’m planning to do mostly dry rock and just accept a longer cycle.

My question is whether I should put the wet live rock in when I put in the dry rock and just cycle everything together or if I should let my dry rock cycle down to zero ammonia before adding the wet live rock so that I don’t have to worry as much about an ammonia spike killing things off in the live rock?

In my head, it makes sense and I’d then wait a while and test to make sure I don’t have another mini-cycle after adding the live rock before adding any livestock.

Last time around I had all live rock, so I’m new to having dry rock and most of what I’ve read assumes either all dry rock or all live rock.

Thanks!

This is the way 'older' reefs were done - when live rock became available. a more 'dead/dry' rock as a base, and live rock (and this live rock contained stuff directly from the ocean) - on the top layer. There would be no reason not to do it.

Yes - put everything in together. The live rock SHOULD prevent a cycle.

 

[Kevinmj70]

We started to cycle our 150g tank with dry rock one week ago. Would there be a substantial benefit to put 20lbs of ocean live rock (Tampa Bay Rock) into the sump?

 

[kevgib67]

We started to cycle our 150g tank with dry rock one week ago. Would there be a substantial benefit to put 20lbs of ocean live rock (Tampa Bay Rock) into the sump?

Absolutely!

 

[7of9]

Thank you all! My tank has now been up a couple of months and is doing well.

 

[MnFish1]

We started to cycle our 150g tank with dry rock one week ago. Would there be a substantial benefit to put 20lbs of ocean live rock (Tampa Bay Rock) into the sump?

Why not put it in the tank? In the sump - you may have die off of whatever is on it - for a substantial period of time (depending on which type of Tampa bay rock you choose)

 

[Kevinmj70]

Why not put it in the tank? In the sump - you may have die off of whatever is on it - for a substantial period of time (depending on which type of Tampa bay rock you choose)

If it would be better to put it in the DT then we would do that. Learning all about it.

 

[MnFish1]

If it would be better to put it in the DT then we would do that. Learning all about it.

I mean if there are living things - they will need light. If its just bare rock - sump is fine (or a lit refugium) - that company sends several different kinds of rock

 

[Kevinmj70]

I mean if there are living things - they will need light. If its just bare rock - sump is fine (or a lit refugium) - that company sends several different kinds of rock

I just started diving into their website. They do have a lot. I was thinking 20lbs-40lbs of Base Nano in the sump. If it’s more beneficial to do a different rock in the DT then I open to that.

 

[PeterEde]

If you put it in the sump then put a light over it to keep things alive.

 

[fotuskyt]

I am a lifelong live rock reefer.
On my 120 I used 50/50 live and caribsea dead.
The dead rock got the uglies not the live. After 6 months you could not tell the difference.
Put it all in at once and be done.

Bringing this thread back from the dead but do you by chance remember how long it took your tank to be considered cycled with 50/50 live and dead?

 

[X-37B]

Bringing this thread back from the dead but do you by chance remember how long it took your tank to be considered cycled with 50/50 live and dead?

I had test corals in the system within a week. You can follow the 2 green slimers growth visible in the first pic.
Keep in mind I have been in the hobby since the late 80's.
Look at my old build thread for more info. It goes from day one until I broke ot down around 2.5 years later.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I’m not going to be able to afford going all live rock, but I’d like to include some to help seed my tank. I’m planning to do mostly dry rock and just accept a longer cycle.

My question is whether I should put the wet live rock in when I put in the dry rock and just cycle everything together or if I should let my dry rock cycle down to zero ammonia before adding the wet live rock so that I don’t have to worry as much about an ammonia spike killing things off in the live rock?

In my head, it makes sense and I’d then wait a while and test to make sure I don’t have another mini-cycle after adding the live rock before adding any livestock.

Last time around I had all live rock, so I’m new to having dry rock and most of what I’ve read assumes either all dry rock or all live rock.

Thanks!

I set up a 90 gallon last September with 45 lb. of dry, and 30 lb. live, along with 2" of live sand, all at once. Cycle was very quick. I did this for the same reason, I could not really justify spending 8 or 9 hundred dollars on live rock, so I split the difference.

 

[blecki]

Bringing this thread back from the dead but do you by chance remember how long it took your tank to be considered cycled with 50/50 live and dead?

I never actually tested ammonia on my 230 gallon tank. "Cycling" is much more complex than the binary state people make it seem like. Your tank is not 'cycled' or 'not cycled'. It has some amount of ammonia input (through food waste, fish waste, etc) that it is capable of processing. Exceed this input and you have an ammonia spike. Stay under it consistently and the bacteria (slowly) dies off. I just moved my rock from my 75, dropped it on top of about twice as much new dry rock, and dumped the fish in. The rock could handle the ammonia for those fish before, it could handle it now. Now - the problem is - what the LFS sells as 'live rock' isn't live rock. It's wet rock. It does not have the ammonia processing capability of real live rock, so it takes a little time to build up enough bacteria.

So, your tank has a bioload of X. Your rock will naturally tend toward being able to process X, either by bacteria or multiplying or dying. You add something. Now your bioload is X+Y. Again, the rock will tend toward X+Y. The only thing you have to worry about is keeping Y small enough that the bacteria can multiply before the ammonia level becomes dangerous.

In a brand new tank Y is tiny. In an established tank with more bacteria, since bacteria grows exponentially, Y is huge.