POLL: Live Rock or dry rock

[ShawnSaucier]

If I could do it again, I would go dry with some live. With the dry you can take your time building your structures outside of the tank and not getting everything wet (I.e drill holes in rocks for frag plugs). I do believe that live rock does bring a larger diversity of micro/macro fauna to the reef system that is beneficial to the reef system, and it's stuff you can't really buy. As long as you clean your rocks properly and are willing to be patient both for a cycle and for what ever pests there may be to show, it will be cheaper in the long run and allow you form your base to how you want.

 

[bsagea]

Our first tank we started with live rock and ended up with a fireworm. Downside to live rock IMO is what can take months or possibly a year to grow and surface. Usually after it starts killing what you have in there. As an alternative, we have now used dry rock or have killed off the live rock completely and have let it cycle for a few months in saltwater in our garage. Rather be safe than sorry these days.

 

[Zacco]

Instead of using live rock to seed my dry rock in the curing tub, i use these types of filtration sponges. I'll put them in the sump of my exsisting tank for about a week to collect the bacteria. Then throw them in my curing tub with some house hold ammonia to start the cycle. Talk about a porous surface area for bacteria.

 

[ReefCartel]

would Bio Pellets filled with bacteria be better than sponge?

 

[quickreefer]

How come Noone has mention the new "liferock" that is injected with dry bacteria spores that once introduced in water it comes alive... and not to mention it's got a purple epoxy on it that looks like

 

[Zacco]

would Bio Pellets filled with bacteria be better than sponge?

Seeding bacteria from another aquarium is the fastest way to jump start dry rock. I use sponges because the surface area is insane. A litte 4 inch piece of filter sponge has close to 500 square inches of surface area for bateria to propagate.

 

[skuby]

I have 75pounds of live rock that went dead ,how much live rock do i have to add to make the dead live rock live again ??

 

[ReefCartel]

From what ive been researching and experimented. you can add a couple peices of Liverock to seed but the more LR you add the faster it will take to make everything live and the more stable in the long run.

 

[streetrodder]

I went to a LFS here and he showed me some rock that has the purple loon and told me that the bacteria actiates in water.. anyone heard of this? because i'm thinking of getting this for my nano.

 

[ReefCartel]

I heard of that recently. Still trying to get more reviews before throwing it in my tank. I heard its sort of like a powdered form of bacteria. idk

 

[ReefCartel]

reminds me of sea monkeys lol

 

[streetrodder]

well i will try it out to see lol

 

[Garia666]

for me personaly i would never go for dry rock there is no reason to.
If you dont want the pest put de live rock in your sump. and use reefceramics to fill up the main tank.

this is the tank of my LFS also constructed with reefceramics

[video=youtube;orkG4E2kbS0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orkG4E2kbS0[/video]

 

[ReefCartel]

That is insane haha I would definitely go for reef ceramics. Where should we purchase from? any good sites?

 

[Garia666]

That is insane haha I would definitely go for reef ceramics. Where should we purchase from? any good sites?

My local LFS makes it on demand just give the sizes and voila.
Sadly i live in europe ( the Netherlands ) So i cant tell if there any good manufactures in the US.

 

[ReefCartel]

ahh ok thanks bud

 

[Humblefish]

Instead of using live rock to seed my dry rock in the curing tub, i use these types of filtration sponges. I'll put them in the sump of my exsisting tank for about a week to collect the bacteria. Then throw them in my curing tub with some house hold ammonia to start the cycle. Talk about a porous surface area for bacteria.

This is an outstanding suggestion. :thumb: I do the same thing to "seed" my QT prior to use. Although personally, I allow one full month for the bacteria to collect.

From what ive been researching and experimented. you can add a couple peices of Liverock to seed but the more LR you add the faster it will take to make everything live and the more stable in the long run.

You can do this, but the downside is you also get whatever pests/hitchhikers/diseases come with the LR. And I'm not so sure how safe it is to dip a rock. Porous rocks readily absorb copper and other chemicals, so I'm thinking the same holds true for whatever they put in coral dips.

I went to a LFS here and he showed me some rock that has the purple loon and told me that the bacteria actiates in water.. anyone heard of this? because i'm thinking of getting this for my nano.

Never heard of "purple loon" before, and using Google yielded no relevant results. Buyer beware...

 

[Trex]

Just set up my first tank with dry rock, and while it has only been running for about 2 months now, I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I did move a few pieces of live rock from my 75 (( that I am taking down )) over to it, so has/will help seed the dry rock.

Couple things I like;
No pests
Cheaper
Easier to aqua-scape

I do miss the life that comes on live rock, but that isn't nearly as good as it was when I first started in this hobby back in the early '90s. In a smallish college town I was able to get rock that was
loaded with Xmas tree worms, corals, and the like.

 

[mike007]

My new tank I set up I used real reef rock from dfs and It Is awesome. Colors are great and no pest or nuisance algae's.

 

[sgresham]

I used Reel Reef rock in my 90. I originally had about 50 lbs of rock from my 30 and used it, along with the RR. The stuff was great! My LFS keeps all of it on order. I wasn't impatient but I also didn't want blaring white rock in my tank sitting against the aged rock. Lol. There was absolutely no cycling involved and the rock was clean. Not a single problem and to me, it was worth the extra cost.

I just used Real Reef Rock as well on a 70 gallon I set up, and I will also be using it on a 600 gallon that I am having built right now. It's not cheap, and some people are turned off by the fact that it is "injected" to look purple. In my opinion though, this stuff is awesome. Like Ladysaber, I had almost no cycle at all, and I don't have any of the crappy pests you get with live rock. Of course, I don't have some of the cool stuff that comes along with live rock either, but it's totally worth it imo. I know, when this stuff first came out, it was dense and didn't look great. It's awesome now though.