Premium be base live rock

scrappy35 · Nov 12, 2021

I am going to be upgrading from my 75 to a 120 shortly and am going to be adding about 30 more pounds of rock. Looking to add live rock. Currently I have about 50lbs of 6 month old dry rock in a NSA configuration which looks good, but doesn’t give enough hiding places for my fish.
Will look aquatics base rock give me the same bio diversity as premium rock just without all the fauna? I can afford more base than I can premium. Or would it be better to go less premium and then add some more dry? Pic is current layout when first setup.

Timfish · Nov 12, 2021

I would get some premium live rock, it's the best source for cryptic sponges essential for a healthy reef ecosystem. But you only need a few pieces. As I see it there's three considerations, how well does rock work for aquascaping, the price of the rock, does it provide essential organisms. What the ideal combination is has to be decided by your aesthetics and pocket book.

In case you haven't seen it here's Aquabiomics article on establishng healthy microbiomes:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

Reefing102 · Nov 12, 2021

I believe you were trying to ask about the kp aquatics rock. The main difference will be fauna (macro algae’s, sponges, some other hitchhikers). That said I have ordered both and in the future would order only base. I just wasn’t impressed with the premium that I received and had just as much life in the base as I did the premium. The base rock is shipped wrapped in newspaper. The premium is shipped in water. It’s all collected from the ocean so it won’t matter too much as far as bacteria is concerned.

VermontReefs · Nov 12, 2021

Reefing102 said:
I believe you were trying to ask about the kp aquatics rock. The main difference will be fauna (macro algae’s, sponges, some other hitchhikers). That said I have ordered both and in the future would order only base. I just wasn’t impressed with the premium that I received and had just as much life in the base as I did the premium. The base rock is shipped wrapped in newspaper. The premium is shipped in water. It’s all collected from the ocean so it won’t matter too much as far as bacteria is concerned.

In regards to the KP rock, are they dense or super porous and light weight? I’m leaning towards premium for my 113g but I’m curious about the weight so I don’t over order….. it’s ridiculously expensive.

Reefing102 · Nov 12, 2021

They are quite porous (lots of holes for frag plugs) but also kind of dense in weight. If you check out my build thread, almost all of the rock in there is KP. There’s 80 pounds in there but I also like the wall look over NSA. Here’s a quick pic (not sure if it’s in my build yet)