Prepping dry rock?

[Zero_Cool]

I am 2-3 months out from starting my tank (waiting on house remodeling project to wrap up).

Will be using dry rock (Marco most likely).

Will "prepping" the dry rock in saltwater with Dr. Tim's be worthwhile? - Thought is to start bacteria propagation and infusion process while waiting. Could be as simple as a container with lid, a heater, a pump for circulation.

Will this have any effect, positive or negative, on the cycling of the new tank?

 

[dwest]

I would definitely put the rock in a bucket of salt water with good circulation (I wouldn’t bother with a heater unless it’s very cold). I personally wouldn’t bother with bacteria products now. But I would use some just before I introduce the first fish. I have had good luck with biospira for quarantine tanks.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

yes it will work, but I find the rocks will likely still have algae grow on them when you place them in the tank, bottled bacteria is very limited bacteria.

I now prep my rocks in a 20 gallon tank that has two damsel fish's, and only ambient light. All my new rocks, frag plugs, frag racks, etc go into that tank. When I need them, I just plop them in one of my other tanks, and no algae grows on them, its amazing.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I recommend building your aquascape first, especially if using dry rock. This will be my 5th system and having created the aquascape instead of using the stacked bolder method, I’m not going back.

 

[Pkunk35]

Good idea to cook the rock a bit beforehand imo,
You can add live rock or live sand to the bin to transfer bac, this is probably way better then bottle in terms of diversity and long term impact. Obv some pests can come with this.

if bottle is preferred i rec Fritz as it supposedly has the same bac as saltwater tanks (prob not true), has to be refrigerated, and certainly worked for me starting from dry rock. Have to feed it some ammonia too tho pls keep in mind with bottle bac

 

[jpark457]

I have rock sit in bings from Home Depot called tough totes? Look to be like 50 or so gallons. I just dump water change water in on them and top off occasionally w fresh. This is the first time I have tried it but they look to be growing some kind of life in there. I don’t light it, it sits in our laundry / mechanical room in the basement half behind the houses heating unit.

I did it more because it “used” rock that I got dry off other reefers and wanted whatever was going to come out of it to do so before I put it in a tank. Most of its going in a tank in the next week or so and I plan to do the same with more. Ideally I’d like to plumb like a feed trough in that space in to my system and just leave any spare rock in there as extra bio filter to be used whenever needed.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Soaked mine in Tap Water Overnight, with little bit of Clorox in the water. Used 1-1/2 times the amount for drinking water purification. The instructions are on the bottle. Soaked in well water, with frequent changes. Then soaked in RO/DI water with Frequent Changes. Small pump circulating the RO/DI. Then used established Live Rock to seed the Dry Rock in the Aquarium.

 

[olonmv]

I was just reading on this. Seems like new dry rock also leeches phosphates so maybe dosing phos before adding to tanks is best so that it doesn’t keep bottoming out your dt p04.

 

[mtraylor]

I did this method on tank redo. I took the dry rock and cemented them together in shape and patern I wanted with the macro cement stuff from brs. Then I put them in tub with bottle bacteria and a couple live rocks from my frag tank. I had pump and heater in there. I False fed the water every now and then over 3 months. The rock was ready to go on transfer day. No issues and no cycle

 

[Zero_Cool]

The primary reason for my thought to avoid pests and any potential diseases that may come in on live rock. When I first started almost 20 years ago (been out of the hobby for the last 12) It was all live rock to start and that brought challenges.

I also have the time as I am restricted by the remodel.

If I go pick up some live rock from a LFS that has been in their system, will that help with the diversity of bacteria more so than just the bottles? This comes with the risk of parasites but would this be better?

I have been watching the BRS vids and this is how they started tanks but that doesn't mean it is the best way but I like what I have seen so far.

 

[jabberwock]

Step 1, take dry rock out into garden. Use it for landscaping.
Step 2, get a small amount of live "wet" rock from a couple different LFS. This will start you on the road to diversity. Don't use sand yet. This makes it easier to hunt hitchhikers later on.
Step 3, get some supplemental ceramic media to increase potential surface area for initial cycle.
Step 4, cycle with Dr. Tim's ammonia, build up some nutrients
Step 5, purchase the desired amount of real ocean live rock from a reputable mariculture outfit.
Step 6, add a fish or two, hunt hitchhikers for a couple months, pat self on back

Looks like you are in Memphis, I am in Atlanta. I timed a short beach vacation trip with a local pickup up of live rock in the Tampa area to keep the rocks from being in transit for 3 days.

Now days, it is illegal to collect live rock unless you have the permits and lease etc... Companies go to great pains to observe there products for a good amount of time to minimize bad hitchhikers. The good hitchhikers you get are AMAZING!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I am still in the live rock camp myself due to quicker maturation of the tank. I have watched people struggle with the maturation process by just using bottled products. Eventually, you pick up the necessary biome through time and the introduction of corals, inverts and fish. It seems that a lot of people report about a year before they pass the ugly algae stage and settle down. Some use live sand to inject necessary components of the biome into the tank.

I love the diversity of life on the rock including some of the "bad" actors. I just work to remove them to another aquarium since they have their own beauty. Thinking of crabs and shrimp specifically. The glass anemone is food for butterfly fish and others so it is a method to control them. Some stores use an octopus and butterfly fish to remove the shrimp, crabs and anemones from the live rock in their holding systems. Many ways to mature a tank but it seems that dead or artifical rock takes more time so be prepared to be patient.

 

[Zero_Cool]

I should have listed the tank size and volume of rock needed/anticipated.

180 gallon
150 - 200 lbs of rock
Bare bottom DT

May not matter to the conversation but in the interest of providing more detail dor the responses..

 

[mtraylor]

The primary reason for my thought to avoid pests and any potential diseases that may come in on live rock. When I first started almost 20 years ago (been out of the hobby for the last 12) It was all live rock to start and that brought challenges.

I also have the time as I am restricted by the remodel.

If I go pick up some live rock from a LFS that has been in their system, will that help with the diversity of bacteria more so than just the bottles? This comes with the risk of parasites but would this be better?

I have been watching the BRS vids and this is how they started tanks but that doesn't mean it is the best way but I like what I have seen so far.

WEll the live rock from my frag tank was initially dry rock that has been matured over about 3 years. If you are worried about pests, then just do the dry rock. The bacteria and phatom feeds will go a long way.

I have always used live rock up till starting my frag tank. It was a learning curve to get it running right. Having to dose nitrates and phosphates was new to me. Major PIA. Anyway. Be prepared.

 

[mtraylor]

Oh yeah. The major advantage of dry rock is being able to design the scape by scratch. This allows you to make whatever you want vs the old stack method. Its much sturdier and its what you imagined in your reef. Configurations are endless. I used the e macro 400 cement and cracked rocks and made shapes as needed. Really happy with it. Best scape I have ever had. Went minimalist. I did this method on my display with the tub method and a couple pieces of live rock as stated above. I put some corals in within a week with no issues. Gonipora and frogspawn was no issue. However a trachy was not happy and had to move back to frag tank.


Now on the flip side. If you have dry rock only. It took me forever to get it to sustain sps in my frag tank just starting it out from scratch. Basically dumping a few pieces of dry rock in the sump and some tiles in the top and added water. it was over a year. Maybe around 4 to 6 months for lps. So this was my experience.

I think the best of both worlds is to get some dry rock. Make your scape like you want it. Put in tub with bacteria and some live rock for the 3month period while your work is going on. Over the 3months your dry rock will start becoming good live rock. If you have allot of live rock to put in with the dry.....it will make this process better and more efficient. Then you can just put the live rock in your sump in display for your fuge etc. Tank will mature quicker and be less of a headache IMO.

 

[Zero_Cool]

Thank you all. Very informative, very helpful and very well thought out replies.

I like the hybrid method I think. Create the scape I want (especially with the flat base rocks), seed them over the next few months with good local aquacultered from LFS and then use that rock as filler/fuge/sump rock for more surface area.

 

[jabberwock]

With a tank that size, I would not suggest trying to fill the whole thing with ocean live rock, but a few pieces will go a long way. May be you could find some one to go in on with an order?