Rock for Aquascape.

[Freenow54]

So I did not keep track of the number of opinions regarding Live verses Dry Rock. My LFS was effected by a fire next door ( arson ) . They are no longer going to carry live rock. but are going to carry dry rock. I need opinions to guide me Please

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I cycle the dry rocks in a plastic tote or spare tank, then I add a damsel for 3-4 months. Once done I give the damsel away and the rocks are fully live and pest free and will not grow any algae when placed in the tank. I've done it this way for years and I always will. Good luck whatever method you choose.

 

[Freenow54]

Excellent Thank you. My 100 was done with dry rock. Somehow I have dozens of bristle worms but never parasites . As you said no algae. Am wondering if live has benefits but dry with no surprises outweigh any possibly of getting them . Interested in replies Thanks

 

[Channas]

So I did not keep track of the number of opinions regarding Live verses Dry Rock. My LFS was effected by a fire next door ( arson ) . They are no longer going to carry live rock. but are going to carry dry rock. I need opinions to guide me Please

You could start up a reef tank with or without dry rock, i have done 3 different ways, first was only with live rock and by far the most stable system in the least amount of time with the shortest ugly stage, second tank was 50/50 which worked good as Well but i had a longer ugly stage. Third way was 90% dry rock and 10% live rock to seed the dry rock, this tank is in it’s ugly stage still after 5 months with a bad gha outbreak worse than i have ever experienced before but sure will die back eventually once everything stabilize and i should add that there are 4 seahorses inside that tank which are very dirty animals which possibly makes the outbreak worse than it should be.

 

[Uncle99]

This is all Carib Sea dry rock and sand and a bottle of Fritz.
And zero pests!
I’m just not sold on live rock.
Can’t get it were I live anyways.

 

[Freenow54]

This is all Carib Sea dry rock and sand and a bottle of Fritz.
And zero pests!
I’m just not sold on live rock.

Impressive What Lights do you Use ? Depth of Tank ? Par if you know

Thanks

 

[exnisstech]

I ended up with a year long battle with GHA on my dry rock only start up. Maybe there's differences in the dry rock available, I don't know but I won't do another dry rock only start up. I've done all dry rock in the DT and live rock in the sump a couple of times and it went well.

 

[Uncle99]

Impressive What Lights do you Use ? Depth of Tank ? Par if you know

Thanks

Thanks.
For this 180, 3-Viparspectra 165, 2 Aqueon Halo, 2 48” T5 running a blue plus and a purple plus.

Cheap…$1000 for all.

Tank is 24” deep, lights mounted 18” from surface, pushing 350 at the surface, 175 mid, 100 bottom, 50 corners.

If you go dry, you end up with same diversity as you add corals and stuff.

But you need to keep parameters on point with little flux at all times.

 

[Freenow54]

Thank you Invaluable Information Never heard of those lights will defiantly look at them

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I used CaribSea Life Rock for my tank. I thought it was halfway decent dry rock. However, I will probably be doing the live rock route from now on.

I will say our R2R office tank uses ecoscape rock from Nutramar, and that is probably the best dry rock I have ever used. It's super lightweight and has a very natural look to it