I’ve been under the impression since returning to the hobby that we’ve made strides in knowing how to successfully start a tank with dry rock and have it be just as solid as a live rock based tank with some extra leg work on the front end (i.e. tub cycling the rock to get it seeded, months long rock only in tank cycle before eventually turning the lights on, continuing to cycle before slowly adding coral and eventually fish to allow the dry rock to gain the amount of bacteria live rock would have).
After reading a bunch, it sounds like while it works for SOME people SOMETIMES, it’s not the preferred route. I keep hearing about how much longer the ugly stages are lasting, problems popping up non stop over the first 2-3+ years even with people who took the prudent approach with dry rock. And I’m not talking about problems that are just part of the hobby that the right stocking list and care will quickly get in check for good. I’m talking potentially chronic tank issues and just really slow progress…more headache than is necessary.
My thought process was if I take the safe patient approach with dry rock, I’ll never have the miserable aptasia my first tank had that my filefish couldn’t keep up with, or that bubble algae and Dinos, or the excessive amounts of bristle worms that just generally creep me out. Although, I also wouldn’t get all that cool random biodiversity and random hitchhikers like the sponges, star fish, green star polyp and anemone I was surprised by.
Now I’m becoming more and more convinced that the random unwelcome hitchhikers are much easier to deal with than a tank that never fully stabilizes before it comes down or you need to move. That the benefits of immense biodiversity of live rock from the ocean grossly outweighs any other considerations. After all, I’m always going to be risking hitchhikers with additions of new coral to my tank, new clean up crew, etc.
I think I’m now in the camp of real live rock from the ocean is the only way to go…
After reading a bunch, it sounds like while it works for SOME people SOMETIMES, it’s not the preferred route. I keep hearing about how much longer the ugly stages are lasting, problems popping up non stop over the first 2-3+ years even with people who took the prudent approach with dry rock. And I’m not talking about problems that are just part of the hobby that the right stocking list and care will quickly get in check for good. I’m talking potentially chronic tank issues and just really slow progress…more headache than is necessary.
My thought process was if I take the safe patient approach with dry rock, I’ll never have the miserable aptasia my first tank had that my filefish couldn’t keep up with, or that bubble algae and Dinos, or the excessive amounts of bristle worms that just generally creep me out. Although, I also wouldn’t get all that cool random biodiversity and random hitchhikers like the sponges, star fish, green star polyp and anemone I was surprised by.
Now I’m becoming more and more convinced that the random unwelcome hitchhikers are much easier to deal with than a tank that never fully stabilizes before it comes down or you need to move. That the benefits of immense biodiversity of live rock from the ocean grossly outweighs any other considerations. After all, I’m always going to be risking hitchhikers with additions of new coral to my tank, new clean up crew, etc.
I think I’m now in the camp of real live rock from the ocean is the only way to go…
