Torn about rock choice for first reef tank

[Cichlid Dad]

do you have any pictures of the rock you received from TBS?

Live rock TBSW

Live sand TBSW

Live sand TBSW

 

[spsick]

Well. I’m doomed. I started with bottled bacteria, Ocean Direct live sand, dry rock, and live rock that was kept in a garage for god knows how long so all it contains is dead hitchhikers.

Didn’t say it can’t be done it’s just harder and takes longer.

 

[Tamberav]

Live rock straight from the ocean, it’s an awesome feeling to discover all the tunicates and oddities that come with that rock. It’s amplified when you are new to the hobby. It is a great feeling.

All you have to do is let go of the idea that every hitchhiker will somehow crawl out of the tank and jump on your face at night or devour all your coral and fish. There is some bad guys but they can be delt with and it’s not anything like the spooky alien movies.

Plus it’s so easy to grow coral with that rock.

 

[Rum_runner]

UNPOPULAR BUT MODERN OPINION!

Hi, prior to setting up my two tanks I watched the whole BRStv series experimnet on biomen and the tanks with dry rock actually did GREAT. They didn't get as pesty as the ones with live rock. To avoid hithc hikers and pests I chose dry rock (it was Arka Reef rock for me) for both tanks and I kept the lights off for a few month until a healthy biomen had established. I didn't even go through the ugly fase!!!! The rocks soon had some pretty nice alage growth on them. I never had issues with cycling neither. I used live sand from caribsea. Now a year later rocks are starting to grow coralline, sand is still as white as the day it came out of the box,

So many old fahsioned people that might not have read up on "new ways" will tell you that dry rock sucks. But reality is that it works great - with lot less pest issues.

I agree. I started my 1st tank back in 2013-14 with live rock from the LFS. Being in the military I move around every 3-4 years. I put my tank and live rock in storage for 4 years when I went to Hawaii. When I got back to the states, I didn’t set it up until a few months ago. My rock became dry rock and I did basically the same thing as you. I used live sand from Carribsea and my old (now) dry rock, and left the lights off. My cycling is a little different though, I use 3 uncooked shrimp and put them in my tank to decompose. After 2 weeks I was fully cycled on my 120 gallon. Copepods all over the shrimp eating it all up too. No ugly phase for me either

 

[Monad]

Didn’t say it can’t be done it’s just harder and takes longer.

That’s a relief.

My plan is to take things slow. I’m not planning on putting everything I want in at once. I’ll slowly add stuff and make sure I work from the bottom. It may take longer to mature, but I’m sure I’ll get a good tank in the end.

I guess my priority once my clowns are in is making sure I have a good cleanup crew but not to add too many at once.

I found a website that sells the tiny bristle worms and bristle stars. I’ll make sure to add those at some point.

 

[Spare time]

What about bommie reef rock?

 

[C12]

If this is your 1st tank, I would simply go with live rock.

If I had an unlimited budget for this build, I would 100% go with live rock, but it's simply out of my budget. I am just not willing to spend $400 on live rock, I would rather wait a few more weeks for a cycle, maybe deal with an algae bloom or two, and have all of that extra money to spend on corals, then to spend it on live rock.

 

[jabberwock]

If I had an unlimited budget for this build, I would 100% go with live rock, but it's simply out of my budget. I am just not willing to spend $400 on live rock, I would rather wait a few more weeks for a cycle, maybe deal with an algae bloom or two, and have all of that extra money to spend on corals, then to spend it on live rock.

You will spend more on algae control without real ocean live rock over the long run.

 

[spsick]

If I had an unlimited budget for this build, I would 100% go with live rock, but it's simply out of my budget. I am just not willing to spend $400 on live rock, I would rather wait a few more weeks for a cycle, maybe deal with an algae bloom or two, and have all of that extra money to spend on corals, then to spend it on live rock.

It’s not so much the cycling but the point which your tank is mature enough for corals. The rub being the sooner you add corals you get biodiversity from the rocks the corals come on but you’ll likely kill a few corals.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

The inflated prices in this hobby have always amazed me. I dont know what shipping costs are for TBS but Id expect them to be high. On the other hand, the "reef rubble" that costs $50 for 200 grams is ridiculous in my opinion. I dont think the claims they make hold any water honestly but even if they did, $50 for 200 grams is insane. The reason they can make the claims they do and try to justify the price is predicated on the fact that you dont know if it made a difference or not...if you dont know if it made a difference, you cant say it didnt help, can you?

 

[C12]

You will spend more on algae control without real ocean live rock over the long run.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be spending $400 on algae control. :)

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be spending $400 on algae control. :)

I dont think youd spend $400 on algae control either. I think it was an exaggeration to add emphasis. There are plenty of successful tanks that started with dry rock. The majority of posts Ive seen over the years asking for help with this or that seem to be tanks started with dry rock and sand though. Its a more difficult route for the majority of people.

 

[Devaji]

The inflated prices in this hobby have always amazed me. I dont know what shipping costs are for TBS but Id expect them to be high. On the other hand, the "reef rubble" that costs $50 for 200 grams is ridiculous in my opinion. I dont think the claims they make hold any water honestly but even if they did, $50 for 200 grams is insane. The reason they can make the claims they do and try to justify the price is predicated on the fact that you dont know if it made a difference or not...if you dont know if it made a difference, you cant say it didnt help, can you?

yeah its crazy the price of LR here in the states.
well like everything I guess.

OP: its a hard choice for sure pros and cons it all comes down to your reef style.
both have been successful & both have had problems.

I lean towards the LR but that said my last 2 tanks where man made dry rock painted to look live.
one tank was real reef rock the other tide line arches, branches & shapes.
let me know if you want pics of the rocks/scape.

all that said the smaller tank w/ the real reef rock has some algae problems dont think it was the rocks fault but more mine or my tank setters over feeding.

sounds like you have a plan.
but I would consider seeding the tank with a few pieces of LR if you can.

good luck & have fun!
reefing is great but frustrating at times.

 

[twentyleagues]

Here is my old 18" nano cube started with live rock. Zero to 10 months.
With all the money we spend on our hobby live rock makes a quality fast start for any system.
My ext 170 is 5 months old and started with 150lbs of Gulf Live Rock. Already 9 fish and 30+ hard corals so far.

First I want to say your tank looks amazing! That growth in 10 months is great. At what point did you add the acros?

I just really in the last 3-4 months started adding acros. Not because I was worried about parameters but I was focused on Euphyllia. I purchased a large octospawn and brought in bjd lost a few torches and didnt want to dose the tank with cipro. So all euphyllia got put in a different tank and dosed with cipro after a couple unsuccessful kfc dips. Mean while I put some sticks in. They are starting to grow its been maybe 3 months for some and only a month or so for others. Once the torches had stopped melting and stabilized they went back in different spots. All this is just so you can see the history. My tank started cycling at end of January and got its first fish and corals at the end of February. I have some bubble algae and aiptasia I see you do also. Other then live rock/dry rock and over all coral choices I dont see a huge difference. I have coralline growing on the rocks, glass and plastic as do you. The tanks are roughly the same age mine is 8 months yours 10. I started with dry rock and sand you did live rock and bare bottom. I fail to see the difference in live rock vs dry rock between the two. I am not picking on you we are two of the few who put our tanks on this thread and you started with lr and me dry so two prime examples of it (either one) working well.

 

[mizukage]

Nothing beats the biodiversity you get from live rock. The pros outweigh the cons like hitchhikers. However, live rock isn’t economically feasible for everyone. When I lived in Indonesia, live rock was affordable. Here in Canada, live rock is outrageously expensive that I have to go with Marco rock. It’s not Marco rock is better rock, it’s just economical.

 

[IceNein]

I have only done things one way, so I can't really give you much perspective on which way is better, but I started a 15 gallon tank with about 10 to 15 lbs of dry rock, and then I ordered the Pico Package from TBS which added 3lbs live sand and 6 lbs of live rock to that.

Before the TBS rock came I was getting the beginnings of a diatom bloom. A couple of days after I added the TBS stuff, the diatoms have died off.

My stuff did come with some pests, and some nuisance algae. I manually remove the nuisance algae and it has to compete with the other red algae and caulerpa for nutrients, so it hasn't really been that big of a deal.

So do not take me as authoritative, but I know for a fact it has helped with "the uglies" and the nuisance hitch hikers haven't been that big of a deal, but this is just my personal experience.

 

[jabberwock]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be spending $400 on algae control. :)

I do speak from experience...

 

[Cichlid Dad]

:face-with-hand-over-mouth: I do speak from experience...

Ya me too....

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Wet ocean live rock and it isn’t even close. If you are worried about pests you can just dip the rock in a bucket with high salinity (0.35+) and any crabs/shrimp etc will come running out. I wouldn’t do a nano any other way.

I’ve started two tanks this way and both were easy street. No nuisance algae, no dynos or cyano. Love it

 

[twentyleagues]

I do speak from experience...

Ya me too....

Me too.