types of rock for use in reef

[jimmybling31]

I was at the store yesterday and saw a few forms of dry rocks including some lacey rock that was dry coral something and another that was dead coral bed rock and I can't remember the rest. I noticed they were a lot of cheaper that live rock, so are these safe for reef use. i am gonna use live rock too, just some things are stopping me from setting up a display tank for a few months and I am stuck with a 40 breeder set up in the garage til I find the right tank and everything. i am gonna have a 29g sump and a 10 gallon refugium on it, but it's just gonna be a tank to have for frags mainly.

 

[ahayes13]

maybe im wrong on this? but i think its fine to use dead rock as long as you are having some live rock. your live rock should seed the dead rock making it "live" again. i know some places do bleach their dead rock....so id make sure it was just dried out live rock.

 

[jimmybling31]

well I don't know it was gome time dead rock completely. it's dry and in boxes. I don't know if it was ever live rock or anything I dunno. it looked like calcium based rocks, but I dunno.

 

[jimmybling31]

oh I have 35 pounds of live rock already. I was hoping i could use dry rock and let it seed from the live rock to save money and all. I am trying to get the asm g5 over on my wife. lol.

 

[Hypertek99]

You can use dry rocks as long as it's cured first. Unless your whole tank is dry rocks then you need to let it cycle for awhile before you can add anything. I used all dry rocks in my new tank and the nitrates are pretty high. Just takes time.

 

[Reef Pets]

Dry rock is just fine to add with your live rock. But, make sure to cure the dry rock before putting it into your reef. I would recommend curing the rock with water from your reef tank. This way the rock will start reproduce the bennifical bacteria that it needs. Cure it in a a rubber maid for about 3-4 weeks. Put a pump in the with the rock to produce flow and do a 50 percent water change 2-3 times per week. This would be the safest way to go about it without the dry rock cause extreme Ph spikes if you were to jusy add the dry rock to your reef without curing it.

 

[dfurbee]

jimmybling31,

I found an awesome book entitled Reef Secrets, by Nilson & Fossa. It tell about starting, parameters, fish, invertebrates, and just about anything one wants to know. But this board is an excellent site for questions, also If it was not for boards like this, my tank would have failed.

 

[jimmybling31]

this forum is only reason I still have anything alive in my tank. it's also the reason I have determined that I am gonna have a huge refugium and sump when I set up my new tank. I am just setting up a temporary setup in the garage with all the stuff from the tank I have set up now. everything in there is very well cycled and I am even gonna use a good bit of the water out of the tank in the new one. i am just settting up a new one and was gonna just culture so rock while I had my little temporary setup up.