Using liferock or corraline, reviews? Cons?

[klr0808]

i just bought some caribsea life rock frags and decided to do a lil search… oh shoot. I have a tank full of it. I saw a post about prolonged ugly stage?

Sheesh

 

[timboreef]

I’m novice to setting up tanks. But learned success in budget builds. I cycle my dry rock with lights off for long as possible. 2 months. Feeding the tank material to break down. I then introduce reputable proven live rock from the gulf. Keep the water flowing. Big cuc. A variety of everything. For a nano.
You will develop algae unless you introduce live rock. It will possibly stop or create no disturbances in all tanks. At this point I do very little water changes. Everything keeps it self in check. For my liking and pets.

 

[timboreef]

Corraline will arrive and grow, eventually. I have green algae starting. But I’m noticing some purple specks, on the dry rock as well. I consider everything is working out. 4 months in.

 

[Gundy]

I’m novice to setting up tanks. But learned success in budget builds. I cycle my dry rock with lights off for long as possible. 2 months. Feeding the tank material to break down. I then introduce reputable proven live rock from the gulf. Keep the water flowing. Big cuc. A variety of everything. For a nano.
You will develop algae unless you introduce live rock. It will possibly stop or create no disturbances in all tanks. At this point I do very little water changes. Everything keeps it self in check. For my liking and pets.

This is excellent advice. If you set up a tank this way, the dry rock gets seeded with bacteria and with no lights, the algae doesn’t grow very much. After about 2 months, the rocks are heavily seeded with bacteria and adding some live rock will add a significant amount of new types of bacteria to the tank. You will probably still get some nucience algae but it should be greatly reduced and not last as long.

 

[timboreef]

It’s my theory and seems to work for my set up.
I stocked with copepods, different crabs and snail.
Only drawback. I have a few glass anoemies . One was crawling to a new spot today. And I snatched him really quick with tweezers and got it in a jar for the moment.
It’s fun hobby. Go slow and try to introduce everything slowly

 

[timboreef]

I have a yellow clown goby introduced for a couple weeks. He pecks a copepods, etc. starting to bite flake food, etc. and move about. I turn off all the water movement off and sprinkle food above them.

 

[Fish Fan]

i just bought some caribsea life rock frags and decided to do a lil search… oh shoot. I have a tank full of it. I saw a post about prolonged ugly stage?

Sheesh

I think that CaribbSea intentionally and knowingly misleads people by calling this rock "life rock". It's not a real, wet live rock, it's the equivalent of some dry rock with bacteria from a bottle, then tinted red/purple in color.

When using any dry rock, the potential to have an ugly algae phase is definitely greater than when you start your tank using a good live rock.

In your case, I know that you've already added some live rock, so that's very good. The more live rock you can add, the better off you'll be as far as avoiding the ugly phase.

Many, many people successfully start tanks with all dry rock. They may indeed experience an ugly phase, but as advertised, it's a phase, and does typically go away on its own in time.

I believe your tank has been running for at least a couple of months or more, if you were going to have an ugly stage that would be right now. How's your tank looking? Are you seeing any nasty algae growing? If not, you're live rock may be helping here

Good luck!!

 

[klr0808]

I think that CaribbSea intentionally and knowingly misleads people by calling this rock "life rock". It's not a real, wet live rock, it's the equivalent of some dry rock with bacteria from a bottle, then tinted red/purple in color.

When using any dry rock, the potential to have an ugly algae phase is definitely greater than when you start your tank using a good live rock.

In your case, I know that you've already added some live rock, so that's very good. The more live rock you can add, the better off you'll be as far as avoiding the ugly phase.

Many, many people successfully start tanks with all dry rock. They may indeed experience an ugly phase, but as advertised, it's a phase, and does typically go away on its own in time.

I believe your tank has been running for at least a couple of months or more, if you were going to have an ugly stage that would be right now. How's your tank looking? Are you seeing any nasty algae growing? If not, you're live rock may be helping here

Good luck!!

I definitely am having an ugly stage. The tank is looking OK though, but some diatoms. Some hair algae.

The reason why this question has come up is because I started introducing some of the frag pieces they sell at Petco that is life rock and I am building a nano Nem tank but before I add this water, I wanted to see if maybe I should try doing just Marco rock instead

First picture is the potential nano tank. Second picture is the current ugly stage of the main display 20 gallon.

 

[Fish Fan]

I definitely am having an ugly stage. The tank is looking OK though, but some diatoms. Some hair algae.

The reason why this question has come up is because I started introducing some of the frag pieces they sell at Petco that is life rock and I am building a nano Nem tank but before I add this water, I wanted to see if maybe I should try doing just Marco rock instead

First picture is the potential nano tank. Second picture is the current ugly stage of the main display 20 gallon.

I can't see too much of the tank from that second picture, but I dare say that is not bad at all.

I don't know if there's anything that would make the ugly phase worse or longer with CaribbSea Life Rock vs. Marco Rocks or any other dry rock, but I suspect not. I would keep going and let the brown stuff ride itself out. If you're getting hair algae, that doesn't just go away, you need to manually remove what you can, minimize any high nutrients like nitrates and phosphates (but never down to zero), and get some more clean up critters to consume it.

But from what I see here, you're tank is looking quite good

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

I used life rock before and I did not notice any prolonged ugly stage. Turbo snails are your friend :) most importantly keep an eye on your nutrient levels and keep them balanced. Keep a good CUC!