I've seen those posts too. It's usually people picking up rocks from shore (still illegal). The companies who are selling it usually have plots of ocean miles off shore and have to dive to retrieve it. These areas are paid for and regulated by Fish and Game and require permits.
Wouldn’t corals or fish be the same ?
I know there are very strict rules on this also. Permits are required for fish and most if not all coral harvested from the ocean have to come from farms. These areas need permits and are not part of an existing reef. Rather are man made and grown.
I feel the same about coral and fish. I do my best to only purchase aquacultured.
Their argument were stating we are the same buying corals and fish for our 100gal systems as the large companies collecting whales , killing dolphins , or net fishers collecting millions of fish .
Really? I see most of the opposite. Whenever someone mentions dry rock, people will jump down their throats about how live rock is better, dino issues, and how long it will take to establish a dry rock system (the latter at least seems to be accurate).
That's what I started with (my first tank). The dry stuff ( I don't know if it comes live as well). I love it so far but I'm only 2 months in. I will update this 9-12 months from now. Haha.
Thanks for this!! There's nothing on the glass and I'm still using the stock pump which is hidden in an AIO so I'm not sure. I'm just starting my build thread (2 months after the fact, haha) but stupid me didn't take white light pictures in the beginning to better see the transition. All the pics are blue and nothing close up. I just happened to look at the rock a couple days ago (under the blues) and suddenly thought the white areas looked more purple so I turned on the white lights and I'm definitely thinking it looks purple but... if it usually starts on the glass then maybe it's wishful thinking on my part or maybe it's the start of something else. Haha. I will get some white light pics and post them.
I've never heard that before. It sort of makes sense if there are variable-sized pockets where detritus would get trapped. Marco rock isn't super porous, but it definitely could fill up with waste.
Indeed, if the pore size is small. I’ve had live rock, it’s a trap for waste. In our tanks we don’t have the luxury of 1000000 litres an hour of dulution, like in a reef.
Ironically I only heard/read about pests on rocks from members on here posting emergencies.
That's what turned me off. To be fair the pests might have come in from something other than the rock, but they were on the rock as part of the emergency. I bought my dry rock from my LFS because there was no way I was paying for shipping even though it was dry!! Haha.
Looks like a beautiful reef tank to me.I will say it’s a good thing we have options in the hobby. Few pics of my bare bottom dry rock tank from 2014 before I got sick at that time and took it down. Some might not like this tank at all, maybe say it’s not a reef tank, but I enjoyed it a lot.
It’s cheaper… would rather start my tank then wait around for over $300 worth of rock when I can only spend $80. That’s literally enough to buy 2-4 more other things when first starting
