Lets talk Live ROck

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Deezill

Premium member
Hello Chicago Reefers,
I have a question on today. I am getting ready to start a new tank and I am doing some planning. My question is Live rock. In the past I have gotten Live Rock (dry)
from my LFS for 6.99 per pound. I won't be doing that this time. Can someone shed some light on so cheaper but good live rock. I am not trying to break the bank
but I would like to do at least one pound per gallon in which I think I will have a tank size of anywhere from 90 - 125 gallon tank. I am still in the planning stages at this point though.
Any suggestions on Live rock would be appreciate and the store or site to get it from. Thanks.
 
If you want to save some money, you could go with dry rock and seed it with a few pieces of live rock. That would cut down on the possibility of unwanted hitchhikers too. If you wanted all LR to start with I would look for someone who's downsizing or getting out. For dry rock I would go to AquaPros- Pro Reef Corals if you wanted to hand pick the pieces. If you aren't that picky look at Marco Rocks or Bulk Reef Supply.
 
I can actually do Dry rock because I will seed it. I am starting from scratch so my tank will have to cycle. I am going to do this thing nice and slow this is my 3rd setup.
So my dry rock will come alive once the tank is cycled. So yeah I can definitely do dry rock. I am going to check out the rock at Aqua Pros
 
Hi there, I'm brand new to this forum and also about to jump into a small reef tank for the first time (since the 10 gallon reef I had in high school some 20 years ago). I am currently setting up a 20g NUVO Fusion tank and am getting ready to add water in the next week or two, and I'm grappling with the same question as the OP. My preference would be to use real live rock (I'm thinking ~25-30lbs from Atlantic Reef Conservation, which is maricultured rock from Florida), but I'm concerned about hitchhikers and pests being a problem later on.

I'm willing to start with dry rock, but I really want a nice coating of coralline algae over time and I'm not sure if dry rock will ever get there without adding some live rock anyway. I figure if I have to add even a bit of live rock I'm taking the pest risk, so why not add all live rock? I've also considered one of the dry purple-painted options like LifeRock or ReefRock 2.1,but I'd only go this route if I knew that in a year or two real coralline algae would grow over the fake purple dye.

Final note, the theme of my tank is based entirely around sustainably-sourced livestock, so wild collected live rock from the Pacific Islands is a non-starter for me.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
 
After time the dry rock (and the glass) will have coralline algae growing on it, so IMHO I'd stay away from the live rock. Why risk the bad huckhikers.
 
CienFuegos said:
After time the dry rock (and the glass) will have coralline algae growing on it, so IMHO I'd stay away from the live rock. Why risk the bad huckhikers.
Click to expand...

So yeah I am going with Dry Rock and once the tank cycles I will have live rock. I don't want hitchhikers not to mention the possibility of aptasia.
I can also seed the rock too. Dry rock is also cheaper. I am definitely going dry. I have had to battle aptasia in the past and its not fun. I am going to dry rock it up.
I have to cycle my tank anyways.
 
My vote is dry rock. I would never use a single piece of live rock again.

My second go around I learned some valuable lessons. I now QT everything wet (snails, inverts, coral, fish everything).

I went with marco rock, best price I could find.
I then would cure the rock with lanthium chloride - sp? over the course of a few weeks in a large garbage can. Also get an ultra low phosphate reader from hanna and check daily. Add more LC as needed. You really cant overdue is as its dead rock anyway. This will pull all the phosphates out of the rock and help prevent an algae bloom when in the main display.

Then throw the rock into the diplay, get yourself some bacteria in a bottle (Dr. Tims or the like) and kick off your cycle.

This worked for me and I would now never place a single piece of live rock in my tank. I can also guarantee my DT is 100% pest free.
 
grassy_noel said:
Hi there, I'm brand new to this forum and also about to jump into a small reef tank for the first time (since the 10 gallon reef I had in high school some 20 years ago). I am currently setting up a 20g NUVO Fusion tank and am getting ready to add water in the next week or two, and I'm grappling with the same question as the OP. My preference would be to use real live rock (I'm thinking ~25-30lbs from Atlantic Reef Conservation, which is maricultured rock from Florida), but I'm concerned about hitchhikers and pests being a problem later on.

I'm willing to start with dry rock, but I really want a nice coating of coralline algae over time and I'm not sure if dry rock will ever get there without adding some live rock anyway. I figure if I have to add even a bit of live rock I'm taking the pest risk, so why not add all live rock? I've also considered one of the dry purple-painted options like LifeRock or ReefRock 2.1,but I'd only go this route if I knew that in a year or two real coralline algae would grow over the fake purple dye.

Final note, the theme of my tank is based entirely around sustainably-sourced livestock, so wild collected live rock from the Pacific Islands is a non-starter for me.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome to CR.

Dry rock should get covered with coralline eventually but it is a SLOW process. lol If you're looking for sustainably-sourced dry rock: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef-saver-dry-aquarium-live-rock.html Any LR has a possibility of an unwanted hitchhiker IMO. I found a live crab in a bucket of rubble rock that I had left w/o heat or aeration for a few weeks.
 
Thank you all for your responses! I'm now fully convinced, I'll be going entirely with dry rock and I'll assume that eventually a snail or coral will bring some coralline algae into my tank that can populate over time. I'll be choosing between Walt Smith's Project Reef Rock 2.1 and CaribSea's LifeRock so that it has some color on day 1. I'm leaning towards the LifeRock because it is not cement-based, and the coloring looks more natural. Also, Bulk Reef Supply says the LifeRock doesn't need to be cured in the same way that the Reef Rock 2.1 does. Any objections to this? I'll be curing/cycling everything in the tank, which is a new setup, and I'm happy to wait as long as needed to complete the cure/cycle (I'm hoping 6-8 weeks or less).

One final question. Since there seems to be pretty strong consensus around dry rock instead of live rock, what are peoples' thoughts on live sand? My understanding is that it brings bacterial colonies along and maybe helps speed up cycling. I had been looking at Arag-Alive sand, but I am also happy to use dead sand and something like Bio-Spira to provide the first bacterial colonies if that's safer. I'd appreciate your thoughts.
 
I haven't used any of the fancy dry rock myself so i couldn't comment on which to go with. I will say go with the one that is more poris.

As for the sand, I've used both and would have to stay just stick with the dry sand. I'd also use Dr. Tims for the benafical bacteria.
 
Dr. TIm's is awesome. I have used it too. I was going to get live sand but I have heard its a waste regular sand will become live anyways. I have even mixed Live and regular sand.
all in all if you seed the dry rock and sand it will become live. I am taking the cheaper way out this go round which is dry rock and regular sand. natures ocean is what I used to use becuase they used it on TANKED but it cost to much.
 
On my previous tank, 60 gallon, I went with dry rock with a "very premium" seed rock. I have always used Agri Alive, Think it's the Fiji Pink. Never had any unwanted pest, in fact I had a couple of micro stars, wish I could find a few of them now for my IM Fusion 20. Good Luck...
 
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