Live rock vs dry rock debate......

S

Sirius76

New member
....Go!

Forgive me if this has been beat to death. I've search our forum and didn't find exactly what I want. Its on other forums but I try to stay here at CR as much as possible.

Last tank I had many moons ago I used live rock exclusively. Though I did have my bouts of aiptasia and a mantis shrimp that loved to pick apart my bristle stars, I'm debating how I want to go about my new build. I'm not opposed to live rock but I've been giving dry rock some consideration. Or maybe even a mix of both.

Here's how I'm looking at it. I (and probably most of us here) understand the pros and cons of live rock so I won't dwell on that too much. But here are my concerns with dry rock

Dry Rock Pros:
Cheaper
No bad pests/hitchhikers
Can take my time aquascaping the best way possible
Can still be seeded with live rock

Dry Rock Cons:
No good pests/hitchhikers
Phosphate leaching?
No Coraline, good bacteria, etc
Must be treated/cured differently?
And my biggest concern....Leeching PO4 some time after the tank has been setup

So, what have you done in the past?
What have been your experiences with dry rock?
Did you cycle it? (or whatever the correct term is)
My biggest concern is the leeching of phosphates. Should I be?

And with all that being said, and maybe I should start another thread, but WHERE do you recommend to get either dry or live rock? I bought my LR years ago from liveaquaria. I didn't have any real issues with their stuff.

Thanks, sorry for the long read
 
If I didn't have live rock from previous builds I would've used all dry rock. If you cure the dry rock long enough you shouldnt have an issue with leaching but can't say for sure since I've never had alot of it. The thing I like about the idea of dry rock is no unwanted pests and you can always buy the beneficial hitchhikers that you want in your tank

ANARCHY
 
anarchy said:
If I didn't have live rock from previous builds I would've used all dry rock. If you cure the dry rock long enough you shouldnt have an issue with leaching but can't say for sure since I've never had alot of it. The thing I like about the idea of dry rock is no unwanted pests and you can always buy the beneficial hitchhikers that you want in your tank

ANARCHY
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So my next question is, can I cure dry rock in an unestablished tank? Just let it cure in my DT the same way I would live rock? What about live sand? Would that effect the sand at all?
 
I dont condone the use of dry rock ive done tyree builds and im not big into testing or dosing or anything. I keep it simple and in my experiences dry rock grows gha so damn quick its not even funny. Its okay for base rocks that wont be seen, but anything the light touches and that can be seen should be cured completely and encrusted with coraline and sponges.
 
From what I've read most people bleach the rock then acid bath then let dry for a couple days then put in a plastic tub or container with a powerhead and heater with no light. And check phosphates every couple days and do water changes every couple days until there are no more phosphate readings. To be safe even after phosphates are at 0 wait a week and check again to make sure. But once again that's what I've read and not my experience. Hopefully someone with more experience with this will chime in

ANARCHY
 
Sirius76 said:
So my next question is, can I cure dry rock in an unestablished tank? Just let it cure in my DT the same way I would live rock? What about live sand? Would that effect the sand at all?
Click to expand...

This is all part of an in depth cycling process. Basicly you will stack the aquascape how you like it, then start running the tank with fresh clean SW. It can be mixed on the low side of the spectrum on salinity and you dont need to use expensive salt mix, regular IO will be fine. Test for phosphates after a week, changing the water weekly or so until you are around 0ppm. After a couple weeks you can start ghost feeding or throw a raw shrimp into the tank and throw something in from an established tank like a rock or a bit of sand. Its important to keep tye tank completely dark, you are very prone to algae at this point and thats not what we want. Bacteria is your friend. Once you have a diatom bloom you can add some blue leg hermits, then after a rew more weeks of feeding and testing and water changes you will be ready to start slowly adding more life to the tank. Most say inverts first, then corals then fish.

I prefer to do a live fish cycle though and use live rock and sand.
 
Pfisherman said:
This is all part of an in depth cycling process. Basicly you will stack the aquascape how you like it, then start running the tank with fresh clean SW. It can be mixed on the low side of the spectrum on salinity and you dont need to use expensive salt mix, regular IO will be fine. Test for phosphates after a week, changing the water weekly or so until you are around 0ppm. After a couple weeks you can start ghost feeding or throw a raw shrimp into the tank and throw something in from an established tank like a rock or a bit of sand. Its important to keep tye tank completely dark, you are very prone to algae at this point and thats not what we want. Bacteria is your friend. Once you have a diatom bloom you can add some blue leg hermits, then after a rew more weeks of feeding and testing and water changes you will be ready to start slowly adding more life to the tank. Most say inverts first, then corals then fish.

I prefer to do a live fish cycle though and use live rock and sand.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I'm still leaning towards LR since thats what I know. To be honest, I'm a bit concerned about the dry rock and the threats of PO4 leaching out later down the road.

Where do you guys like to buy your rock? Dry or live? Any new reputable sources come around in the last 8 years?
 
Reefwise has a thousand pounds in stock, ive bought there and havent had many bad hitchhikers. for dry rock id go to aquapros, the have amazing deals on everything and quite a selection of corals.
 
With my new set up (( 210 gallons )) I went with Marco rocks, and a few "clean" pieces from my 75 that I am taking down.


I put them straight into the tank, and have been very pleased so far. They have been wet for about 2 months now, and fish in there for about 3-4 weeks now. I haven't seen any algae issues, and no phosphate readings. Since this was a large tank, and I was taking my time with it, dry rock worked best --- saved a ton of money by using dry rock.

Of course I miss the life that comes on live rock (( but, that life isn't nearly as good as it was 20 years ago, which used to be awesome )), so it isn't a huge tread off. Putting a few of my rocks has helped a bit.

Perhaps I will change my feelings in a couple of months, but so far I am very pleased with the route I went.

Still pretty clean,

3amigos_zps2aca5638.jpg


Some color from my old rocks

squirt_zps4b052028.jpg


DSC_0360_zps4850ec63.jpg
 
It is an Centropyge venustus. Great dwarf angel, but not supper common.

A slightly better pic of it (( need to get a new one, can tell that it has a bit more yellow now ))

DSC_0366_zps815f2186.jpg
 
I bought dry Pukani rock for my recent reef build. The shapes and sizes are incredible, but I do battle phosphates. I am about eight months into my newest reef tank with dry Pukani rock and the phosphate issue is better. I did nothing to prepare the rock other than rinsing and scrubbbing with a brush to remove dried up, loose matter. During the first six weeks, I let the tank cycle with the rock. I had to make multple water changes per week to keep the water clear. I would blast the rock with a powerhead before each water change.

About three months ago I removed all the substate and went bare bottom for ease of maintenance. This allowed me to siphon the debris that falls off the rock. The debris is very simple to siphon off the bare bottom glass. I believe this move has helped a great deal with my phosphate issue. I also started running a phosphate remover from time to time when I notice excessive algae growing on the glass.

At the end of the day, I saved a lot of money and I have some very cool piece of Pukani rock, but I suffered through some headaches early on. I would still do it again for the money savings alone.
 
It's all the same to me. even if you use dry rock, you almost will eventually introduce some kind of pest from getting corals or fish from other people.
 
I think it is a lot easier to inspect each coral I purchase then it is to inspect 50-75lbs of live rock. I buy coral one or two at time and inspect them at home in a bowl of tank water before they go into my aquarium.
 
I had 800 of LF rock in my 300g/125g display tanks in 700g system when it was over run with Pocillipora and Majanos. I bleached all the rock for couple months, then did fresh water changes for a couple months, then dried in the sun.

I re-established the system with only this dead bleached rock. I put the rockscape together and ran fresh water in the system for a month, dumped and filled with salt water. That was October 2013. It was cycled with raw shrimp and then started to add fish in January 2014. Basically had a FOWLER for 7 months then started to add coral. I have checked for phosphates and haven't had any issues.

I at no time have ever wished I had restarted the system with LF...

JMHO

Jim Mc
 
Thanks everyone. Much appreciated!!

But let me extend this to the sand. Last build I used live sand. If I decided to go with just regular old sand and maybe seed it with a bag or two of live sand, which dry sand would you recommend? Any vendors you like?
 
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