Lets talk about live ocean rock and why why we so scared bruh?

[LRT]

I never had nutrient issues with my live rock tanks in the past. This dry rock tank bounced all over the place and even bottomed out and I got dinos at one point. Never ever seen dinos with my live rock tanks.

Great post and totally relevant to discussion. I think ocean rock gives us that leg up every reefer needs honestly. After cycle(if any) and cure it hits the water running, processing nutrients, maintaining balance we strive for and as long as we walk that fine line of import/export and keep params locked and dialed we really should see any issues at all honestly. I think we are chasing exact opposite, un naturally with dead rock and we aren't going to find natural in any bottle bac that I know of currently.


On Edit- I just realized this post may have felt like a dig at bottle bac dry rockers. Im not sorry. I feel like we can achieve much more efficient outcomes with simply adding healthy corals and all they come with after ammonia is cycled out but that def for another thread we already tried?

 

[Jeffcb]

On Edit- I just realized this post may have felt like a dig at bottle bac dry rockers. Im not sorry. I feel like we can achieve much more efficient outcomes with simply adding healthy corals and all they come with after ammonia is cycled out but that def for another thread we already tried?

I was once a bottle bac dry rocker. But no more. Now I am a live rocker. Rock on!

 

[Jcar]

Live rock n reef has rock full of life. Primo cherry I think it's called, definitely worth it

 

[Jd120988]

Great post and totally relevant to discussion. I think ocean rock gives us that leg up every reefer needs honestly. After cycle(if any) and cure it hits the water running, processing nutrients, maintaining balance we strive for and as long as we walk that fine line of import/export and keep params locked and dialed we really should see any issues at all honestly. I think we are chasing exact opposite, un naturally with dead rock and we aren't going to find natural in any bottle bac that I know of currently.


On Edit- I just realized this post may have felt like a dig at bottle bac dry rockers. Im not sorry. I feel like we can achieve much more efficient outcomes with simply adding healthy corals and all they come with after ammonia is cycled out but that def for another thread we already tried?

100% agree. Admittedly I did use bottled bac and dry rock with this tank and I didn't have any readable ammonia with my cycle but I could have gotten the same or as we know better results with the cured cycled live rock. I've tried dry and live and the live is the way to go.

 

[LRT]

100% agree. Admittedly I did use bottled bac and dry rock with this tank and I didn't have any readable ammonia with my cycle but I could have gotten the same or as we know better results with the cured cycled live rock. I've tried dry and live and the live is the way to go.

I'm not convinced I can't cycle and stock a dry rock/bottle bac tank just a fast as ocean rock. Key for me would be stocking bottle bac, dry rock tank with corals from thriving system as fast as dry rock tank could carry bioload and continue to process ammonia without a hitch.
Thats all a little beyond speculation for me at this point.
What I cant do is put Gulf reef and all its diversity in a bottle. This occurred to me after spending time with one of the dudes heading up the effort to salvage gulf reef. Highly respected, educated man with tears in his eyes telling me about 40% confirmed corals lost on the reef in last 5 yrs. I seen the pictures of dive spots dived. Corals aren't even reproducing on the reef anymore.
Nobody has an answer.
Anyhow that's maybe all for a different thread altogether.
I'm taking real gulf rock and all i can take atm before its gone is my reasoning

 

[GHOSTLY]

Most people are scared because of the potential pests with it

 

[Jeffcb]

Most people are scared because of the potential pests with it

It can have pests. Like brown crabs that grow to a 6 inch wingspans from claw to claw.
Mantis shrimp that will stalk and eat your other shrimp and small fish.
7-8 inch fire worms that will make your hand feel like its on fire if you touch it.
Not for the faint hearted but like it!

 

[i_am_mclovin]

It can have pests. Like brown crabs that grow to a 6 inch wingspans from claw to claw.
Mantis shrimp that will stalk and eat your other shrimp and small fish.
7-8 inch fire worms that will make your hand feel like its on fire if you touch it.
Not for the faint hearted but like it!

The good news is, all of these are able to be dealt with, without much effort or issue. I love capturing "bad" crabs, then crunching them up and tossing them back into the tank. The fish go nuts! Especially the wrasses.

 

[jda]

I just looked around a bit and you can get Fiji cultured rock too.

 

[ccole]

I set up my tank with rock from gulf live rock. I think it’s really helped keep my tank stable. I was able to add coral/fish as soon as it cured (waited about two weeks to be safe but the ammonia went down after 3 or 4 days). I never went through a real “ugly” stage.

I did end up with three urchins, a mantis shrimp, two polyclad flatworms, limpets, snails and some aptasia. The mantis and flatworms were removed and my copperband ate the aptasia. I still have the urchins and the limpets and they don’t seem to eat anything other than algae.

 

[Sump Crab]

I love real ocean live rock and would never consider starting a tank without it.

 

[Koh23]

I'm not affraid, i'm willing to give some less important body part(s) for a kilo or two of fresh, uncured, untreated, untouched live rock from ocean

Sadly, impossible now, where i live, stores no longer have permit to sell live rock.....

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

I'm not affraid, i'm willing to give some less important body part(s) for a kilo or two of fresh, uncured, untreated, untouched live rock from ocean

Sadly, impossible now, where i live, stores no longer have permit to sell live rock.....

I got wild live rock fresh from the ocean to start my two nano tanks which was covered in the most beautiful coralline algae I've ever seen

 

[SlugSnorter]

@HuduVudu where u at dawg?
Lets talk about real ocean rock or the closest we can get to it-
I paid around $2/lb shipped to nearest hub but I order 200lbs. Still have pix somewhere.
You thinking its not possible to get ocean rock or whats you angle?

you mean liverock? so many sites sell it. In our tanks, well aqua-cultured rock works just as well as rock from reefs, but comes with the upside of not having to destroy a chunk of reef to be acquired.

 

[Arthur_Dent]

Question for te folks here who have direct experience with true live rock. I recently aquired about 250 lbs of this stuff. Images below are about ~40 lbs of it.

How much ocean direct from tbs do you think I would need to pile on top to effectively seed it? How long do you think it would take the dry stuff here to fully colonize?

I have a ~120 total gallon system consisting of two tanks and a sump (75, 40 breeder, ~30 gallon sump). Existing system has about 100 lbs of marco in it, that's been "alive" for about 4 years. Have another system starting up from dry that is a 75 with a 40 breeder sump. Want to go for maximum diversity by adding in some more ocean funk.