Torn about rock choice for first reef tank

[C12]

I've done two dry rock startups now and would do it that way again. I never saw what I would call an particularly ugly phase.

The "100% live rock or nothing" crowd on here is pretty loud, and it usually isn't worth trying to talk over them. However, I'll come out of my shell in this case. I totally understand their point, and agree that in some cases that is probably the best way to go. However, for me it just didn't make sense.

The cost of getting rock to my location was a big issue, but the biggest was that dry rock allowed me to move slow on my first build. There is a lot to digest the first time you setup a tank. Not dealing with wet rock gave me a couple of weekends to figure out all of my mechanicals at my own pace. I could have got everything ready, and then ordered rock, but my was was more relaxing for me.

Is my tank pest free? Nope. I had aiptasia in it within the first 6 months. The 2nd one is pest free at this point, but it is a FOWLR, so not too surprising.

Thank you, I was honestly waiting to get a comment like this. I've been really thinking about how much is reasonable to spend on this first tank, and I've decided to take the dry rock route. Live rock, after shipping is simply out of by budget. Just 5 pounds of rock would cost me over $100 all said and done and I need about 20 pounds for this build. I love the idea of live rock, but it doesn't make sense for my current situation, I am completely fine waiting a few extra weeks for a cycle. Maybe if I decide to start up another tank in the future and I have a bigger budget, I'll give live rock a try.

 

[C12]

UNPOPULAR BUT MODERN OPINION!

Hi, prior to setting up my two tanks I watched the whole BRStv series experimnet on biomen and the tanks with dry rock actually did GREAT. They didn't get as pesty as the ones with live rock. To avoid hithc hikers and pests I chose dry rock (it was Arka Reef rock for me) for both tanks and I kept the lights off for a few month until a healthy biomen had established. I didn't even go through the ugly fase!!!! The rocks soon had some pretty nice alage growth on them. I never had issues with cycling neither. I used live sand from caribsea. Now a year later rocks are starting to grow coralline, sand is still as white as the day it came out of the box,

So many old fahsioned people that might not have read up on "new ways" will tell you that dry rock sucks. But reality is that it works great - with lot less pest issues.

Thank you, I'm sorry to all of the live rock gurus, but I will be taking the dry rock method. After mathing out the cost of live rock, I soon discovered it's out of my budget to get it shipped across the country, if I lived in Florida, total yes, but dry rock simply works best in my budget, and I'm willing to do some extra work.

 

[Jimbo327]

Nothing wrong with dry rock. It just takes longer to get the biodiversity. I would ask your local reefers for a cup of sand or some rubble they can spare. Ask for Coralline algae scrapings. Spread it all over your dry rock after it is cycled. That should help seed your tank with some bacteria. Ask for a ball of chaeto from local reefers and put that in your sump or in the tank, and let the pods/beneficial critters get into your tank. That's it. It will take longer for all of this to happen.

Live rock has all of this already done for you. But yeah, it is very pricey. I didn't use live rock either because I would need 100lbs+ in my tank. Not happening.

Another way is to look for people getting out of hobby near you and get some cheap rocks when they break down.

 

[C12]

Ask a buddy to put 3 to 5 lbs of rubble in his sump and a small bag of bio media for 3 months then use 10lbs of whatever dry rock you want

I unfortunately don't have anyone local that has a reef tank, it's all freshwater. I live in a small town and my lfs is 2 hours away, I do like that idea though!

 

[EliMelly]

I did an NSA aquascape with dry rock for my tank. I seeded the tank with live rock from TBS in the sump. I used arag alive as well. I think this is the best of both worlds!

 

[irobertson]

I used Marco dry rock in my 120 gallon DT (gave me time to create the aquascape I wanted) and placed 15 lbs of live rock from KP in my sump at startup. This gave me many of the benefits of live rock during cycling without excessive cost or pests. My DT now has bristleworms seeded from the sump (they were the first macrolife in the tank), and I dealt with bryopsis early on. Gorilla crabs, spaghetti worms, and small feather dusters are confined to the sump. The KP rock also seeded my DT with pods and coralline algae.

 

[Hemmbone20]

I always use a mix of maricultured Florda live rock and local limestone "holey" rock. QT it like everything else. FWIW, most of the pests I encounter come from other aquarist, not from maricultured rock. So use all three if you want.

I certainly would not microwave any rock. Not only is i killing beneficial organisms but it runs the risk of aersolizing palytoxin hen water or mucus containing ostreopsis sp. algae is heated.

Here's a good article on live rock

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

It was a joke haha of course I didn’t microwave my live rock!!

 

[twentyleagues]

Thank you, I'm sorry to all of the live rock gurus, but I will be taking the dry rock method. After mathing out the cost of live rock, I soon discovered it's out of my budget to get it shipped across the country, if I lived in Florida, total yes, but dry rock simply works best in my budget, and I'm willing to do some extra work.

I should have added the video I shared is about 3-4 weeks old the tank is about 7 months old now. I have a lot of coralline growing on the rocks, I dont think I have had a hard time with diversity. I used ammonium and brightwells xlm to cycle. Started putting fish and corals in about 4 weeks after I had started to cycle, corals started going in about a week later. As you add fish and corals they bring other bacterial sources adding to diversity. In my last reef life I started my tank in 99 with live rock. I got out of the hobby in 2010 through the years that same lr stayed in my tanks with added dry rock when I upgraded tanks or added tanks to the system. This was my first complete dry rock start and it couldnt have gone easier. I will start my 180 this way too. Nothing against live rock other than the price. Do you know how many corals you can add to the tank for the difference in cost between lr and dry? I will go dry and corals.

 

[Monad]

I started this tank with all Marco dry rock. I didnt have an ugly stage. I did wait until it was completely cycled (I know the cycle is on going just all phases were complete) before adding any fish or corals. I added lots of pods and a few bristle worms and some mini brittle stars. Dont kid yourself you will get aiptasia and probably some pest algaes (mine is bubble algae from the 1st tank back to the hobby I used lfs sump live rock) stuff will come in on frags. I think I waited a month for the "cycle" to complete, in my mind its not a race I was not in a hurry like with the first tank back. You will get some uglies its all in how its managed whether it turns into a full blown problem or not. Sorry turn your sound down my fish room is loud.

Where did you get the bristle worms and mini bristle stars? I’ve got a new tank with nothing in it so far because I did Ocean Direct live sand and bottled bacteria. It’s going to finish cycling soon and I’ve heard great things about mini bristle stars and small bristle worms as a clean up crew.

 

[twentyleagues]

Where did you get the bristle worms and mini bristle stars? I’ve got a new tank with nothing in it so far because I did Ocean Direct live sand and bottled bacteria. It’s going to finish cycling soon and I’ve heard great things about mini bristle stars and small bristle worms as a clean up crew.

Well I have a unique relationship with a couple lfs in the area, so I grabbed a bag and went hunting in a couple of their sumps. I took the bag to the owner and said how much? He told me "get outta here with that" so I left bag in hand.
But I was going to order online from https://www.ipsf.com/reefworms.html but I thought I would try the other route first. lol

 

[C12]

I should have added the video I shared is about 3-4 weeks old the tank is about 7 months old now. I have a lot of coralline growing on the rocks, I dont think I have had a hard time with diversity. I used ammonium and brightwells xlm to cycle. Started putting fish and corals in about 4 weeks after I had started to cycle, corals started going in about a week later. As you add fish and corals they bring other bacterial sources adding to diversity. In my last reef life I started my tank in 99 with live rock. I got out of the hobby in 2010 through the years that same lr stayed in my tanks with added dry rock when I upgraded tanks or added tanks to the system. This was my first complete dry rock start and it couldnt have gone easier. I will start my 180 this way too. Nothing against live rock other than the price. Do you know how many corals you can add to the tank for the difference in cost between lr and dry? I will go dry and corals.

For a 20 gallon tank, If I did purely tbs live rock + sand it would cost about $400 said a done vs. dry rock which would cost me around $60 all said and done. So, that leaves $340 extra for corals just by going with dry rock, just makes more sense imo.

 

[twentyleagues]

For a 20 gallon tank, If I did purely tbs live rock + sand it would cost about $400 said a done vs. dry rock which would cost me around $60 all said and done. So, that leaves $340 extra for corals just by going with dry rock, just makes more sense imo.

I have contemplated setting up a nano style tank with mostly lr from some where hoping to get some cool sponges and other fauna mostly a mantis shrimp. But then the price is just so high. Knowing my luck I wouldnt get half of what I wanted. It would be cheaper to just order what I want and dry rock.

 

[twentyleagues]

For a 20 gallon tank, If I did purely tbs live rock + sand it would cost about $400 said a done vs. dry rock which would cost me around $60 all said and done. So, that leaves $340 extra for corals just by going with dry rock, just makes more sense imo.

Think of all that biodiversity! Form and function! lol

 

[Uncle99]

I used the painted Carib-Sea Dry rock.

Looked aged right from the start and matured up nicely. And of course, no crazy pests especially mantis shrimps.

Both ways work.

 

[BetteMidler]

If this is your 1st tank, I would simply go with live rock.

 

[X-37B]

Here is my old 18" nano cube started with live rock. Zero to 10 months.
With all the money we spend on our hobby live rock makes a quality fast start for any system.
My ext 170 is 5 months old and started with 150lbs of Gulf Live Rock. Already 9 fish and 30+ hard corals so far.

 

[spsick]

Starting any reef tank on dry rock is hard mode, even for reefing veterans. Real live rock from the ocean 1000%. Any hitchhikers you can deal with. Usually just mantis shrimp and gorilla crabs which you can discover before you add fish/inverts.

The argument that dry rock is safer because hitchhikers is not a strong one. Most people get hitchhikers from coral they buy.

I would love to see a survey on reefers that exit the hobby after 1 year on if they started with dry or live rock. I’d wager it leans toward the former.

 

[Hemmbone20]

do you have any pictures of the rock you received from TBS?

8lbs of rubble I keep in my sump.

 

[EliMelly]

Starting any reef tank on dry rock is hard mode, even for reefing veterans. Real live rock from the ocean 1000%. Any hitchhikers you can deal with. Usually just mantis shrimp and gorilla crabs which you can discover before you add fish/inverts.

The argument that dry rock is safer because hitchhikers is not a strong one. Most people get hitchhikers from coral they buy.

I would love to see a survey on reefers that exit the hobby after 1 year on if they started with dry or live rock. I’d wager it leans toward the former.

Dead on.

 

[Monad]

Starting any reef tank on dry rock is hard mode, even for reefing veterans. Real live rock from the ocean 1000%. Any hitchhikers you can deal with. Usually just mantis shrimp and gorilla crabs which you can discover before you add fish/inverts.

The argument that dry rock is safer because hitchhikers is not a strong one. Most people get hitchhikers from coral they buy.

I would love to see a survey on reefers that exit the hobby after 1 year on if they started with dry or live rock. I’d wager it leans toward the former.

Well. I’m doomed. I started with bottled bacteria, Ocean Direct live sand, dry rock, and live rock that was kept in a garage for god knows how long so all it contains is dead hitchhikers.