1st tank - advice on purchasing reef rock

[Nolanoonan]

I have a cycled tank with some snails, hermits, macroalgae, live rock rubble, and a damselfish. I would like to add a larger reef rock and start introducing coral. 28g red sea reefer nano. All my water, rock, and livestock came from a single LFS. Should I purchase live rock from that same store (expensive, not a huge selection) or purchase dry rock online? If online, it looks like guaranteed clean rock is never in stock. Advice? Thanks!

 

[WIReefer]

Hey welcome! If your looking for rock and your lfs rock is expensive I would look into Tampa bay saltwater or kp aquatics live rock and compare price to your lfs.

 

[Zach B]

Welcome

 

[lapin]

Look into dry rock. Marco rock comes in different shapes that can make scaping easy

 

[Bepis]

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!! You can add a piece of dry rock and you will be fine. The bacteria from the other rock will eventually populate the dry rock making it live rock. I am in the process of upgrading and I am going to use live rock and dry rock.

 

[Fred2482]

Welcome! Dry rock would be ok.

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[maceto]

Welcome!

 

[Hydrored]

Welcome!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun..

 

[SaltyT]

Welcome to R2R! You’ve joined a great community with lots of friendly folks willing to help when needed.

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef ! Alot

 

[Sharkbait19]

Welcome!
As far as live rock goes, I don’t know what to think. I started with live rock, and then my tank suffered from a parasite problem. Dry rock might seem harder to begin with in your new tank, but probably safer in the long run. It really depends on how reputable you think your live rock supplier is.

 

[BigRed78]

Welcome! The debate on dry vs live rock is a pretty contested one to sum it up quickly live rock is more expensive but you cycle is faster tank gets stable faster and sometimes less beginner uglies. The benifits of dry rock are cost and no hitchhikers. Personally I would go dry rock and then by a small piece of live rock to seed it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Start local with rock- Often you can find private parties selling seeded rock as low as $1 /lb ( local clubs and craigslist)
LFS generally have specials as in case of mine that has rock very similar to KP aquatics and from same waters at $4.99 lb

 

[LeftyReefer]

I started with all dry marco rock. No issues this far.
With bottled bacteria products, you can start with dry rock and be cycled in days... But it will take longer obviously to develop coralline algae covering on the rocks. Dry rock will go through an ugly green stage that live rock skips. No hitchhikers on dry rock. Both ways work fine. Lots of people use both.

 

[FishDaddy]

Definitely dry rock. It shouldn't impact anything if it's cycled. Save some of your water from a water change soak the dry rock in the bucket and rise with the used tank water just to make it cleaner. But most store bought live rock (even clean looking rock) has a lot of die off and may have pockets of detritus which will put in more nutrients you'd rather not have.

 

[Ippyroy]

Welcome to R2R!