...

[Mark Gray]

I remember getting live rock I mean real live rock from the South Pacific. Came wet wrapped in newspaper. Back then they said do a 20 minute fresh water dip, had all kinds of things come out
But a lot of pests survived too. About 2 years later I lost a blue tang it was about as big as my hand. It just disappeared, well lost a couple more fish to, turned out I had a mantis shrimp. Had to take every rock out to get him. I think I like dry rock now. This was back in the 80s

 

[erk]

I've setup two tanks since I've started in saltwater, both with dry rock. I used pukani in the first and reef saver in the second. While my rock started off bleached white, it didn't take long for it to become populated with all sorts of stuff. 2 years later and I don't think anyone could tell if it was dry or live. Start with dry rock to minimize the amount of pests that get into the tank. Still won't block them all.

The next tank I build, whenever that may be, will use pukani. The reef saver is ok, but I really like the natural look and porosity of pukani.

 

[64Ivy]

Current tank is (was) all live as it has been going continuously for a few decades now. As it has been pretty much compromised and therefore unusable, I plan to scape my next tank with primarily dead rock with a few live pieces thrown in.

 

[SMSREEF]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer my questions in the poll and write responses.

All this information is extremely helpful!

I want to do my homework and plan well for this tank to avoid as many issues as possible. I know there is no way to avoid all problems, but at least I will go into this as well informed as possible with knowledge and tips from experienced reefers.

The pics and videos are all awesome and very helpful!

Thanks again

 

[CDavmd]

All my previous builds going back 15 years were with live rock from Fiji. Since it’s not possible anymore- I went hybrid with my current build.

Marco rock and tropic eden for the dry aqua scape. Once I filled it and cycled with Fritz, Dr. Tim’s and ammonia I added 10 pounds of KP Aquatics live rock uncured. I put the rock in an acclimation box for a couple weeks in case there were some hitchhikers. Only one gorilla crab.

I then let things sit. This is the key- keep it dark. Yes the coralline will die but it will come back later when the lights are on.

During the 3 months month dark- I would add pods of all sorts from algae barn and Florida pets. I’d ghost feed and let their population explode. During this time get your parameters in check. I keep my Alk between 8-9, calcium 420, nitrate 10-20 and phos about 0.1.

At 3 months I turn on the lights but keep them low power and mainly blue. Once I see the beginning of the bright green film algae taking hold on the rock I add my first snails and hermits.

At 4ish months lights come up to my preferred spectrum. First fish and watch for next up Diatoms. Usually I’m seeing coralline come roaring back on the KP rock at this time. I’ll scrape some off and sprinkle my Marco rock with flow off. Within a couple weeks you’ll see it taking hold everywhere. Then sit back and let things mature. If I start seeing turf algae I’ll add a tang or lawnmower blenny.

Honestly using this method I’ve avoided a lot of the ugly’s.

Once I see coralline I’ll add test corals and keep adding in subsequent weeks. All the time watching parameter carefully.

My current build is following this timeline abs I’m now moving my corals from my old system over before shutting it down.

The KP seed rock really adds a lot of diversity. I’ve got all sorts of pods, tiny brittle stars, and tunicates not to mention tons of feather dusters and great purple and pink coralline.

Hope this helps.
Happy reefing

Tank at the 3.5 month mark-

 

[SMSREEF]

All my previous builds going back 15 years were with live rock from Fiji. Since it’s not possible anymore- I went hybrid with my current build.
...
The KP seed rock really adds a lot of diversity. I’ve got all sorts of pods, tiny brittle stars, and tunicates not to mention tons of feather dusters and great purple and pink coralline.

This sounds like a great plan. It really makes sense because I will be taking it slow and will start the KP Rock curing in a separate tub with easy access in case there are any hitchikers.

I won’t add the live rock to the dead base rock until I’m pretty sure everything is good and I don’t hear any snapping at night.

The timing of your post is great! I just sent an email to KP aquatics last night to ask about their rock and if I could pick some up.

How much and what did you feed the rock/tank during this lights out 3 month period? I would like to make sure feather dusters, brittle stars, etc. survive.

 

[CDavmd]

Glad it was helpful! . I ended up with 15 pounds of KP added to 35 pounds of Marco. I fed the tank live phytoplankton and reef chili during the dark period. The ambient light will get a little algae going and this will let your pod population explode.

 

[SMSREEF]

Glad it was helpful! . I ended up with 15 pounds of KP added to 35 pounds of Marco. I fed the tank live phytoplankton and reef chili during the dark period. The ambient light will get a little algae going and this will let your pod population explode.

Thank you so much for the info! I’m pretty excited about this new build. I have about 30 lb dead rock now and I’m thinking of adding 15 to 20 lb live rock.

I like the ambient light for a few month too because it will give me more time to figure out which LEDs to go with. I already have my light for the refugium: UFO led Growstar 150 watt from Amazon.

 

[Rich Klein]

I went to the Real Reef manufactured rock and would not do that again. I was afraid of hitchhikers, wanted to be environmentally conscious, and frankly saw BRS's 160 build that thought that that was the way to go. It took me 2.5 years and 2 bouts of Dino to get where I would have been with 1 year or less of live rock. Big mistake. My reef's ecosystem is finally coming along, and my tang is looking awesome, but it was much-much tougher with dry rock.

 

[CDavmd]

Personally I think the hitchhiker thing is totally overblown. You just can’t establish the degree of biodiversity and population quickly using dry rock alone. Yes it will come but at a much slower rate and with he risk of imbalances with a subgroup of organisms winning out for long periods.

Back in the day Live rock was the norm. You dealt with the odd hitchhiker if needed and that was that.

Using dry with live is currently the way to go in my opinion. It’s just too difficult to get and expensive to go all live rock- but seeding dry with live and giving all the cryptic organisms a chance to establish before adding fish will go a long way toward success.

This has worked for me and like I said it really blunts the ugly stage (at least it has for me). My current build kinda parallels BRS’s new 750xl...they went ONLY dry Marco rock. ONLY bacteria and no pod additions, added fish early (a lot of them), delayed lights for 2 months but when they came on they went full spectrum and intensity; now they have an algae mess. Yes it will subside and a year from now all will be good but then again in MY experience- following the outline in my previous post, one can avoid a lot of this by going slow and paying attention to the planktonic species which are so important to a balanced diverse ecosystem.

 

[SMSREEF]

I went to the Real Reef manufactured rock and would not do that again. I was afraid of hitchhikers, wanted to be environmentally conscious, and frankly saw BRS's 160 build that thought that that was the way to go. It took me 2.5 years and 2 bouts of Dino to get where I would have been with 1 year or less of live rock. Big mistake. My reef's ecosystem is finally coming along, and my tang is looking awesome, but it was much-much tougher with dry rock.

I’m glad your ecosystem is going good now.
Your story is similar to what happened with my nano, but it was only 10 gallons so it was easy to replace rock. That would be quite a chore on a 160!

The poll info was pretty informative. There are not too many people in any group that said they would never do it again (less than 10% total). Kinda surprising to me because I read many posts on the forum and get the idea that many are not happy they started with live rock or dead rock.

I think time is key...not to rush. Also, many of us really like the idea of wanting more diversity and we need to understand that may come with something or things you may now want in the tank. I’m hoping Quarantine of the live rock will help me identify issues prior to adding it to the tank.

I’m hoping the half dead and half live method and lights out for a few months will do the trick this time.

 

[Rich Klein]

I’m glad your ecosystem is going good now.
Your story is similar to what happened with my nano, but it was only 10 gallons so it was easy to replace rock. That would be quite a chore on a 160!

The poll info was pretty informative. There are not too many people in any group that said they would never do it again (less than 10% total). Kinda surprising to me because I read many posts on the forum and get the idea that many are not happy they started with live rock or dead rock.

I think time is key...not to rush. Also, many of us really like the idea of wanting more diversity and we need to understand that may come with something or things you may now want in the tank. I’m hoping Quarantine of the live rock will help me identify issues prior to adding it to the tank.

I’m hoping the half dead and half live method and lights out for a few months will do the trick this time.

LOL - I meant that finally my "Tank is looking awesome" (and my Tangs are good as well). But totally agree that Time is the key.. and rushing is looking for trouble. I have to admit though, since I was stubborn enough to hang in there I have learned a lot about biodiversity, chemistry etc.. the hard way ;-).

 

[SMSREEF]

LOL - I meant that finally my "Tank is looking awesome" (and my Tangs are good as well). But totally agree that Time is the key.. and rushing is looking for trouble. I have to admit though, since I was stubborn enough to hang in there I have learned a lot about biodiversity, chemistry etc.. the hard way ;-).

Yes, your tank is awesome!
I assumed you meant tank looks awesome.
Thanks for attaching the pic