Adding Aquacultured Live Rock... What's your take?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I've been following multiple threads lately talking about using aquacultured live rock rather than dry rock. In my time reefing, I've used live rock from established tanks and dry rock that I cleaned myself with muriatic acid to avoid pests. Lately though, I've been thinking about getting some aquacultured live rock as I've been reading about a lot of the reviews and benefits of it. The biodiversity is amazing with lots of great and surprising hitchhikers and added maturity of the rock boosts beneficial bacteria and fauna in the reef tank. The cons (as I understand it) are potential nasty hitchhikers.

So I'm wondering how many of you use aquacultured live rock, and what has been your take on the risks?

Also, if someone like me (since I have a tank where I used dry rock initially) were to add a bit of live rock to my tank for some more biodiversity, how much would I need to add?

Lastly, what's the process you would use if adding live rock to your already existing system? What would quarantine/checking it look like before putting it in the DT?

Photo by @KenO

 

[fish farmer]

My first 38 gallon reef was set up with 20 lbs of uncured Fiji and about 20 lbs of base/dead coral. That tank did really well for me for two years before I upgraded.

I upgraded that tank to a 55....cured 30 lbs of aquacultured Gulfview rock, the base coralline rock which still had some hitchhikers come on it like urchins and a crab or two. That cured in four weeks in a vat with daily observations and hand picking of dead loss like sponges.

If I had to start over I would do the same part dry base and part live, but not super saturated with life like the primo aquacultured....I really don't want or need barnacles or huge bivalves in my reef, but some sponge life and micro organisms are good.

I like the biodiversity and I would more than likely vat new rock for cure/observation for a few weeks, but really think I would have a hard time finding all the potential nasties and would eventually just tank it.

One con for me with Florida rock is some of the red algaes I got on my rock were very difficult to control and would fragment and wind up everywhere....it was worse that GHA.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

My first 38 gallon reef was set up with 20 lbs of uncured Fiji and about 20 lbs of base/dead coral. That tank did really well for me for two years before I upgraded.

I upgraded that tank to a 55....cured 30 lbs of aquacultured Gulfview rock, the base coralline rock which still had some hitchhikers come on it like urchins and a crab or two. That cured in four weeks in a vat with daily observations and hand picking of dead loss like sponges.

If I had to start over I would do the same part dry base and part live, but not super saturated with life like the primo aquacultured....I really don't want or need barnacles or huge bivalves in my reef, but some sponge life and micro organisms are good.

I like the biodiversity and I would more than likely vat new rock for cure/observation for a few weeks, but really think I would have a hard time finding all the potential nasties and would eventually just tank it.

One con for me with Florida rock is some of the red algaes I got on my rock were very difficult to control and would fragment and wind up everywhere....it was worse that GHA.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm considering adding some LR to my 50g cube. I wonder what ratio I'd need for it to be beneficial. I saw you went with 50% initially. Do you think that's the threshold for benefit, or would less have worked out?

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Good thread @Daniel@R2R!

I’m wondering if you’ve seen my threads about this topic. In any case I’m in the same boat. Planning on adding AC LR to my build along with a bit of dry rock for aquascaping

 

[lmm1967]

I'm a big fan of the aquacultered rock - specifically from TBS as I had a good experience.

HOWEVER - and this is big these days - you MUST commit to truly being OK with what comes in your shipment.

Many hobbyists do not have the patience or willingness to handle what may (or may not in all reality) be in those boxes of rock and ocean water you are going to receive.

We had a ton of great stuff - sponges, pods, little bitty pistol shrimp, all sorts of filter feeders, sponges, wonderful looking rock etc. Those were all the good stuff.

Then we get to what many consider bad. We had quite a few Whelk snails - one managed to get in to a tank with a clam - which spelled doom for the clam. Sad and annoying but I did not go on a whelk killing rampage.

We had several "gorilla" crabs. I didn't kill them as I committed to working with anything that came in. The crabs never caused us any problems even though 2 grew to about the size of a half dollar (not the legs - the body). I would hand feed them - we enjoyed them and still would be if it hadn't been for the next little critter.

We found a 3" oyster toadfish in our shipment. Eventually he grew large enough that he ate any and all of those crabs. Pretty sure he found any snails to be tasty treats as well.

Today our toadfish is about a foot long, resides in his very own 180 gallon aquarium and eats the same seafood we do - he gets it more often than we do though. He also tries to eat anything that gets in his tank. Including doing things like swimming around with the algae scraper one day last week.

I would do it again in a heartbeat - but I'm willing to work with and deal with anything that should show up.

If you are not willing to potentially sacrifice being able to have certain things (like a clam in my case) - I would think twice.

 

[fish farmer]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm considering adding some LR to my 50g cube. I wonder what ratio I'd need for it to be beneficial. I saw you went with 50% initially. Do you think that's the threshold for benefit, or would less have worked out?

There is a well know reefer in the Boston area 20 years ago....Greg Hiller. I believe I read years ago that his tank was dry rock collected over the years from vacations to tropical places and one well selected 5 lb piece of live rock.

I bought about 5 lbs of hand selected live rock to add diversity to my previous 55 gallon in 2003 which at that point had gone through a major heat have. I still have a couple of big tube worms that came in on the rock. That rock also was good seed rock for coralline algae.

I always am looking for places that I could buy a minimum of 5 lbs of Florida rock without too much cost/hassle. I think of any amount of live rock and live sand as beneficial. I bought the "9 of 99$" deal from IPSF, tiny amount of sand/mud with snails, but was all that was needed to get life going in my first reef.

I did notice that when I rebuilt my current tank 10 years ago with dry marco and the better pieces of established live rock that the dry seemed to attract hair algae quicker than the live, but eventually everything has gotten covered with life. I have some "live" haitain rock which I ordered online which was pretty much lifeless chunks, maybe some bacteria. I used it for a while in my setups finally selecting a piece for my current setup. 10 years later it is covered with coralline, sponges, tube worms, mushrooms, etc.

 

[Pistondog]

Gulfliverock.com
Used on nano, gorgeous, but you get many hitchikers.
I will use on next 20 g slave build, probably with air freight vs 3 day.

 

[lmm1967]

I would urge anyone doing this to be sure everything is shipped in water. Not wet - actually in water completely submerged - and go with overnight air freight.

It's a little bit of a pain - but I had zero die off due to shipping. Everything smelled like the ocean and I never saw any ammonia.

 

[GlassMunky]

I’m in the same boat as well, started all dry and fully QT everything for

I'm a big fan of the aquacultered rock - specifically from TBS as I had a good experience.

HOWEVER - and this is big these days - you MUST commit to truly being OK with what comes in your shipment.

Many hobbyists do not have the patience or willingness to handle what may (or may not in all reality) be in those boxes of rock and ocean water you are going to receive.

We had a ton of great stuff - sponges, pods, little bitty pistol shrimp, all sorts of filter feeders, sponges, wonderful looking rock etc. Those were all the good stuff.

Then we get to what many consider bad. We had quite a few Whelk snails - one managed to get in to a tank with a clam - which spelled doom for the clam. Sad and annoying but I did not go on a whelk killing rampage.

We had several "gorilla" crabs. I didn't kill them as I committed to working with anything that came in. The crabs never caused us any problems even though 2 grew to about the size of a half dollar (not the legs - the body). I would hand feed them - we enjoyed them and still would be if it hadn't been for the next little critter.

We found a 3" oyster toadfish in our shipment. Eventually he grew large enough that he ate any and all of those crabs. Pretty sure he found any snails to be tasty treats as well.

Today our toadfish is about a foot long, resides in his very own 180 gallon aquarium and eats the same seafood we do - he gets it more often than we do though. He also tries to eat anything that gets in his tank. Including doing things like swimming around with the algae scraper one day last week.

I would do it again in a heartbeat - but I'm willing to work with and deal with anything that should show up.

If you are not willing to potentially sacrifice being able to have certain things (like a clam in my case) - I would think twice.

i feel like all of your “problems” could have easily been solved by just a simple observation QT in a separate tank.

I currently have about 20lbs of live rock sitting in a 55G tank with a simple LED light over it and a power head for flow.
Glad I did too because I found a couple majano nems on it.

 

[lmm1967]

I’m in the same boat as well, started all dry and fully QT everything for

i feel like all of your “problems” could have easily been solved by just a simple observation QT in a separate tank.

I currently have about 20lbs of live rock sitting in a 55G tank with a simple LED light over it and a power head for flow.
Glad I did too because I found a couple majano nems on it.

I did not have any problems and if I portrayed that in my post it was unintentional.

I lost a clam - which was my fault for not realizing a single whelk snail would be able to get from this 40 gallon tank, down to the shared sump and back up in to our other tank.

I enjoyed all the life that came in on the rock - so much so that I have dedicated an entire 180 gallon tank to just the toad fish.

What I did intend to portray is if anyone is in the "must kill all hitch hikers - stab those crabs - throw that pistol shrimp down the drain" mentality then they should not go this route.

I'm the opposite - if I bring a critter in to our home - I do my best to keep it alive and help it live in a decent environment.

 

[Sump Crab]

Buy some TBS or similar rock and throw it in there! No qt needed. Just do it! Your tank will be happy for it. Get some of his sand also, even if just 1lb.

 

[ImaFlippinDolphin]

I'm planning on doing a mix of maricultured and "cured" man made from LFS to add interesting features for aquascaping. That said, just last night i was perusing TBS, KP aquatics and live rock and reef...decisions decisions...

 

[csb123]

I’m going to boost diversity in my tank this fall, with live rock, sand, and mud. My plan is to observe it in my quarantine tank, on raised egg crate and feed it with a few sinking pellets. Hopefully it will entice the crabs and mantis shrimp out.

 

[lmm1967]

I’m going to boost diversity in my tank this fall, with live rock, sand, and mud. My plan is to observe it in my quarantine tank, on raised egg crate and feed it with a few sinking pellets. Hopefully it will entice the crabs and mantis shrimp out.

I didn't get any mantis - I did get a few pistol shrimp. They are really small and harmless - but they do snap fairly loud.

 

[RMS18]

I will never start a tank ever again without live rock from the ocean. However, it only goes in my sump unless there is a piece that I'm sure is safe to add to display with no holes for bad critters to crawl out of. I do go through the rock the best I can to get anything undesirable off or out. Such as Bristleworms / fireworms bad crabs anything that I don't want in my system.

 

[alton]

I have only used KP shipped SW air freight , I have seen someone elses tank with Tampa bay and it looked awesome. Less ammonia and die off shipping in cooler temps. Most complaints come from UPS shipments. I do the 50 lbs or more to my SW terminal which is awesome. Next time I will do shipped in water and pay the extra freight. All rock gets placed in a holding tank and I find most crabs, pistol shrimp are the hardest but I have never lost anything to one. Mantis are caught with bottle traps which are far and in between.

 

[Midrats]

Adding real live rock has always been the most fun part of setting up a tank for me. I can't imagine going without it.

 

[ChrisNH]

I used dead rock despite originally intending to use live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. During covid it was just easier and I wanted to be able to take my time with the aquascape. It turned out to be wise, I had problems leveling my stand and had to drain and make some updates which would have been a hassle with true live rock. I really enjoyed aquascaping but it took me weeks to iterate through revisions before I glued together the final product.

I am very happy with how my aquascape turned out but I now find myself wishing for more biological diversity. Bristle worms, bacteria, corraline, that kind of thing. I placed an order with ipsf.com and that will hopefully kick my tank to the next biological level and seed my refugium. Since it is an aquaculture facility I am hoping any pests are minimal. I can only cross my fingers on ich/velvet trophonts coming along for the ride.

It is my hope then when I do my next tank, rock from my 40 will be a great seed stock.

 

[BackToTheReef]

Having used LR in the past and seeing the biodiversity it brought I will do it again with my new tank. I hope to use a mix of LR from a few different places and mix that in with some dry Marco/TLF (stax, foundation, and shelf). I'll probably end up running the LR in some tubs and soak the dry in RO or something before scaping my main tank.

QT'ing my live rock might give me the chance to catch any real disasters but I'm ok with bristle worms, pistol shrimp, etc. for the most part. With any luck the fish will help keep anything too detrimental in check.

I have seen where some shops are sticking dryrock in a system so it gets the bacteria colonies but not much other life. That I'm not so down for.

 

[IKD]

Are there any recommendations as to the ratio of live rock to dry rock? I have a dry rock Structure going in my display tank And I plan to use live rock in the sump to seed it.