Angry, live rock

[BryanM]

I have " a way" about me, and generally when I think I've done enough research and decided upon a path, I stick with it.... Which I will do.

It seems I cannot go wrong choosing live sand and live rock, except for the ungodly cost. Good grief, this is just insane.

Oh well, that's the path I'm going down.

Going to get all of the other things going in the tank, and then order the live sand and rock, and hope for the best.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Live rock will be of benefit for both the tank and for cycling the system

 

[Solo McReefer]

Real Live Rock is the filter for the whole system

And the aquascape

Considering that many put thousands of dollars in tiny frags in that system

What is the filter really worth, to anyone

 

[Andrew Mc]

Get the live sand and a few pounds of live rock, then keep an eye out on Craigslist, FB Marketplace for someone selling their rock. By way of example, there's a guy 45 minutes away from me selling 100 pounds at $5 a pound. It's from a ten year old tank and looks great.

 

[Reef.]

Live sand if real live sand may be worth sticking to your guns for but if its just dry sand with some bottle bacteria added to it which a lot of it is, then you may want to fall off the path you are going down or at least save yourself some money and buy dry sand, give it a good rinse to get all the fines out of it and add a bottle of bacteria to it yourself, will give you a less cloudy tank and save you some money.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Live rock is well worth the cost. It'll establish a better microbiome in your tank than dry rock. I will 100% take this route in my next tank.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Get the live sand and a few pounds of live rock, then keep an eye out on Craigslist, FB Marketplace for someone selling their rock. By way of example, there's a guy 45 minutes away from me selling 100 pounds at $5 a pound. It's from a ten year old tank and looks great.

Oh yeah, I've done this. Out of the 145# of rock I have MAYBE 20 lbs were purchased at full price.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Get the live sand and a few pounds of live rock, then keep an eye out on Craigslist, FB Marketplace for someone selling their rock. By way of example, there's a guy 45 minutes away from me selling 100 pounds at $5 a pound. It's from a ten year old tank and looks great.

10 year old live rock

That was put in the tank before the dry dead rock era

Very real live rock

All the bad hitchhikers from the ocean have died off. Most likely completely covered in coralline(hopefully). It could have Aptasia, but that could be taken care of in a Brute


Probably worth more than $500 bucks

Unfortunately, all the reefers in my Marketplace area, kill their live rock, before posting it

One has big huge branching Tonga rock, and tufts of Pukani. Dead, on the driveway for the pictures. Sad, that's a sin

Look at that, sad

 

[Andrew Mc]

It needs to be tossed into the drink for a 3 to 4 year revitalizing bath. Come to think of it, that would be a pretty cool offering, Send your dead rock to Tampa Bay, Gulf Live Rock or KP for a three year trip to the spa. Upon conclusion, they return your exact rock, alive again.

 

[Extremeengineer]

I feel your pain. But the satisfaction of a skip cycle from the hundreds in live rock… honestly worth it, YMMV, but for me putting fish in within days; not weeks or months, worth it.

 

[BryanM]

I feel your pain. But the satisfaction of a skip cycle from the hundreds in live rock… honestly worth it, YMMV, but for me putting fish in within days; not weeks or months, worth it.

I agree, we're quite happy.

Too bad I have to wait for a lid to arrive, or we'd already have fish. We've added a medium size CUC, 2 hammers, and 1 favia already.

 

[Dburr1014]

I started with dry sand well rinsed and some live rock from the LFS. I also had a few dry pieces from a tank gone bye years ago.

Whenever I take a vacation to a tropical place I pickup a small piece of rock or a little sand in a bottle, wrap it in paper towel to keep it wet and wrap that in a plastic bag. That goes in the luggage. Just trying to keep some of that bacteria alive for some diversity.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Don't bother with live sand, and buy rock on marketplace/craigslist/the for sale section on here if possible. You can always buy cheap dry rock and seed with live. Just don't go full on dry rock.

 

[william Lutman]

I have " a way" about me, and generally when I think I've done enough research and decided upon a path, I stick with it.... Which I will do.

It seems I cannot go wrong choosing live sand and live rock, except for the ungodly cost. Good grief, this is just insane.

Oh well, that's the path I'm going down.

Going to get all of the other things going in the tank, and then order the live sand and rock, and hope for the best.

Biggest issue with living rock is pests. In my case it was unwanted plants

 

[Solo McReefer]

unwanted plants

Ocean rock will have thousands of cells of thousand if different algae on it

Many consider that a feature, not a bug

A Brute(s), time, a heater, clean sw, PPE, and elbow grease; many others would consider these an investment with great ROI. Some may even light it during this stage

I myself would be interested in pulling any residual Ph or Si out of the rock before it entered my tank. I suppose LC works for one, just need the technique, dose, and process. We shall see