Curing dry rock unconventionally

[All Mixed Up]

I'll preface by saying I live in Hilton Head Is, SC. I have a dock on Calibogue Sound, that is a few hundred yards from the Atlantic.

I've often thought about putting dry Marco rocks in some large crab traps and dropping them off the end of my dock for a few months.

In theory, this would allow the rock to become live rock, eliminate me needing to change the water while the rock is cooking, and allow beneficial bacteria to take hold in the rock.

I'm hesitant because the water here is not tropical in the same sense as water on the reef. Our water temps vary from upper 50's in the winter, to upper 80's in the summer.

Am I crazy?

Is this just asking for problems?

My tank is already up and running, this would be for a future tank if anything.

Concerns I have:
Pollution in the water from boats, littering, e.t.c...
Unwanted pests

 

[Surfzone]

I live in Charleston and also live near the water. I have also thought about doing this, you will get a large amount of bio diversity but it will mostly die off once in a reef type of environment. We keep our tanks too clean for the oysters, barnacles, and tunicates that will populate the rock so in other words you would end up cycling the rock again due to die off; also coraline doesn't grow this far north also the rock will be covered in sediment from the ebb and flow of the tides. If you're just doing it for the bacteria i say go for it if it's just until the water warms up. This time of year bivalves aren't spawning and will not populate the rock until the water warms up. As far a boat pollution is concerned I wouldn't be too concerned about it; if the water is clean enough for us to eat the clams and oysters that come out of it then I would think that for aquarium use would be alright. As far as pests go i would only be concerned about stone crabs, mantis shrimp, and various worms many of the same stuff as in real live rock. When I worked at the SC Aquarium we had rocks in a crab trap that was left out in Charleston Harbor for education classes, and they where covered in all kinds of stuff to include mantis shrimp, stone crabs, worms, but also blennies, oysters, tunicates, and some sponge growth. These rocks where left out for a year. You will also get many different species of benthic pods and this was in Charleston Harbor where there is plenty of boat traffic. Another concern is the salinity where you are. How will that match up to reef salinity are you in a brackish area or not. I know this is a lot to chew on but over all it's not a bad idea.

 

[jlts21]

I personally would not do it. The risk, no matter how small, to get bad hitchhikers in the rock wouldn't be worth it to me. People start with clean dry rock and cycle it themselves in the house, basement, garage, etc. for a reason. To limit the introduction of bad hitchhikers and issues as much as possible.

 

[Surfzone]

I personally would not do it. The risk, no matter how small, to get bad hitchhikers in the rock wouldn't be worth it to me. People start with clean dry rock and cycle it themselves in the house, basement, garage, etc. for a reason. To limit the introduction of bad hitchhikers and issues as much as possible.

While this is all very true many people would use real live rock if they could. This is no different than buying Tampa Bay Live Rock. Just the critters that you get would be different. if a crab trap is used to hold the rock and is suspended off of the bottom that would limit the amount of bad hitchhikers like crabs and mantis shrimp.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I am using milk crates as i live on the water. So have about 70lb of rock sitting in there since the summer lol.

 

[jlts21]

While this is all very true many people would use real live rock if they could. This is no different than buying Tampa Bay Live Rock. Just the critters that you get would be different. if a crab trap is used to hold the rock and is suspended off of the bottom that would limit the amount of bad hitchhikers like crabs and mantis shrimp.

Live rock is available to everyone, be it from LFS or ordering online. The only people I know that say they would use real live rock are ones that also said, "I don't care about hitchhikers, I'll deal with it if I get bad ones." Not trying to come off as a jerk or argumentative, but trying to create the most "controlled" setup is done by curing your own dry rock.

 

[All Mixed Up]

I

Live rock is available to everyone, be it from LFS or ordering online. The only people I know that say they would use real live rock are ones that also said, "I don't care about hitchhikers, I'll deal with it if I get bad ones." Not trying to come off as a jerk or argumentative, but trying to create the most "controlled" setup is done by curing your own dry rock.

I know what you're saying, and the bad hitchhikers are the main reason I've never tried it. As far as people curing their own rocks vs. using live rock, there have been countless posts about lack of biodiversity and beneficial bacteria and it's correlation to coral health and longevity. Not that you can't have a successful tank by just using dry rock.

 

[All Mixed Up]

I had a tank several years ago that I setup using TBS live rock and live sand. I had a mantis shrimp as the only bad hitchhiker, which I ended up setting up a separate tank and keeping him. I can't remember a single outbreak of bad algae with that tank, which i attribute to the use of real live rock and sand.

Since that tank, I've setup 2 new tanks. 1 using all dry rock, and a second using rock I bought from a LFS they had curing in a large vat. Both tanks have battled dino, hair algae, bryopsis, you name it.

This all while my husbandry practices and knowledge have improved, yet my tanks are harder to keep balanced.

Call it placebo effect, or whatever you like, but the proof is in the pudding as they say. I've seen first hand the difference.

 

[Rick5]

I think the concern about hitchhikers is blown way out of proportion. Take a look at the posts (anecdotally) linking dinos and other such issues to dry rock. Years back, I (and many others) used live rock on multiple tanks without incident.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I'll preface by saying I live in Hilton Head Is, SC. I have a dock on Calibogue Sound, that is a few hundred yards from the Atlantic.

I've often thought about putting dry Marco rocks in some large crab traps and dropping them off the end of my dock for a few months.

In theory, this would allow the rock to become live rock, eliminate me needing to change the water while the rock is cooking, and allow beneficial bacteria to take hold in the rock.

I'm hesitant because the water here is not tropical in the same sense as water on the reef. Our water temps vary from upper 50's in the winter, to upper 80's in the summer.

Am I crazy?

Is this just asking for problems?

My tank is already up and running, this would be for a future tank if anything.

Concerns I have:
Pollution in the water from boats, littering, e.t.c...
Unwanted pests

I'd cure the new rock in a tank using sea water & all the microbes it contains