Dry Reef Rock: What are your thoughts?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

What do you think about using dry reef rock in your aquariums and the long term impacts that it may or may not have?

 

[mike007]

Never used it before but I might try it on next tank. I have had my live rock for 15+ years and I am still getting unwanted hitchhikers.

 

[Towner]

Started my tank with Dry rock.... 90% anyway. It's going on three years old and the tank is doing fantastic. No Hitchhikers, The rock grows its own nitrifying bacteria after a couple of months, it will color up and grow just as much stuff as live rock eventually. So far no signs of causing problems in my tank!

 

[spacetime]

Had problems with an eco friendly version of dry rock from a well known distributor. My tank appeared to have cycled and I seeded it with LR but had problems for 4-6 months as I could not find a nutrient balance until I replaced 80% of it with live rock.

 

[ben10]

I love it started my tank with it have no issues and no hitch hikers best way period.

 

[NanaReefer]

Only way for me is pest free!

 

[Pete polyp]

I use all live rock. I get tons of hitchhikers like pods, bristle worms, micro brittle stars, chitons, limpets, sponges and other great little critters. I have had some nasty hitchhikers like zoa eating nudi and redbugs from frags. I don't blame live rock at all for the nasty stuff. What bad hitchhikers are people afraid of with live rock? Mantis shrimp? That's just another good excuse to convince the wife we need a nano!

 

[Harrisd503]

It will work it just takes more time to get it prepared and ready to do its job. As with anything in this hobby, if you pay less money you're going to have to pay with more of your precious time(or more money later on). Bonus is that can be sure it's pest free and of course cheaper.

 

[tyler1503]

I used all dry rock on my 24 and all live rock on the 5.
2 years on for the 24 and 3-4 years for the 5 all they're still going strong. The only difference I can tell between the 2 is I never seeded my 24 with live rock, so it's still bare.
Plus the price difference is huge.

 

[Pete polyp]

I used all dry rock on my 24 and all live rock on the 5.
2 years on for the 24 and 3-4 years for the 5 all they're still going strong. The only difference I can tell between the 2 is I never seeded my 24 with live rock, so it's still bare.
Plus the price difference is huge.

Price difference of what?

 

[Jimbo662]

You can pay anywhere from about $6-10 / lb for live rock and a lot of that weight is the water. Buying dry rock you're looking closer to $2-4 / lb depending on the type and no water to add to the weight. I usually buy about 95% dry and buy a couple of pounds from an LFS to help seed the rest. Basically you get more for your money when going dry.

 

[martyumengan]

I have used liverocks before in my old tank and was very happy with the life included in it, the only thing I did not like about them was the surprise eunicid/bobbit worms package. :lol:

On my current tank I am using almost 100% DIY rocks (I used perlite, portland and oyster grit). The good thing about DIY or dried rocks is they are easier to work with and are highly cuatomizable. Dried and DIY rocks will be teeming with life after a few months, (I have literally thousands of collonista snails, various worms and pods and feather worms living inside the rocks) but I guess not as much life as real live rocks would... so I guess that may also be a disadvantage.

Pardon the messy tank. It's very low-tech.

 

[martyumengan]

Oops, the image did not show. I'm having a hard time posting using my old phone. :lol:

 

[Pete polyp]

You can pay anywhere from about $6-10 / lb for live rock and a lot of that weight is the water. Buying dry rock you're looking closer to $2-4 / lb depending on the type and no water to add to the weight. I usually buy about 95% dry and buy a couple of pounds from an LFS to help seed the rest. Basically you get more for your money when going dry.

My live rock cost me $5/lb at the lfs. Its awesome tukani rock too. Live aquaria has Fiji for $99/45lb box, and it was on sale last week for $79. At $99 its still only $2.20/lb.

 

[HiddenUser]

Once I make the jump from my 90 to my 270, I'm starting with all Dry Rock...tired of hitchhikers which were 'included' when I used Live Rock...

 

[Pete polyp]

Once I make the jump from my 90 to my 270, I'm starting with all Dry Rock...tired of hitchhikers which were 'included' when I used Live Rock...

What hitchhikers are you referring to?

 

[tyler1503]

Price difference of what?

There's a huge price difference between live rock and dry rock. Dry rock is about $10/kg and live rock is about $20/kg here.

 

[Pete polyp]

There's a huge price difference between live rock and dry rock. Dry rock is about $10/kg and live rock is about $20/kg here.

As I stated earlier... premium Fiji at doctor foster and Smith here is $2.20/lb for a 45lb box. Normally you will get close to 50lbs. At 45lb it makes the live rock $4.84/kg.

 

[tyler1503]

As I stated earlier... premium Fiji at doctor foster and Smith here is $2.20/lb for a 45lb box. Normally you will get close to 50lbs. At 45lb it makes the live rock $4.84/kg.

I live in Australia. It would cost a fortune to get it delivered (a lot more than the $100 it costs for the rock itself. After all, a tshirt is about $20 for delivery from the US, so something ALOT heavier and bigger would be ridiculous), plus it would have too much die off in it from transporting it across to the other side of the planet to really have any benefit at all.
I'd love to pay almost $5/kg for live rock. But in reality I have to pay anything from $20/kg and up locally or travel for 5 hours and get it for $15/kg.

 

[Eienna]

My live rock cost me $5/lb at the lfs. Its awesome tukani rock too. Live aquaria has Fiji for $99/45lb box, and it was on sale last week for $79. At $99 its still only $2.20/lb.

Isn't that "pukani"?


I will always start with dry rock and add my own critters. After having had aiptasia....ugggggghhhhh.