Dry rock, live sand and Dr. Tim's????

[funguyatnight]

I am thinking of starting a new 70 gal reef tank with dry rock, live sand and Dr. Tim's One and Only. This will be a fishless startup.

My question is, can you create live rock from dry rock with only live sand and Dr. Tim's One and Only?

 

[Jlobes]

short and simple...yes. this is probably the best way to go, with a new setup. no unwanted HH, and a clean start.

 

[PatW]

There are two views of this.

You can do what you are doing. Use dry rock and get it to cycle. Dr Tim's might speed it up. I think to get coralline algae, you need to introduce some. It might even piggyback in on the clean up crew. There are beneficial small inverts like pods, Rotifera, various small worms that you will not have unless you add them somehow.

With live rock, you take the risk of introducing unwanted animals like mantis shrimp or aptasia. But you will have quite a few beneficial creatures too.

Both methods have positives and minuses.