Dry versus live Rock

[shred5]

Sorry didn't realize Marine Depot is a sponsored here so I deleted the rest of this post. Poked my finger in that hornets nest I guess :0

Not that it is just because they have been around a long time and that is for a reason.
I mean you could have got someone having a dad day. There are allot of people working there.

 

[*AKBOB*]

I can't say anthing about the rock but I ordered my IM 100 EXT from IM & Paul was very helpful as well, when I had 2 small issues with the stand he took care of it immediately. On the same note I've ordered a tank & many other items from Marine Depot with out issue. I had 2 48" bulbs arrive broken, they sent me replacements immediately no questions asked & when I had a skimmer on back order for a few months which I had no problem with they gave me 1500 reward points for my patience. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them but I don't believe that's a norm. Can you just keep the items & buy a similiar tank to the IM that was on back order from someone else, a waterbox, JBJ ect?

Maybe, but we didn't want to be stuck with useless product if we ended up with a larger tank or passed the return date trying to find something else. I really have no interest going smaller. Right now I think we've entered the cool down phase and It's all been shipped back now anyway. Hopefully the wife doesn't ask how much it cost to ship back or the cool down phase may be extended

On a side note, Paul was also surprised at they way they were acting, maybe a bad week for them and I just happened to be getting the brunt of their ire, either way from my perspective I am glad to be done with them once and for all, or so I hope.

 

[*AKBOB*]

Not that it is just because they have been around a long time and that is for a reason.
I mean you could have got someone having a dad day. There are allot of people working there.

Interesting point, I asked on my last call to them how many people work there because, with the exception of one other time only one person seems to answer the phone unless she is on lunch and I was told it is a very small business/small operation with very limited staff. I don't believe they run the warehouses and it's more of a drop ship operation in order to keep overhead costs down.

 

[shred5]

Interesting point, I asked on my last call to them how many people work there because, with the exception of one other time only one person seems to answer the phone unless she is on lunch and I was told it is a very small business/small operation with very limited staff. I don't believe they run the warehouses and it's more of a drop ship operation in order to keep overhead costs down.

Marine Depot has several warehouses and they are a wholesaler. Some stuff is dropped shipped by all aquarium retailers like fish tanks.

 

[YumaMan]

I use dry rock that has been soaked and rinsed out in my backyard for at least a month. Then I scour the rock with a plastic cleaning brush using citric acid and soak and rinse another week. The reason I went with dry rock is that my 120 gallon tank has about 90 lbs of rock, and this amount of rock would have cost me a fortune. In order to accelerate the reef aging and its biodiversity I use Fiji Mud in my refugium, lots of it. My advice is to go with easy critters at first, like soft corals and polyps, until the reef matures. Don't try Montipora or any SPS for that matter until you have Coraline algae growing nicely.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

Been doing this since the early 90s. I’ve done both for sure. Live rock is more entertaining and easier to get off the ground in a new tank. But I won’t use it again. I’ve not only been in the hobby when they were dynamiting reefs to get the rock -but discovered later that I owned that Marshal Islands rock. I’ve seen it do a lot of damage. I understand that we are getting much better about doing it wisely. But as a result I’ve transitioned to dry. I use bits of rubble to seed the tank. I am also still a huge believer in live sand (not the bagged stuff!!). It does VERY little damage and a great way to add bacterial diversity. Get your rocks in water with no light as soon as possible if you go dry and let them build a bacterial film and expose them to coralline algae ASAP. The only bottled stuff I’ve seen work in people’s tanks is Purple Helix... and it does work. I may end up using a few bottles on my next tank.

 

[reelredfisah]

Purple Helix just ordered a bottle of the purple and the pink. Want to add some to my sons reefer 170 and my 180G since it was dry Pukani rock which I cooked for weeks and scrubbed probably a month of that before it ever went in my tank.

 

[reefwiser]

The rock available today is farmed rock that has bees placed in the ocean. There is no collection of live rock from the ocean that hasn’t been placed there. The live rock sellers in FLORIDA have a license to farm their area of the ocean. The problem people do not under stand is that live rock is about bacteria. When you have live rock in your tank you get all the various strains of bacteria that are beneficial to keeping corals. If we had not started using live rock back in the late 80’s there would not be a reef hobby as we know it today.
Dry rock or cured rock will never give your tank the boost that rock from the ocean will give you. I see so many hobbyist battling algae and Dino’s that we use to have back before live rock entered the hobby. It’s so sad to see people so scared to use it when it is the one thing that will really help get your tank going.

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

Live rock I think would be better IMO because many of the nuisances you may have can be treated and if you probably get it from a LFS

 

[ectoaesthetics]

The rock available today is farmed rock that has bees placed in the ocean. There is no collection of live rock from the ocean that hasn’t been placed there. The live rock sellers in FLORIDA have a license to farm their area of the ocean. The problem people do not under stand is that live rock is about bacteria. When you have live rock in your tank you get all the various strains of bacteria that are beneficial to keeping corals. If we had not started using live rock back in the late 80’s there would not be a reef hobby as we know it today.
Dry rock or cured rock will never give your tank the boost that rock from the ocean will give you. I see so many hobbyist battling algae and Dino’s that we use to have back before live rock entered the hobby. It’s so sad to see people so scared to use it when it is the one thing that will really help get your tank going.

I find it hard to believe that people do not understand that LR is about bacteria. I have been in the hobby for many many years and do not know an active reefer that does not comprehend that. It is absolutely faster to set up your tank with LR. I don’t think you will find anyone who would argue against that.

However that is where the road ends. Bacteria breeds rather rapidly... it’s not like waiting for coral colonies to mature. It is absolutely without a doubt possible to build a very stable reef aquarium with dry rock. There are ways of ensuring bacterial diversity. Hence also using real live sand and seeding with pebbles (even the baserock for corals) does just fine. It is slower. No doubt. But I have created and seen many many tanks that were fantastic created with dry rock. I have seen many tanks infested with dinos and algae created with LR. I do not understand the arguments of it cannot be done when SOO many of us have done it.

 

[reefwiser]

It’s the many different types of bacteria that the whole rock contains that is important. Many are deep inside the live rock structure. Actual live rock is very lacy and holds a lot of water deep inside the rock. This fosters a bacteria that will denitrify the water fast.