Live rock or normal dried rock??

[jamiec266]

Ok so heres whats happened since last time i was on here. You know the apsolute worst thing that can happen to your tank? What is it for you?? Well for me it was the tank split.... yep my tank split ended up with 280ltrs of water all over my kitchen floor. Lost 3 fish and one acan. Which i think it bloody good! Thought id loose them all.... thank god i had a tank in my shed i brought for 50 dollars and had sitting there. So getting a sump made for it now, got my protein skimmer hanging on side of tank till that happens. But anyway now i have a 400ltr tank with sooooo much room. My little 280 was chockers but this one looks so bare. I have live sand amd live rock but i want to buy a heap of rock to build up to put in this tank. Wana habe time to mess around and stick it together how i like before i put it ib the tank. Just wondering what the difference is between live and dry rock and wat differences it makes to the tank also please. All info will be helpfull so i can make a xhoice and order some. Thanks heaps [emoji4][emoji4]

 

[keddre]

I would (and in my next tank will) go with dry rock mixed with live. Dry rock is just live rock that dried off and the bacteria died. Since you have enough bacteria on your current live rock for your inhabitants now, you can just add the dry. Only downside to rock is no hitchhikers, but some people see that as a blessing

 

[PatW]

Dry rock comes in several types. Some is rock that used to be part of a reef, that is collected onshore (fossil reef). There are a variety of sources like Marco Rocks and BRS Reef savers. Some sources are well cleaned, others not so much.

Other dry rock is harvested from reefs, dried and shipped. Some of it has copious organic matter on it and some is well cleaned.

Any dry rock needs about a month of conditioning to get it bacteria established.

Live rock can be dry rock that is cured. It has been in salt water long enough to have bacteria on it but not much else. Other live rock is collected from marine sources and shipped by air. It can have interesting marine hitch hikers.

Any rock, dry or live can be a source of phosphates. Some sources are reputedly phosphate free. Phosphates will cause algal blooms in the aquarium.

Any live rock can be a source of hitch hiking pests.

Live rock tends to be far more expensive.

 

[George Lopez]

Im no pro but i believe BRS did a segment on dry rock and you still had to cure it to get rid of the dry organics on it so its not just drop it in, it's cure it for 3 months then clean it then drop it in. Of not you could cause spikes in your tank possibly killing everyone off. My LFS cures their live rock and Ott can just go in.

Another option is CaribSea Life rock is man made and made to look natural and it comes a stacking, shapes and as branch... Just throwing it out there

 

[keddre]

Im no pro but i believe BRS did a segment on dry rock and you still had to cure it to get rid of the dry organics on it so its not just drop it in, it's cure it for 3 months then clean it then drop it in. Of not you could cause spikes in your tank possibly killing everyone off. My LFS cures their live rock and Ott can just go in.

Another option is CaribSea Life rock is man made and made to look natural and it comes a stacking, shapes and as branch... Just throwing it out there

I haven't used it but I've heard great things about the CaribSea and actually plan on trying some with my next tank so +.5

 

[Mikedawg]

Im no pro but i believe BRS did a segment on dry rock and you still had to cure it to get rid of the dry organics on it so its not just drop it in, it's cure it for 3 months then clean it then drop it in. Of not you could cause spikes in your tank possibly killing everyone off. My LFS cures their live rock and Ott can just go in.

Another option is CaribSea Life rock is man made and made to look natural and it comes a stacking, shapes and as branch... Just throwing it out there

I've used the standard CaribSea Life rock and really like it, especially the Tonga branchs. Now I see a new "design" is available: Liferock Shapes which really looks good - more open design and same great colors.

 

[George Lopez]

I've used the standard CaribSea Life rock and really like it, especially the Tonga branchs. Now I see a new "design" is available: Liferock Shapes which really looks good - more open design and same great colors.

Yea the new shapes can be beautiful and great for making bridges and caves

 

[tdileo]

I reccomend mixing it up. I use like 80% dry rock and then the rest live. I do suggest the live goes in a seperate container for a few days at least so you can make sure there are no bad hitchhikers. The weirdest I've ever gotten was some kind of green nudi before but it dissapeared before I could get it and I haven't seen it since.

 

[jamiec266]

Im no pro but i believe BRS did a segment on dry rock and you still had to cure it to get rid of the dry organics on it so its not just drop it in, it's cure it for 3 months then clean it then drop it in. Of not you could cause spikes in your tank possibly killing everyone off. My LFS cures their live rock and Ott can just go in.

Another option is CaribSea Life rock is man made and made to look natural and it comes a stacking, shapes and as branch... Just throwing it out there

Where can u buy CaribSea Life rock from? Ebay or a certain online store or website?

 

[George Lopez]

Where can u buy CaribSea Life rock from? Ebay or a certain online store or website?

Ok so i checked and lots of places sell LifeRock, BulkReefSupplies.com, Saltwateraquariums.com,
Ebay, and Amazon. Each has a different selection of the three types (branch, shelf, and shapes) and quantity. And if your LFS sells CaribSea they can probably get it for you as well

 

[robert teseo]

depends on what your looking for.personally, I,m trying for a real reef look. I get my live rock from tampa bay saltwater. direct from the bay to tank. it has all the critters, both good and "bad". but , it's a live reef. and whats really bad?.last tank I ended up with a mantis shrimp. turns out he was one of the high points of the tank. he came out and took he's food off the stick and did little if any damage.

 

[jamiec266]

Ok so i checked and lots of places sell LifeRock, BulkReefSupplies.com, Saltwateraquariums.com,
Ebay, and Amazon. Each has a different selection of the three types (branch, shelf, and shapes) and quantity. And if your LFS sells CaribSea they can probably get it for you as well

Great thanks ur a ledgend [emoji4]

 

[reef life]

For me, Only dry rock and design what you want. I had Polyclad flat worms from live rock. It took redoing my whole tank and start over to remove them. (My new system is now 4 months old) It was frustrating every morning to look at empty snail shells.