Live rock question

[dbowman5]

Hello, I'm new to reefing. I want to start a larger tank(150) I have a 30 gallon running now. I have a chance to get a pretty good amount of live rock for free. Approximately 50 pounds. What is the general consensus on this. It appears to have a good amount of algea on it though. Should I clean it and cook it? Just use it? Just don't use it? Any help would be appreciated. I'm eat up with the reefing bug. I want to go big! Any help would be great? Thanks

Hi Welcome to the club. i am also new to saltwater. i have a pilot system that is going to be a quarantine for my larger system. not as big as yours but i like it. so the up-scaling allows some options. it also depends on where you see yourself going. For my tank i am trying to limit destructive species while allowing random diversity to do its will. i started with some live and some dry rock in the 30 gal bowfront and 20 gal rectangular sump. the live rock was from a LFS that had cured it.
When i moved to the 75/55 system after 3 months i moved that pest-free rock and some sand to it with some sterile man made rock. i then bought some live rock that had been turned in to the LFS by customers and put that into my QT system. That rock has some stuff in it and i am monitoring it with the goal of adding it to the DT in a couple of months.
full disclosure: i don't use pesticides in my yard, i fertilize sparingly, i plant flowers and feed birds. i have a compost pile in the back. what i get are birdseed weeds, and volunteer flowers and last year italian tomatoes grew from the compost. i often see snakes and bunnies, butterflies and hummingbirds. i trap mice and june bugs (june bugs eat oak leaves and i have a sapling that i am protecting). i pull any invasive honeysuckle that grows on the property.
What i am saying is that, if there are species that get into the tank, that you don't want, it takes more work to get them out than to keep them out. But, I, want to see what happens and every hitchhiker I see is a little gift. Curing live rock is a process that is well documented. Quarantining is a best practice. If you don't know where it has been, take precautions.
rambling over, thank you for being art of the hobby!

 

[Mellotang]

Light to Keep any Coraline alive

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Welcome to the forum! Sorry your first post had a stick measuring contest, I promise those are rare here.

 

[Aqua Man]

Asks 2 reefers and get 3 different answers!!

Like others have said, put rocks in a large tub with saltwater and forget about it for couple months. Do 100% water change, scrub the rocks and see how they look at that time.

 

[X-37B]

Considering I’ve been reefing for 25 yrs and have never had a successful tank using dry rock or dead rock to or “ghost fed” rock I was just trying to help

I am a marine biologist
Ghost feeding is not a professional term
You will Not hear it in any professional public or
Private aquarium

Been growing SPS since the 90’s

It will take you forever to be successful without
Live rock, at least 3 yrs till you’re biologically diverse

Live rock Is the key

And since when are bristle worms detrimental??


Go ahead Have a sterile tank
Wait forever for bio diversity
Have pale bleached corals

Enjoy the long, money wasting ride

I agree 100%. Live rock is king! Most new reefers would be better off spending money on real live rock, at least 50% live 50% dead, like TBS than spending money trying to control dead rock for a year imo.
Tank will be online faster and with less issues down the road if everything is kept "stable" from the beginning imo.
I would puy the live rock in a container with proper salinty and heater and go lights out for a few weeks at least. Change water and monitor parametrs.
The bad algae will die of and you will have some nice rick ready for your tank.

 

[X-37B]

Light to Keep any Coraline alive

Not a biologist but I have had live rock in my sump with no light for 3+ months before moving it to another system. Coralline was fine with no loss?
Still have some in my frag sump with no light and coralline is happy.

 

[Salty Lemon]

The best way is to do research -- lots of it and go with what works for you. There are many successful ways to start out a reef tank. Here are a couple links that might help you with your decision. Generally speaking, if it sounds too easy or too good to be true, there is a good chance you will regret it. This is a science. There are many ways to bring a baby into a world -- hospitals, C-section, at home in a plastic kiddie pool, etc. But all end up with healthy babies. Altho some leave scars, are more expensive, or may be a riskier situation. But the best way is what works best for the parents. (I'm a metaphor gal.) Welcome to the forum and I can't wait to see the build thread for that 150 (or your 30).

Starting new tank, trying to decide on rock...

So I have been trying to decide on the rock I want to start my tank with and wanted a little advice. Here is how I am seeing the pros and cons of each choice. Let me know if I am over or under estimating the pros and cons. Or if you feel like I am just flat out wrong in my thinking. Some of...

www.reef2reef.com

Dry Rock vs Live Rock – Which One to Choose? - ReefBum

I have always used live rock to start my tanks. However, more reef keepers today are going with dry rock so I decided to give it a shot.

reefbum.com

https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/209/?aid=209

 

[Mellotang]

Im Always amazed when people point to BRS for advice

Sometimes I think people forget they are a business
They are all about profit

Why would they tell you live rock is better if they don’t sell it

 

[Mellotang]

in short

You will decide what you want since this is a hobby n that is part of the fun
Figuring it out

But I think you can see many opinions

If you’re going to take advice from a message board at least try to validate the source

 

[Mellotang]

Good job posting multiple links Lemon

 

[Chickenboxkings]

Thank you for all the replies. I'm picking up the rock today! I'll take pics and post them tonight if everything goes to plan. The pics I got of it looks like it's covered in hair algae. The people I'm getting it from had an eel and fish only. No coral. I'm guessing there was little concern for water parameters. So... We will see how it goes! Thanks again for all the info!!

 

[Mellotang]

I guess when I read the rock description I feel bad that I didn’t say all Live rock is not equal

If it’s some live rock that was once dry, that someone had in a tank a minute, it never grew coralline, was basically never live rock then called it live rock don’t use it it’s a waste.

When I hear the term live rock I understand that to be coralline encrusted, from the ocean, bio diverse aragonite skeletons which were once living coral

Sounds like the rock you’re describing
Might not be that

Post Pics and I’m sure we will be able to tell