Live rock vs clean

[cracker]

Iv'e also had algae probs using dry rock . I realize the $$ of say TBS but I think it's well worth it. Now dry rock with some work & considerable time can work just fine just needs all the Po4 trapped in it drawn out.
Bottom line? Save $$$ with dry avoid unwanted critters but takes more time .Or spend $ on fresh live rock & get your tank up and going critters & all .
After all this salt en devour is based on patience . I prefer Live rock fresh from the sea but it's your call.

 

[TheBackAndForth]

Iv'e also had algae probs using dry rock . I realize the $$ of say TBS but I think it's well worth it. Now dry rock with some work & considerable time can work just fine just needs all the Po4 trapped in it drawn out.
Bottom line? Save $$$ with dry avoid unwanted critters but takes more time .Or spend $ on fresh live rock & get your tank up and going critters & all .
After all this salt en devour is based on patience . I prefer Live rock fresh from the sea but it's your call.

reefcleaners rock was very good for me, was cheap, large nice pieces, no PO4

was not premium fiji. but then again, you cant get premium fiji anymore!

 

[Mark Brugh]

On my current tank I started with a 50/50 mix of dry rock and live rock that had coralline algae growing under a controlled set up so there were no Aiptasia or other pests on it. Worked out great for me. No pests, but you don't get all the neat stuff that will come on live rock from the ocean either.

 

[jda]

Unless you are going to run a STRICT coral, invert and fish quarantine with separate systems, then anything that you hate about live rock will get back into your tank again... aiptaisa, bubble algae, hair, etc. Some of it still will with a coral and invert QT. All of these have consumers.

Live rock only for me. If it has nasties on it, them "cook" the rock - google this, it does not mean using an oven or stove or anything and it means keeping it dark for a few months for the rock and critters to clean it out. The porous nature, phosphate free structure and bacteria are indispensable for a baseline for a diverse and healthy system. I would not use any dry/dead rock to start a tank unless there were no other options.

If you do use dry/dead rock, factor in another $3-4 a pound to fight off algae, your time and delaying the tank maturing. In the end, dry/dead rock is probably more expensive than ordering some real live rock. Real is only really available through the gulf right now, but word is that Indo rock will be available again in April or the summer. If you can find used rock locally, then get it and just get it into a cooking vat and have some patience.

 

[lapin]

I will chime in here for the great debate, Dry vs Live, Bare Bottom vs Sand, Skimmer vs No Skimmer, Acrylic vs Glass, LED vs.........
It is really what you are comfortable with. Either way will work. Pests will come with corals. You can deal with them as they appear. On live rock, pests will be introduced but you can deal with them as needed. Live rock is great for diversity. It might take years of adding coral to get that. With dry rock you can add the diversity if you can get a seed rock from a local reefer who's tank is mature. You might even ask if you can put a dry rock in someones tank to seed it. Its really up to you. We can not tell you one way is better than another. There are many ways to run a successful reef tank.

 

[Jekyl]

Just seems every reefer ends up with problems at 1 time or another. I'd rather get wet rock from everywhere possible and have all the good and deal with the bad that will happen anyway.

 

[jda]

While it is totally true that there are many ways to run a successful reef tank and you can find one of every kind, there are ways that more people have more success with and are more the rule than the exception. Quick-success tanks started with dry/dead rock an an exception - most take a year or two with algae struggles, which is the rule. If you want to achieve the most likely success that has worked for the most people, then be sure and sample a large quantity and whittle out the outliers.

 

[TheBackAndForth]

While it is totally true that there are many ways to run a successful reef tank and you can find one of every kind, there are ways that more people have more success with and are more the rule than the exception. Quick-success tanks started with dry/dead rock an an exception - most take a year or two with algae struggles, which is the rule. If you want to achieve the most likely success that has worked for the most people, then be sure and sample a large quantity and whittle out the outliers.

This. mine was touch and go with algae as soon as nitrates popped for a good while (6x months), and now my live rock is no different than anybody elses LR (2x years out)

I'm super careful about putting corals first into a little bitty desktop quarantine for over a month before I introduce, and if any nasties pop up I will catch them. that being said, I've still picked up some harder to remove algae's, endless pods and critters, lots of different red and green and white corallines, amongst other, just from introducing new corals. Good and bad. Bubble algae is why I got rid of my last tank--if it happens in this one and gets out of control (I had a nasty strain), ill be tempted to start over with real live rock

If you arent able to be careful on this scale, eventually you will get something anyway, so get the live rocka and enjoy a vibrant take.

changed my first answer

 

[ddrueckh]

My vote is for live rock. I think the biodiversity that comes with it is very important. I have had mine for 4 months and still discover new things on it. I went with Florida rock.

 

[SDK]

That's the problem, the TBS rock would be my dream rock to start with. I love reading the threads & tanks that start with it and the various critters that come with it. I purchased alot of expensive items for the tank & have basically come to the point where budget matters unfortunately. I'll revisit TBS to look at prices but if I have to stick to budget I'll go dry rock, I don't think there was anything special with this stores live rock other than price & very likely free aiptasia.

Have you called around locally? I’m up in MA now but lived in the NY/NJ metro area for 40 years before moving. This was always an area that had excellent marine and FW shops. You can find great LR in a properly managed LFS, so it might be worth investigating a bit more.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I am currently in the process of recuring some old school Ultra Premium Fiji Live rock that I have had since 2004 for my new SCA 150 build!

 

[ddrueckh]

Check out KP Aquatics. I ordered mine from them. It arrived in very good shape even though it isn’t submerged when shipped.

 

[harthag12]

Have you called around locally? I’m up in MA now but lived in the NY/NJ metro area for 40 years before moving. This was always an area that had excellent marine and FW shops. You can find great LR in a properly managed LFS, so it might be worth investigating a bit more.

I haven't called around but that's a good idea. We are lucky to have some good shops though most seem to be in north Jersey. I'm going to go with dry & try to find reputable shops / local club members who can sell me some small pieces to help with biodiversity & if I have to fight Algae from dry rock phosphates it's just something I'll do. I'm in this for the long haul and not expecting an instantaneous masterpiece with no issues. The original issue was more dry vs cheap likely Aiptasia filled rock from a less than stellar local store due to budget constraints.

 

[tony'stank]

I have been reefing for over 35 years. In that time I have started and maintained 6 display tanks. The first 4 tanks were started with live rock and the last two with dead rock. He live rock available today is not the same as what we could get previously. The original live rock I bought was loaded with life of all different types, most of them beneficial. Unless you buy from a place like Tampa Bay today’s live rock is pitiful. The live rock available from the LFSs in my area is not worth buying. If you buy from aquacultured sources it is expensive, must be bought in bulk, and difficult to usual in today’s minimalist aquascaping.
The last two tanks with dry rock took a very long time to stabilize. I took one to two years for them to look like the live rock tanks. In that time they became infested with pests ( aiptasia, bubble and green hair algae). Just like the live rock tanks. The pests came in on frags, colonies and chaeto., despite dipping and inspection. Whether you use live rock or dead rock, if you are patient you end up at the same place. The main advantage to dead rock is, price, availability, and being able to create interesting structures

 

[Bounce House]

I would purchase primarily dry rock, with a small amount of established live rock to seed the dry rock.

 

[Rich Klein]

I was super paranoid about introducing nuisance species, so I started with dry rock. I think it is part of the reason it has taken so long to get coralline algae to grow and my reef to take off. I think on my next build I might just go for Florida live rock and take my chances or seed at least like suggested above.

I agree - I did the same and fought 2 battles of Dino that I never would have had with Live Rock. My tank is maturing nicely now, but Live Rock is so much easier (my last 180 gal tank 15 years ago was live rock).

 

[Kal93]

My boyfriend and I both went with dry rock and bottled bacteria. As we added frags, we started to see odd filter feeders on the glass, stromatella snails, etc. Biodiversity will happen with dry rock, but to a lesser extent (which I will gladly accept in exchange for no aptasia, fireworms/bobbit worms, or mantis shrimp!)

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I have been reefing for over 35 years. In that time I have started and maintained 6 display tanks. The first 4 tanks were started with live rock and the last two with dead rock. He live rock available today is not the same as what we could get previously. The original live rock I bought was loaded with life of all different types, most of them beneficial. Unless you buy from a place like Tampa Bay today’s live rock is pitiful. The live rock available from the LFSs in my area is not worth buying. If you buy from aquacultured sources it is expensive, must be bought in bulk, and difficult to usual in today’s minimalist aquascaping.
The last two tanks with dry rock took a very long time to stabilize. I took one to two years for them to look like the live rock tanks. In that time they became infested with pests ( aiptasia, bubble and green hair algae). Just like the live rock tanks. The pests came in on frags, colonies and chaeto., despite dipping and inspection. Whether you use live rock or dead rock, if you are patient you end up at the same place. The main advantage to dead rock is, price, availability, and being able to create interesting structures

@tony'stank- could not agree more. I bought 50 pounds Tonga Branches and 50 lbs of Ultra Premium Fiji that I got in 2004!!!
This is truly old school live rock! I kept all of my Live rock that was in my old 120 that was up and running for over 14 years.

Ultra Premium Fiji

Tonga Branches

My tank @ 13 yrs

 

[Doctorgori]

What is actually a "pest" is relative to the host we are keeping.
I dunno; if the SPS dominant tank is the standard bearer with perhaps eventually $$$ in corals, just doing the risk reward; I wouldn't risk contamination if my goal was to eventually purchase a $100 purple stick.
OTOH I have purchased super diverse rock direct from the Pacific rock with actual brain coral et still surviving. You could amuse yourself for hours with all the diverse micro dusters, worms, and lower life forms, et. But when that rock was cheap and readily available; LPS & softies where also. Less abundant were the colorful SPS sticks we see nowadays.
I'm probably not alone in having some of that "natural" rock still, but it took effort to get it visibly pest free, if it really is.

 

[bblumberg]

It's a tough debate.

I started with dry rock and it's been a relentless battle with nuisance algae - brought me to breaking point on a few occasions (I have an 8ft tank full of rock). A year later, it's about 1/3rd covered in coralline and if I let it 2/3rds covered in GHA (near zero phosphate/nitrate). I spend 5 hours a week toothbrushing the GHA back, week after week, month after month - tried everything, nothing works (over the long term) - chaeto fuges running Kessil H380's, GFO, blackouts, moderate use of hydrogen peroxide, even baking rock in hot sun - nukes the coralline too and guess which algae grows back first when returned to the tank?

About 6 months ago I decide to quarantine some live rock to introduce more Coralline. Magnificent pieces 'full of life', different algaes, sponges, macro algae, simply magnificent to look at. They did 45 days fallow, constantly checking for pests, went into the tank. To this day not a spec of nuisance algae grows on them. I declared never to use dry rock again.

THEN, Zoa's started disappearing, mushrooms started disappearing, I eventually caught a crab (how he got through my pedantic quarantine period is beyond me) in the night, chopping and slurping down my torch coral like a bowl of spaghetti. Was a pain to catch and remove. All good for a while. Then again, prized 'designer Zoa' frags at $25 a polyp disappearing - again found another crab. Very painful to catch and remove. Now many months later no loss of corals, but still many hours of GHA removal on the dry rock as I patiently wait for thick coralline \ more corals to cover all rocks. I've decided now to completely rebuild my tank to minimise rock to light surface area or hire staff to fight the GFA back.

The decision becomes Nuisance creatures vs Nuisance algae? I still think I'd pick live rock if I had to start again (just for the light exposed top layer), do my best to Quaranteen out the pests, then offer up sacrifice corals to 'trap' pest crabs in the early months.

Have you considered adding some fish that love algae such as a lawnmower blennie and foxface rabbitfish? My tanks have one of each and no algae issues. The foxface destroyed a long running bubble algae problem in my 75g corner tank.