Live Rock vs Dry Rock

[sudman]

Hi !

I have a 120 gallon aquarium with 50 lbs of Live Rock . It’s a new tank and I am just going through the cycling process .

To aid with this I have added the Fritz 900 Nitrifying bacteria and plan to add their ammonia as well .

Would it be acceptable to add another 50 - 70 lbs in dry rock ? This of course would be much cheaper than buying it all live . Would the fritz help ‘seed’ life into it ?

If yes, where would you recommend I buy dry rock from ?

Thank you

 

[Reef-junky]

The live rock will seed the dry rock. Some people only buy one or two live rocks. It will be fine to buy the rest of the rock dry. As far as where to get the rock it depends on what you like.

 

[Gary S]

Hi !

I have a 120 gallon aquarium with 50 lbs of Live Rock . It’s a new tank and I am just going through the cycling process .

To aid with this I have added the Fritz 900 Nitrifying bacteria and plan to add their ammonia as well .

Would it be acceptable to add another 50 - 70 lbs in dry rock ? This of course would be much cheaper than buying it all live . Would the fritz help ‘seed’ life into it ?

If yes, where would you recommend I buy dry rock from ?

Thank you

I used all dry rock when starting mine, with only a fistful of live sand with excellent success. So I think you're more thank okay to do that. I always buy mine from BRS because its prewashed, pest free, and its mined from land instead of pulled from the ocean.

 

[mta_morrow]

Reefcleaners.org is a very good supplier for dry, clean rock. Very porous and lots of holes, etc.

 

[Reef-junky]

it depends on the type of dry rock as far as if you will have to give it an acid bath. I’ve gotten rock from BRS that was full of dead stuff. You could get rock off Amazon or even a LFS. Just search dry rock and a bunch of places will come up.

 

[sudman]

Thank you all for taking the time to share your excellent suggestions !

 

[sudman]

Does anyone know how I can get my rocks to grow the purple color? I think it’s a form of algae ?

 

[Reef-junky]

Does anyone know how I can get my rocks to grow the purple color? I think it’s a form of algae ?

It will grow naturally in time. Then you will be complaining that you have to scrape it off the glass. coralline algae Is what it’s called. You can jump start it if you can get a rock that has it and scape it off then spread it around in your tank.