Live rock vs dry rock

[Hector De Jesus]

I've seen tons of live rock and dry rock. Any benefit to getting one vs the other? Also have seen Marcos rock. Looks really nice and easy to scape with. Any suggestions on other types of rock?

 

[EmdeReef]

I’m sure you will get great pros and cons arguments from successful reefers on here.

My 2c - as someone who’s grown corals in bare plastic tubs and small bare 10g tanks, I don’t think rocks are essential for growth so would say that it doesn’t matter if you use live or dry rock. Rock porosity/surface is important for the biofilter. It may take slightly longer for the tank to stabilize if using dry rock and there could be a different biome supported in your tank if using live vs. dry. We don’t have any conclusive evidence that one is more beneficial than other.

 

[Hector De Jesus]

I’m sure you will get great pros and cons arguments from successful reefers on here.

My 2c - as someone who’s grown corals in bare plastic tubs and small bare 10g tanks, I don’t think rocks are essential for growth so would say that it doesn’t matter if you use live or dry rock. Rock porosity/surface is important for the biofilter. It may take slightly longer for the tank to stabilize if using dry rock and there could be a different biome supported in your tank if using live vs. dry. We don’t have any conclusive evidence that one is more beneficial than other.

Thanks for the response. I am mainly looking to get rock that I can work with the easiest. I like that the dry rock can be messed with and set up outside of the tank.

 

[BestMomEver]

To me, using dry rock is taking the long way around. Why start from scratch when you can get a head start? You will have a little die off with live rock and you might get some hitchhikers but that’s ok with me. I prefer that to seeing white chunks of bare rock for six months. Live rock has so many biological and chemical advantages that it’s worth the extra cost too.

The only reason I would go with dry rock, would be if I chose to purchase some of the prefabricated stuff in all the cool shapes. But, when you do that, you pay more than you would for live rock.

 

[alton]

Depends on the definition of live rock? Flown in overnight from Florida is liverock. Rock at the lfs in a tub is not really liverock

 

[Hector De Jesus]

To me, using dry rock is taking the long way around. Why start from scratch when you can get a head start? You will have a little die off with live rock and you might get some hitchhikers but that’s ok with me. I prefer that to seeing white chunks of bare rock for six months. Live rock has so many biological and chemical advantages that it’s worth the extra cost too.

The only reason I would go with dry rock, would be if I chose to purchase some of the prefabricated stuff in all the cool shapes. But, when you do that, you pay more than you would for live rock.

Yes I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Hector De Jesus]

Depends on the definition of live rock? Flown in overnight from Florida is liverock. Rock at the lfs in a tub is not really liverock

Can you elaborate on this please?

 

[aquaman99]

If you want your box of water to have accurate life from a specific part of the ocean and don’t mind the potential for pests and nuisance algea/coral then live rock is your best bet. If you want a vastly reduced cycle time then live rock is what you want.
Keep in mind the more it’s out of oxygenated water, the more stuff on it dies. This becomes troublesome with intricate aquascape designs. The biggest con for most people is the price difference. Live rock cost substantially more.

Dry rock is usually man made so it has less of a bio load capacity. You can however find dry rock that was live. You need to set aside atleast a week or two to “cure” it. It smells nasty while curing. The price is much less.
You can take your time aquascaping. You get to add everything you want in your tank from the plankton to the pods to the coral. As long as you dip/inspect your coral well, you should have a very low chance to get surprises.

 

[Hector De Jesus]

If you want your box of water to have accurate life from a specific part of the ocean and don’t mind the potential for pests and nuisance algea/coral then live rock is your best bet. If you want a vastly reduced cycle time then live rock is what you want.
Keep in mind the more it’s out of oxygenated water, the more stuff on it dies. This becomes troublesome with intricate aquascape designs. The biggest con for most people is the price difference. Live rock cost substantially more.

Dry rock is usually man made so it has less of a bio load capacity. You can however find dry rock that was live. You need to set aside atleast a week or two to “cure” it. It smells nasty while curing. The price is much less.
You can take your time aquascaping. You get to add everything you want in your tank from the plankton to the pods to the coral. As long as you dip/inspect your coral well, you should have a very low chance to get surprises.

Thanks for the advice

 

[BestMomEver]

Can you elaborate on this please?

I agree with this. Every time I’ve started a tank, I’ve ordered rock straight out of the ocean. There is a huge amount of biodiversity that can’t be found in any vat in a LFS. Some would argue with that but I’ve seen tanks of all different kinds and I prefer “real” live rock. I’m willing to take all the aggravating stuff to have a more accurate representation of what’s in the ocean.

 

[Matt Carden]

I started with dry rock 2 months ago. Algea won't currently grow in my tank with the lights on 12hrs/day. But once it gets introduced I won't be able to control it. This is because I will only have that one species in my tank.

If you start with TRUE LIVE ROCK, this rock is already in balance with many varieties of bacteria, algea, microorganisms, macro organisms, etc. Anything else that you add (sand, carbon, GFO, etc.) that can grow bacteria will need to reach balance.

TRUE LIVE ROCK WILL NOT BE WHITE!!!!

If you are interested in TRUE LIVE ROCK, there are 3 online vendors currently known to R2R.

https://www.kpaquatics.com/product/aquacultured-live-rock/

http://gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html

https://www.tbsaltwater.com/index.html
Tbsaltwater will only same day airfreight which means you will have to drive to the airport to pick up from the airfreight terminal. My nearest terminal is 2 hours away so I probably won't be going that route. Maybe your local airport is on the list.

 

[BestMomEver]

I started with dry rock 2 months ago. Algea won't currently grow in my tank with the lights on 12hrs/day. But once it gets introduced I won't be able to control it. This is because I will only have that one species in my tank.

If you start with TRUE LIVE ROCK, this rock is already in balance with many varieties of bacteria, algea, microorganisms, macro organisms, etc. Anything else that you add (sand, carbon, GFO, etc.) that can grow bacteria will need to reach balance.

TRUE LIVE ROCK WILL NOT BE WHITE!!!!

If you are interested in TRUE LIVE ROCK, there are 3 online vendors currently known to R2R.

https://www.kpaquatics.com/product/aquacultured-live-rock/

http://gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html

https://www.tbsaltwater.com/index.html
Tbsaltwater will only same day airfreight which means you will have to drive to the airport to pick up from the airfreight terminal. My nearest terminal is 2 hours away so I probably won't be going that route. Maybe your local airport is on the list.

When we set up our 500 gallon tank years ago, we were put in contact with one of the few licensed collectors in the Marshall Islands. He drop shipped 550 # of Marshall Islands rock via Delta Dash. We went to the airport with our truck and picked up a few dozen boxes of rock, brought it home, set it all out on the patio, sorted it, and zip tied it to a rack to be put in the tank. Even after all that, we had very little die off... we had pistol shrimp, crabs, snails and a mantis survive it all. It had beautiful macro algae and live sponges of every color growing everywhere. It was spectacular... and, yes, it cost us tons! When I think of live rock, that’s what I think of.... real ocean rock...straight from the water. That is, after all, the whole point. Even if you purchase dry rock, you want it to look like the real stuff when it’s all said and done, so why not just start there?

My most recent tank has 20# of KP Aquatics rock from Key West. It is pretty but nothing beats Marshall Islands rock. I don’t even know where to get it anymore.

 

[Hector De Jesus]

That

I started with dry rock 2 months ago. Algea won't currently grow in my tank with the lights on 12hrs/day. But once it gets introduced I won't be able to control it. This is because I will only have that one species in my tank.

If you start with TRUE LIVE ROCK, this rock is already in balance with many varieties of bacteria, algea, microorganisms, macro organisms, etc. Anything else that you add (sand, carbon, GFO, etc.) that can grow bacteria will need to reach balance.

TRUE LIVE ROCK WILL NOT BE WHITE!!!!

If you are interested in TRUE LIVE ROCK, there are 3 online vendors currently known to R2R.

https://www.kpaquatics.com/product/aquacultured-live-rock/

http://gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html

https://www.tbsaltwater.com/index.html
Tbsaltwater will only same day airfreight which means you will have to drive to the airport to pick up from the airfreight terminal. My nearest terminal is 2 hours away so I probably won't be going that route. Maybe your local airport is on the list.

Thank you. Connections are always good to have especially in this hobby

 

[Hector De Jesus]

When we set up our 500 gallon tank years ago, we were put in contact with one of the few licensed collectors in the Marshall Islands. He drop shipped 550 # of Marshall Islands rock via Delta Dash. We went to the airport with our truck and picked up a few dozen boxes of rock, brought it home, set it all out on the patio, sorted it, and zip tied it to a rack to be put in the tank. Even after all that, we had very little die off... we had pistol shrimp, crabs, snails and a mantis survive it all. It had beautiful macro algae and live sponges of every color growing everywhere. It was spectacular... and, yes, it cost us tons! When I think of live rock, that’s what I think of.... real ocean rock...straight from the water. That is, after all, the whole point. Even if you purchase dry rock, you want it to look like the real stuff when it’s all said and done, so why not just start there?

My most recent tank has 20# of KP Aquatics rock from Key West. It is pretty but nothing beats Marshall Islands rock. I don’t even know where to get it anymore.

I love everyone's enthusiasm. Makes me want to grow even more in the hobby.

 

[Reefer_Rob]

What about the best of both worlds? Dry rock seeded with some "true" live rock?

Im only saying this because I want to do some technical scaping with the dry in advance and when I eventually add water id throw in some live.

Thoughts?

 

[Matt Carden]

I did the same sort of. When I add my live rock, it doesn't fit right now.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Dry rock works well if you want a creative aquascape. sure you can glue LR but its not very easy to cut and glue wet rock. ADD 20-30LB of established LR in the sump and some in the display will ensure your tank is ready for SPS in 6-8 months. Dry rock alone is just inviting all types of biological problems.

 

[Seamore2001]

Benefits of dry rock: easy to aquascape dry, no worries about introducing unwanted hitchhikers
Cons of dry rock: typically too dense to support denitrification, may leach phosphate, etc., typically takes months to seed and cycle, looks sterile for months

Benefits of live rock: chock full of life (good and sometimes some bad), super fast cycle (relative to dry rock), biological filtration that reduces the swings of cycles and long term improves the overall health of your reef, a complex set of bacteria that can't be replicated from "bacteria in a bottle"
Cons of live rock: sometimes get unwanted hitchhikers, needs to be cured, can be expensive, fewer suppliers than in the past

I recently set up a new tank. Because I'm an old dog that won't learn new tricks, I went looking for live rock rather than dry rock. Since I'm cheap, I started scouring local reef keeper forums and craigslist looking for whomever was getting out of the hobby. I quickly acquired a fair amount of genuine live rock that was fully cured. This allowed me to, at light speed, go from zero to 60, with happy thriving softies and LPS, a full cleanup crew and several fish. This simply would not have been possible if I'd gone through the months long dry rock process. Even if I had ordered live rock, say from TBS, I'd still only have been a month slower (at most) than I was by getting fully cured LR from other reef keepers tanks. The benefit of LR versus DR is profound, both in getting started and in maintaining overall health and stability long term. In my opinion, starting with DR is tying one hand behind your back - if you have to do it, fine, but if you have a choice I'd advise using live rock.

 

[MTBake]

I would go with live rock from one of the three vendors listed earlier in the thread. I went with gulfliverock.com myself. Couldn't be happier with what was sent. I would like to order some from the other 2 sometime this year for a new setup I'm planning. I'd like to compare them myself.

 

[jabberwock]

After much research, I started my first saltwater tank (32 gallon bio cube) with Reef Saver dry rock. It is mined from a dry land quarry in Florida. It was in the ocean a really long time ago (I guess). No curing required. There was nothing on it. The tank cycled in 9 days with Dr. Tim's ammonia source and some bottled bacteria. I do have some GHA issues after 8 months, but who doesn't?

I have never used "live" rock, but my experience with dry rock has been good. My hitchhiker list (from corals) includes, bristle worms, spaghetti worms, collenista snails, and micro brittle stars. I have a good bit of diverse coraline algae growth that is getting a pretty good foothold. I don't think I would trouble with live rock given a do over.