Live rock vs dry rock.

[ReefGeezer]

I was actually doing a little research on corals and how they used to ship them. I read in a couple of articles that scientists prefer their corals to be shipped out of water in damp conditions. They claim the water goes fowl first and starts to affect the corals. Corals can survive out of water for awhile as long as they stay damp and temps are steady. Anyone else have any info or facts on this?

it seems the industry doesn't put mush stock in the research. Even back in the day when live rock was shipped in wet paper, corals were shipped in water. Now, live rock suppliers recommend shipping in water and corals still come in water from wholesalers. I can't speak to the science though.

 

[kevgib67]

In over 17 years of reefing I have only used live rock and always will. Back in the day, prefrags, every coral came on a new small piece of live rock. As mentioned above, when lights went out, I could sit with a flashlight, looking past my coral and fish, and be fascinated by all of the life all over the rock. I do like a lot of the scapes done with dry rock but not worth it to me.

 

[piranhaman00]

Using dry rock to avoid pests is pointless, you will get them eventually

 

[bradreef]

Using dry rock to avoid pests is pointless, you will get them eventually

I disagree. I haven't gotten aiptasia or asterina stars. I usually remove frags from plugs when it's easy and dip everything new a couple of ways. I also inspect new coral well.

 

[Waters]

My current tank was set up with 99% dry and 1% live. Most successful tank I have ever set up in over 30 years of reefing. No "ugly stage"....no algae at all. Within 6 months the rock was covered in corraline and growing SPS. Tank is over 1.5 years old and still no issues at all relating to dry rock....no pests, no algae, no dinos. I think the statements that dry rock guarantees problems are blown out of proportion. Those tanks just need to be handled a little differently than live rock tanks at the beginning.

 

[907_Reefer]

I'm also pro-live rock, I'll never set one up with dry. Sure you may encounter some hitchhikers but we're in the "that's half the fun" crowd, plus the instant bio diversity is fantastic.

For live rock scaping my preference is stacking. You can have some success with putty where the rocks meet (I've had mediocre success), also E-Marco 400 is approved for underwater use, however I tried to fuse a few pieces of rock together underwater with it one time and it did spike my Alk pretty good, so I backed out.

This is my 55 with stacked ~85 lbs live rock.

 

[Daftendire]

Im just getting into this hobby, and i want to know whats the best way to start off caribsea dry. Or live rock? My friend scaped his whole tank with live rock. My old saltwater tank crashed, and i dont want to repeat any mistaked. I had nutrients issues both 0 N+P so i started dosing them and algae took over all kinds. And lost control. I had 1 piece of live rock added in my scape from my lfs, but i forgot my lfs couldve been using chemicals in his systems. So lesson learned. But in general if i order from a reptubale website is it a good way to start?

If there were a single piece of advice I wish would have been given to me when starting out- it would have been to start with real live rock.

As a beginner 2 years ago dry rock seemed to be heavily marketed as the way to go. I thought I could do a fancy NSA aquascape and add some sump rock from the LFS and be good to go. This turned out to be a 2 year old disaster tank with periods good growth and crash cycles that seemed to be at the mercy of whatever biological life came in on new frags. This tank has since been stabilized with the addition of live rock from the gulf of mexico.

My experience tells me that dry rock is NOT beginner friendly. It does not guarantee problems, but leaves the door wide open for problems to come in and establish themselves (dinos, nuisance algae, microbiome imbalance).

Some reading on dry rock vs live rock if you're interested.
Aquabiomics Establish a healthy Microbiome

 

[ReefGeezer]

If there were a single piece of advice I wish would have been given to me when starting out- it would have been to start with real live rock.

As a beginner 2 years ago dry rock seemed to be heavily marketed as the way to go. I thought I could do a fancy NSA aquascape and add some sump rock from the LFS and be good to go. This turned out to be a 2 year old disaster tank with periods good growth and crash cycles that seemed to be at the mercy of whatever biological life came in on new frags. This tank has since been stabilized with the addition of live rock from the gulf of mexico.

My experience tells me that dry rock is NOT beginner friendly. It does not guarantee problems, but leaves the door wide open for problems to come in and establish themselves (dinos, nuisance algae, microbiome imbalance).

Some reading on dry rock vs live rock if you're interested.
Aquabiomics Establish a healthy Microbiome

Ok, so you've probably figured out that live rock is my choice. However, I'm of the opinion that you probably can't change or establish a biome with a few pieces of live rock, a bottle of some unknown product, or high priced rubble with a fancy pedigree. I think the Microbiome strategy fails to recognize the biome that is either already established, or the potential for other microbes to outcompete theirs when starting from scratch. I guess I think it is an all or nothing thing.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Ok, so you've probably figured out that live rock is my choice. However, I'm of the opinion that you probably can't change or establish a biome with a few pieces of live rock, a bottle of some unknown product, or high priced rubble with a fancy pedigree. I think the Microbiome strategy fails to recognize the biome that is either already established, or the potential for other microbes to outcompete theirs when starting from scratch. I guess I think it is an all or nothing thing.

 

[alton]

I have bought from KP several times. I have found the easiest rock to deal with was the first order back in 2016. Less growth since it was winter, but also less die off and recovery time.
First picture was 12/16, second was 2/17.

 

[TnFishwater98]

I have bought from KP several times. I have found the easiest rock to deal with was the first order back in 2016. Less growth since it was winter, but also less die off and recovery time.
First picture was 12/16, second was 2/17.

Also heard less mantis shrimp during the winter months. This is more for Gulf Live Rock and Tampa Bay Live Rock since their plots are to the north of KP’s…

 

[alton]

I did have one mantis and I wish I would of left him in. Only took one day to catch him in a bottle trap and then gave him away. He would come out bust some rock chips and eat things from the rock, it was cool as heck to watch. Never bothered the fish. For some reason we are always afraid of things we do not understand

 

[TnFishwater98]

I did have one mantis and I wish I would of left him in. Only took one day to catch him in a bottle trap and then gave him away. He would come out bust some rock chips and eat things from the rock, it was cool as heck to watch. Never bothered the fish. For some reason we are always afraid of things we do not understand

 

[Daftendire]

Ok, so you've probably figured out that live rock is my choice. However, I'm of the opinion that you probably can't change or establish a biome with a few pieces of live rock, a bottle of some unknown product, or high priced rubble with a fancy pedigree. I think the Microbiome strategy fails to recognize the biome that is either already established, or the potential for other microbes to outcompete theirs when starting from scratch. I guess I think it is an all or nothing thing.

I haven't figured out anything. But I also don't fully understand this comment either. The second half seems to contradict the first.

Or is this all about a few pieces of live rock not having the sufficient bacterial load to alter an established biome- healthy or unhealthy?

In my case I've added about 10lb of live rock to an existing tank with maybe 30lb of old "established" dry. It seem to have put the system back on its feet. Dinos are gone and corals are fluffy. No microbiome testing done here, I don't see the value in knowing the exact composition of bacteria in the system as we cant pick and choose individually anyway. I think the value is in knowing that live rock is the preferred source.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I haven't figured out anything. But I also don't fully understand this comment either. The second half seems to contradict the first.

Or is this all about a few pieces of live rock not having the sufficient bacterial load to alter an established biome- healthy or unhealthy?

In my case I've added about 10lb of live rock to an existing tank with maybe 30lb of old "established" dry. It seem to have put the system back on its feet. Dinos are gone and corals are fluffy. No microbiome testing done here, I don't see the value in knowing the exact composition of bacteria in the system as we cant pick and choose individually anyway. I think the value is in knowing that live rock is the preferred source.

Sorry. Yes, it all about a few pieces of live rock (or other sources) of microbes being insufficient to alter an existing biome, or the one nature will establish if not enough microbes are added initially. While I'd never tell anyone not to add some live rock, I don't think it would normally result in disappearing Dino's and fluffy corals.

 

[Eric Cohen]

Im just getting into this hobby, and i want to know whats the best way to start off caribsea dry. Or live rock? My friend scaped his whole tank with live rock. My old saltwater tank crashed, and i dont want to repeat any mistaked. I had nutrients issues both 0 N+P so i started dosing them and algae took over all kinds. And lost control. I had 1 piece of live rock added in my scape from my lfs, but i forgot my lfs couldve been using chemicals in his systems. So lesson learned. But in general if i order from a reptubale website is it a good way to start?

I have some real live rock available if you want to explore that option.....it's on my website Tankstop.com and some threads for Australian Live rock here you can find some testimonies etc....there are options.

 

[jabberwock]

100%, all day long, real ocean live rock. I got mine from Tampa Bay Saltwater. 100% satisfied. Start a dialog with them. Talk about your goals and concerns. They want you to be successful with their products. I was able to do local pick up (8 hour drive back to Atlanta) which I believe greatly contributed to my success.

Dry rock is not good unless you want to be a sculptor and an algae farmer.