Using 18 year old dry Fiji rock?

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

We call it seeding. You can start with a dry base and add live. Just like using dry and seeding with a cup or two of mature sand or rubble from a fellow hobbyist. It doesn't hurt, it helps.

As it relates to various phases and stages of reef maturity is a different discussion. Personally I wouldn't worry nor care about those as they are what they are and can be delt with without panic or fear. But there is no defeat mixing the two. Not sure why you would suggest that.

Im with you on this one. The key ingredient that most people miss is time. It takes time and you have to be patient. But it works. Ive done it many times and its what im doing for my current build. I have a ton of dry rock i got for free, so im using dry for most of the rock. I picked up a nice piece of live rock yesterday l, and im perfectly happy to let it sit in a tub with some dry while i get the tank put together. Ill pick up some more small pieces of live from a few different sources to add some diversity, and just let it ride, feeding a bit. Dont just start blasting it with light from day one. It will go through some ugly stages but itll settle in with time and patience. Same way we did it before all the bottled stuff was available, and it works.

 

[Rewd]

I understand the theory behind "seeding". I just don't think it works in practice. Neither do I think that the ugly stage in a reef tank's life cycle is inevitable or, as you put it, "are what they are". Here's why I think so...

I don't think the microbes present in the live rock used for seeding can propagate fast enough to outcompete the other bacteria, at least in the short term. In addition, the surfaces that are not live rock may not provide a suitable habitat for the microbial life present in the live rock. That will create a void. Nature will supply microbes that can survive on the bare surfaces to fill that void long before the more desirable bacteria in the live rock can get a foothold.

The live rock, along with the organisms it contains, and the biofilm/biomass that cover its surfaces, are a deterrent to pest algae and even to certain microbes like Cyano and Dinos. These organisms: 1) Reduce or bind nutrients needed for the pests to grow; 2) Compete for substrate on which the pests might otherwise grow; and 3) Consume the pests as they attempt to get a foothold. Dry rock does not have that advantage and will provide a place for those "ugly stage" pests to propigate.

I think that if you are going to attempt to seed a large amount of dry rock with a little live rock it does little harm. However, I think if you are spending a bunch of money on a lot of live rock, I would leave the dry rock out. Adding it in won't ruin the system, but it could cause an ugly stage that doesn't have to occur.

I 10000% agree with you. I have always done true live rock (hence this old Fiji stuff) and have never had an ugly stage in my entire reef keeping "life" (since 2004), with 1 notable exception: when I returned to the hobby in 2021 and used 100% caribsea life rock on my first new tank. Never ever ever ever ever again will I do dry rock. That experience was so horrible (and I am still dealing with it) that I am super hesitant to use this old dry rock even tho I absolutely love the shapes and sizes. My second tank started since my return to reefing, just a few months ago, used entirely Florida keys rock and never experienced a single ugly stage and is thriving in a fraction of the time.

BUT, I do love this old rock so much and it is a bit nostalgic since it was from my first reef tanks. The shapes are so cool. Based on that, my plan was to try and aquascape in a way that this old dry Fiji rock was visible, yet shaded to avoid feeding inevitable nuisance algae that would love to colonize the open space. Not entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that since I don't have my Florida rock yet, but that was the goal. TBH, I am even rethinking doing this. I am so afraid of experiencing the horror that was my Caribsea rock tank again lol.

 

[HB AL]

Just hose it off really good and stick it in the system.

 

[PatW]

No big deal. Quite a bit of dry rock is from old reefs and quarried on dry land. Who knows how many thousands of years since it was on a reef? So a decade or two is no big deal.