Using Dry Rock

Tobletone · Feb 9, 2014

Hi everyone, my current tank has been up and running for about 2 years now which I started with live rock. I'm soon starting from scratch and want to go down the dry rock route (For a couple of reasons, to avoid hitch hikers and for something different!). However, I'm struggling to find info on pros and cons of using dry rock, one thing that is confusing me is how long the tank will take to cycle before I can safely add livestock? I plan on using Dr Tims one & only as I've heard nothing but good reviews in this stuff.

Thanks in advance

hatfielj · Feb 9, 2014

I've used dry rock on the last 2 systems I set up (my old nano and my current reef). I've had good experiences both times. On this current tank I set it up and seeded it with about 5 lbs of live rock in the sump and all of the rock in the display was dry. Its been up and running for about 2-3 months now and I've already got great coralline growth and the corals I've already added are doing great as well. I think the key thing is to take it slow. I've only added one fish so far and I waited at least 6 weeks before doing that. I still have some nuisance algae that's cycling through the system, but its very minimal. The rocks just take longer to mature since you're starting from scratch, but once they are mature they will work just as well as live rock. I used bulk reef supply dry rock both times and was very happy with its quality. Its very light and porous which is exactly what you want.

ShawnSaucier · Feb 9, 2014

My last two tanks have been dry rock. Actually my new tank is live rock that was dry when I started the tank before this one. And then I added more dry in the new build. I went BRS all the way with a mixture of shelf, pukani and branch. The dry is nice because you can take your time building your scape outside the tank. I taped out the floor dimensions of my tank on my garage floor when I did my first tank with dry rock. When building my new tank, I started cycling all of the new rock separately in a stock tank while I was building the main system. I took a wire brush to some of my older rock and scraped some coraline into the stock tank and that has help with the new rock gaining color quickly. Also added some pods from ReefCleaners will the new rock was cycling. I just made sure there was flow through the rock, temp was what it would be in the display and I put a clip light on a timer. You will get some GHA put if you have a good CUC it won't last long. Also when your display is ready to be filled, your rock is on it's way to maturity and you have a bit more of a head start.

ShawnSaucier · Feb 9, 2014

But as stated above, patience is a virtue with this. Also if you decide to "pre" cycle your rock, mark your original water line so you can top off from evap.

Reefing Madness · Feb 9, 2014

As far as how long the tank will take to cycle, can't be answered, eveyones tank is going to be different, and being as your dosing, that makes it even more difficult to answer. A normal tank, adding a grocery store shrimp, and dry rock would take roughly 6-8 weeks.