Walt Smith 2.1 vs Realreefrock?

TylerS · Dec 31, 2015

Anyone have experience with both types of artificial rock and can recommend one over the other for some particular reason?

Or alternatively, has anyone had a bad experience with one or the other? Are there any other players out there making artificial rock that I should consider?

Who's run a tank with artificial rock in it the longest with success?

Reefrookie220 · Dec 31, 2015

Tampabay saltwater live rock....check it out.

Sabellafella · Dec 31, 2015

TylerS said:
Anyone have experience with both types of artificial rock and can recommend one over the other for some particular reason?

Or alternatively, has anyone had a bad experience with one or the other? Are there any other players out there making artificial rock that I should consider?

Who's run a tank with artificial rock in it the longest with success?

I use both and caribsea, very dense thats about it nd have to be careful using gfo bexause it has nothing to leech

TylerS · Jan 1, 2016

Reefrookie220 said:
Tampabay saltwater live rock....check it out.

I was going to go with them before I decided I wanted to go with dry rock. At that point I decided I would go with a man-made alternative. Definitely thought about using their dry rock, if they offered it.

WWC · Jan 1, 2016

Real reef!!

PatW · Jan 1, 2016

I would imagine that a number of the artificial rocks would do fine. I think the deciding factors would be price and look. The aquascape is important to me so I tend to lean to rock that will work with my design ideas.

Mrs. Crabs · Jan 1, 2016

I used RRR and it worked very well!
The colored rocks even look good at the beginning

Coralline algae grew very fast on this substrate.

authentic · Jan 1, 2016

Real reef! Check out the videos on youngil moon real reef diplay.used it as my inspiration,along with Marco rock.
Love the amount of flat shelves you can build

leemosh · Jan 1, 2016

Just FYI, Tampa Bay Saltwater uses the Walt Smith 2.1 man made rock these days. I think they also offer pukani and natural stone, too, if you ask for it. I was looking for some of the Walt Smith rock after seeing Walt Smith talk at MACNA and my search led me to them, but I'm not sure if they sell it dry, only aqua cultured.

Reefrookie220 · Jan 1, 2016

Tampabay s stuff is man made...

TylerS · Jan 1, 2016

I just checked tampa bay's website since people keep mentioning it, and they do not sell dry rock that is man made.

Can anyone comment on the aquascaping abilities of Walt Smith 2.1 vs Realreefrock? For example, is one much more brittle than the other and hard to drill or cut without unintended fractures? Do they both hold up over time compared to real rock? Are they both dyed throughout? Has anyone ended up having trouble with either rock?

Reefrookie220 · Jan 1, 2016

Just a question, why start dry when you can have mqn made straight out of the ocean?.....other than the price of course

TylerS · Jan 1, 2016

Price... and also I want to avoid hitchhikers.

chomoney · Jan 1, 2016

I have 110 lbs of Walt Smith 2.1 sitting in my basement ready for my build coming up. Looks good dry and hoping it meets expectations in the tank.

I went with dry because I don't want hitchhikers.

TylerS · Jan 1, 2016

Do either product have a pore network? Or are they pretty much solid?

reefwiser · Jan 2, 2016

Going with dry rock you get the hitchikers of algae.

authentic · Jan 2, 2016

Real reef is solid and is not colored throughout.I was able to drill the larger flat pieces without fractures. ( I used Marco for my bases.)I liked it because of the shelf look.no troubles at all and no hitchhikers

chomoney · Jan 2, 2016

TylerS said:
Do either product have a pore network? Or are they pretty much solid?

BRS shows a cross-section on the Walt Smith with pores in one of their videos, and the rock itself is purple throughout. I haven't cut any of mine yet get a good idea first hand.

I'll be using some marine pure since we don't know much on the surface area on it yet.

TylerS · Jan 2, 2016

reefwiser said:
Going with dry rock you get the hitchikers of algae.

I haven't heard that yet. Can you explain what you mean? I did see a brs video which said the Walt Smith rock has a smooth surface which inhibits algea.

d2mini · Jan 2, 2016

leemosh said:
Just FYI, Tampa Bay Saltwater uses the Walt Smith 2.1 man made rock these days. I think they also offer pukani and natural stone, too, if you ask for it. I was looking for some of the Walt Smith rock after seeing Walt Smith talk at MACNA and my search led me to them, but I'm not sure if they sell it dry, only aqua cultured.

Yes, last I heard TBS still had Pukani dry. You can get the Walt Smith rock dry or seeded, and you can still get the original seeded TBS rock.

Reefrookie220 said:
Tampabay s stuff is man made...

The walt smith stuff is. The original rock started off as natural dry rock brought in by barge and dumped in tampa bay.
The walt smith is seeding incredibly fast compared to the original rock.

TylerS said:
I just checked tampa bay's website since people keep mentioning it, and they do not sell dry rock that is man made.

Can anyone comment on the aquascaping abilities of Walt Smith 2.1 vs Realreefrock? For example, is one much more brittle than the other and hard to drill or cut without unintended fractures? Do they both hold up over time compared to real rock? Are they both dyed throughout? Has anyone ended up having trouble with either rock?

They do sell the walt smith dry. Just ask for it.
To me, the walt smith looks better than the realreefrock. And see how fast it seeds in tampa bay, i'd go with that.
I got some early pieces of seeded walt smith rock from tbs and it was incredible seeing all those barnacles and sponges on it after being in the bay just a few months.

The only hitchhikers you typically end up with is mantis shrimp, gorilla crabs, stone crabs and welks. Non are really a big deal and not hard to deal with.
I have never gotten nuisance algae, aiptasia, etc.