I Bet Your Tank ROCKS! Are you using live or dry rock in your aquarium?

[Nano_Man]

On a new 50g I used expanding foam none toxic and hand painted it then covered with clear resin

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Tank 1: Dry rock
Tank 2: Seeded Dry rock from a two years old tank

I do see a difference in growth of coralline and maturity/stability

 

[tbrown]

Unless you live under a rock like my grumpy goby, you know that there are some pretty big differences between live and dry rock. Many of us can agree that there can be pros and cons to both, but everyone's loyalty lies somewhere. Where does yours lie? Live rock or dry rock?

Are you using live rock or dry rock in your tank?

Yes. I used live rock, dry rock, and homemade Aragocrete rock for my newest build. Mostly Aragocrete honestly though.

I liked having the ability to create my own structures and figure out what lengths and widths would work the best for what I needed.

 

[kdx7214]

I used 100% man made dry rock for the structure and then a few pieces of live rock for accents and biodiversity.

 

[Goaway]

Started with 15lbs live to seed dead dry rock. Recently got around 50+lbs of pukini. And that stuff is amazingly porus. Sad to see it as dead coral skeleton. I am sure they were beautiful acros, monti colonies at one point in life.

 

[Miami Reef]

The titles of your threads are so funny and creative.

 

[PR_nano]

Dry rock in the display and live rock in the sump

 

[RedReefer]

Live rock. TBS.

 

[vlangel]

Live rock bought 20+ years ago. One of the few aquarium related filtering items that hasn't worn out in that amount of time, LOL!!!!

 

[Sdbuehler1]

I had a reef tank 18 years ago that was started with all live rock from dead coral skeletons and it was awesome. Fantastic coraline growth and no nuisance algae. A couple years ago I got back into the hobby and started with dry rock only. Two years in I had the massive algae outbreak that a lot of reefers experience when using only dry rock. I’m planning a new build for next year and will be using mostly if not all live rock.

 

[Jimbo327]

100% dead rock. Half are real rock and other half is man made rock.

Takes much longer for tank to stabilize with dead rock, I'm almost 1 year in, and just barely able to keep certain SPS alive. Upside is that there are no surprise hitchhikers. I would start another tank with 100% dead rock, but I will wait much longer before putting in high dollar corals.

 

[tbaum101]

 

[Roatan Reef]

Started with Dry Rock, have added live rock and sand from @LiverockRocks Tampa Bay Saltwater Live Rock...best thing that ever happened to my tank.

 

[steveschuerger]

Mine is about 90% live rock with a small amount of dry rock added after the tank was up and running for a while.

 

[kc4mnp]

A Mixture of both , approx half and half in 60 gallon tank, some is even plastic rock much to my dissapointment ! Not what i thought i was ordering ! But my tomini tang and yellow tail damsel love hiding inside of it!

 

[120GallonsofDreams]

I will be starting with life rock shapes, but will cure it with TBS premium rock, that I also cure, just long enough to evaluate for unwanteds and allow for die off from shipping. I will also be using packaged live sand and dry sand mixed, for substrate, also cycled in a separate bin for a couple months and gently washed with saltwater to reduce dust and fines. I want the biodiversity and macroalgae of real rock, but not the aptasia or mantis shrimp, dead or dying sponges, and other problems that can come with it. Keeping it in bins, with low lighting and water changes and adding “clean” live rocks to bins with life rock to help inoculate it, for a couple months will be my approach. I’ll also be using a turkey baster and power heads to blow detritus and organics off the rock, as it ages and changing the water frequently for the first couple weeks, to ensure optimal results.

 

[kc4mnp]

I will be starting with life rock shapes, but will cure it with TBS premium rock, that I also cure, just long enough to evaluate for unwanteds and allow for die off from shipping. I will also be using packaged live sand and dry sand mixed, for substrate, also cycled in a separate bin for a couple months and gently washed with saltwater to reduce dust and fines. I want the biodiversity and macroalgae of real rock, but not the aptasia or mantis shrimp, dead or dying sponges, and other problems that can come with it. Keeping it in bins, with low lighting and water changes and adding “clean” live rocks to bins with life rock to help inoculate it, for a couple months will be my approach. I’ll also be using a turkey baster and power heads to blow detritus and organics off the rock, as it ages and changing the water frequently for the first couple weeks, to ensure optimal results.

You will find that your plan will work out great and will cycle the system pretty quickly ! and thanks for the kind words about my tank im having an algae problem right now but i think im over feeding !