Is it hard to make dry rock a live rock?

[Alice81216]

Hello!
I'm a beginner at saltwater I'm trying to get my first tank set up right before I put any fish inside the tank I've got a freshwater tank but I'm trying to do a saltwater tank now
I've got a 10 gallon tank with reef sand, saltwater and a filter at the moment.
I've been thinking of getting dry rocks (not sure yet) so my question is
Is it hard to make a dry rock a live rock and if anyone has got some good tips please tell me
Thank you!

 

[GatorGreg]

No. Time in salt water is all it takes.

you’ll need to do a fishless cycle. If this is the route you’ve decided to take. It’s cost efficient. But more complicated for a new reefer like yourself.

not impossible though.

check out Dr. Tim’s fishless cycle that’s the kit you’ll need. It comes with starter bacteria and ammonia to dose and most important of all. Step by step instructions.

don’t buy api ammonia kit it’ll confuse you and give you false readings.

 

[NkSde]

Super easy barely an inconvenience.

if you are unsure look up some of the references here.

newcomers thread

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

And newcomers forums available for further research.

New to Saltwater & Reef Aquariums? Post Here

If you're new to the Saltwater Hobby and have questions please post them here. So you finally decided to take the plunge. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask!

www.reef2reef.com

Welcome to r2r

to answer though it’s very easy w modern techniques to cycle and turn dry rock to live. Plenty of supplements are on the market as well as techniques like frizen shrimp, ghost feeding.

dive in and see what sounds best for you

 

[Freenow54]

Hello!
I'm a beginner at saltwater I'm trying to get my first tank set up right before I put any fish inside the tank I've got a freshwater tank but I'm trying to do a saltwater tank now
I've got a 10 gallon tank with reef sand, saltwater and a filter at the moment.
I've been thinking of getting dry rocks (not sure yet) so my question is
Is it hard to make a dry rock a live rock and if anyone has got some good tips please tell me
Thank you!

Its called fishless cycling. You can find all sorts of articles. On a different note its a tall order to do such a small tank.

 

[GatorGreg]

Once you’ve completed the fish less cycle. You’ll have rock with a capable bio filter to add your first inhabitants. It will be “live rock”. But it won’t be LIVE rock.

in my worthless opinion the only way to get real true LIVE rock is to buy it from a very mature system. Or get it from the ocean suppliers.

 

[Zhugelaocunfu]

I am new too so I dont't know the topic quite well.But I think if you can solve the problem of implementing critters into your tank (they comes from live rocks, some of them plays vital role in the system while some of them is straight up HARMFUL and needs to get it out), there aren't much difference between a live rock and a mature dry rock in terms of the function of a bio-filter

 

[GatorGreg]

Its called fishless cycling. You can find all sorts of articles. On a different note its a tall order to do such a small tank.

Completely agree. New reefer, small tank, dry rock, fish less cycle.

not a recipe for success. Don’t believe me just check the forum records. Across all forums not just this one. TONS of build threads don’t make it past page 3 or the first 3 months.

speaking from experience and about ohhhhhh 2500 wasted dollars across two systems.

 

[Spicy Reef]

Carib Sea makes a product called life rock. It’s shipped dry and has the bacteria w/o all the pests comes in many shapes and sizes and prices

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www.petco.com

 

[GatorGreg]

Carib Sea makes a product called life rock. It’s shipped dry and has the bacteria w/o all the pests comes in many shapes and sizes and prices

Loading…

www.petco.com

you talking about most of the same pests that are going to come in on corals and inverts and fish? Those pests?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Carib Sea makes a product called life rock. It’s shipped dry and has the bacteria w/o all the pests comes in many shapes and sizes and prices

Loading…

www.petco.com

I'm sorry but no...it isn't anywhere close to the equivalent of live ocean rock. Even if any aquatic bacteria are even still alive after being stored bone dry in a warehouse for who knows how long, it's not scientifically even possible for the bacterial diversity to be equivalent.

 

[Spare time]

All roads lead to live rock. Dry rock will become live rock covered in coralline, sponges, and copepods.

 

[Spicy Reef]

I'm sorry but no...it isn't anywhere close to the equivalent of live ocean rock. Even if any aquatic bacteria are even still alive after being stored bone dry in a warehouse for who knows how long, it's not scientifically even possible for the bacterial diversity to be equivalent.

Never said it was… that’s not the question

 

[zoomonster]

I did it so some degree when I started this tank, but the dead rock was real reef rock I dried out when I took a couple year break and was moving about. Dead sand, live sand, bottle of bacteria and some fresh live rock was all it took and it was up and cruising quickly. Of course I had halides then and the coralline grew like weeds. 9 years ago, some corals still came on a piece of rock, so every time added provided more biodiversity and more varieties of coralline.

Problem is a lot of the dead rock you can buy has phosphates (or other contaminants) that will leech. Throw that into a tank with dead or no sandbed, a bottle of bacteria or not, no actual live rock and your likely off and running with algae covered rocks, dino's, cyanobacter etc. Some may succeed but I believe that start is the number one cause of people giving up.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Never said it was… that’s not the question

I think i misinterpreted what you meant in that case. You said that it has the bacteria without all the hitchhikers which made me think for a moment you were saying it's practically the same bacteria-wise.

 

[JoJosReef]

When I started my 13.5g tank in 2021, I went with dry "LifeRock". That tank is running well now, but it went through a year and a half of wave after wave of algae issues. Jan 2022 I started a 10g with ocean sand/rocks. That was a beautiful tank (it is now transferred into a 40g) and I never had the algae issues, except for bubble algae that got in. My experience: I got to a similar place with both tanks, but the dry rock route was a painful process with a lot of manual labor.

 

[Pistondog]

Hello!
I'm a beginner at saltwater I'm trying to get my first tank set up right before I put any fish inside the tank I've got a freshwater tank but I'm trying to do a saltwater tank now
I've got a 10 gallon tank with reef sand, saltwater and a filter at the moment.
I've been thinking of getting dry rocks (not sure yet) so my question is
Is it hard to make a dry rock a live rock and if anyone has got some good tips please tell me
Thank you!

Get the real thing. Gulfliverock.com, 17 lb of gulf rock for $114 delivered.

 

[Pistondog]

Sorry, just noticed Japan. But perhaps the same idea, different source. No substitute for the biodiversity of the real thing, from the ocean.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

When I started my 13.5g tank in 2021, I went with dry "LifeRock". That tank is running well now, but it went through a year and a half of wave after wave of algae issues. Jan 2022 I started a 10g with ocean sand/rocks. That was a beautiful tank (it is now transferred into a 40g) and I never had the algae issues, except for bubble algae that got in. My experience: I got to a similar place with both tanks, but the dry rock route was a painful process with a lot of manual labor.

It's definitely possible to start with dry rock as you already know but judging by the sheer number of posts on here trying to solve their algae issues after that route, it seems clear the live ocean rock is far better. So many people end up going the dry rock route and regretting it (it appears) anyway though...

 

[JoJosReef]

It's definitely possible to start with dry rock as you already know but judging by the sheer number of posts on here trying to solve their algae issues after that route, it seems clear the live ocean rock is far better. So many people end up going the dry rock route and regretting it (it appears) anyway though...

Correct. If I had to redo the 13.5g, I would have done the ocean rock and still been ahead budget-wise. As a new reefer, my approach to each problem was to read about solutions, find the product I had to dump into the tank and then wait for the next problem (often caused by the solution to the first). Algaecides aren't cheap.

If I had to do it again with dry rock, I would look around locally for someone who's got old rocks from the ocean (like Fiji, Tongo, Marshall Islands) that's been dried out for a while. These are high quality and very porous. Then I would tell myself not to use chemicals to treat any algae issues--UV OK for some like ostreopsis dinos. Just drain the tank (it's a small tank!), clean up all the GHA or whatever, fortify CUC.

I still think a few crabs and weird worms is a small price to pay for an instant reef.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Correct. If I had to redo the 13.5g, I would have done the ocean rock and still been ahead budget-wise. As a new reefer, my approach to each problem was to read about solutions, find the product I had to dump into the tank and then wait for the next problem (often caused by the solution to the first). Algaecides aren't cheap.

If I had to do it again with dry rock, I would look around locally for someone who's got old rocks from the ocean (like Fiji, Tongo, Marshall Islands) that's been dried out for a while. These are high quality and very porous. Then I would tell myself not to use chemicals to treat any algae issues--UV OK for some like ostreopsis dinos. Just drain the tank (it's a small tank!), clean up all the GHA or whatever, fortify CUC.

I still think a few crabs and weird worms is a small price to pay for an instant reef.

We're definitely on the same page here! I'm not going to say there isnt a single advantage at all to starting with dry rock (although all that comes to mind is the fact that aquascaping is easier) but it amazes me that this isn't explained well to a majority of new reefers. Then again, you'll always get 1 person out there who will insist that's all nonsense as he or she used dry rock and never had a tiny spot of algal growth...