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!

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Dry rock starts just need to be handled differently, particularly if you’re a beginner or even an experienced reefer using it for the first time.

Having done both traditional live (not maricultured) and dry rock my suggestions are as follows.

Cycle in dark, either in a separate container or in tank.

Once dry rock is cycled use the programmable functionality of your LED fixture to ramp up light energy from minimal to low light coral levels over a three month period.

Add herbivorous CUC as pioneering algae emerges. Only add enough to contain what is there. In a 10g two smaller trochus snails should do the trick.

Avoid early post cycle addition of fish that require a decent amount of food I.e pair of clowns. A smaller nano suitable species is a better bet. An invert that requires occasional meaty foods is even better. The message here is don’t overfeed and don’t produce too much fish waste until your micro crustacean population is established to the point of efficiently processing it.

Add low light coral first, when you’ve reached the right level of light energy, preferably those that come on small pieces of live rock.

Wait another few months adding additional low light corals sparingly and continue to ramp up light to LPS levels over another two month period. Continue to match herbivorous CUC to algae growth.

If everything is looking good at 6 months start adding LPS. You should be seeing a relatively stable copepod and amphipod population at this point. This is also a better time to add your clowns if you want them.

As mentioned above you can take the other route and add larger fish / blast the system with light post cycle but the battles will be a lot harder.

With dry rock you are effectively terraforming. Things will go easier if you try to establish the micro before the macro.

 

[Alice81216]

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

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

Okay thank you

 

[Alice81216]

Dry rock starts just need to be handled differently, particularly if you’re a beginner or even an experienced reefer using it for the first time.

Having done both traditional live (not maricultured) and dry rock my suggestions are as follows.

Cycle in dark, either in a separate container or in tank.

Once dry rock is cycled use the programmable functionality of your LED fixture to ramp up light energy from minimal to low light coral levels over a three month period.

Add herbivorous CUC as pioneering algae emerges. Only add enough to contain what is there. In a 10g two smaller trochus snails should do the trick.

Avoid early post cycle addition of fish that require a decent amount of food I.e pair of clowns. A smaller nano suitable species is a better bet. An invert that requires occasional meaty foods is even better. The message here is don’t overfeed and don’t produce too much fish waste until your micro crustacean population is established to the point of efficiently processing it.

Add low light coral first, when you’ve reached the right level of light energy, preferably those that come on small pieces of live rock.

Wait another few months adding additional low light corals sparingly and continue to ramp up light to LPS levels over another two month period. Continue to match herbivorous CUC to algae growth.

If everything is looking good at 6 months start adding LPS. You should be seeing a relatively stable copepod and amphipod population at this point. This is also a better time to add your clowns if you want them.

As mentioned above you can take the other route and add larger fish / blast the system with light post cycle but the battles will be a lot harder.

With dry rock you are effectively terraforming. Things will go easier if you try to establish the micro before the macro.

Thank you so much for the information!

 

[Alice81216]

Thank you so much for the information!

 

[Schulks]

My new tank was a bunch of dead rock and then a 6 lb piece of live rock.
On the live rock I have found, feather dusters, bivalves, brittle stars, various sponges, multiple different worms that I get to worry about, and today a 6" diameter serpent star just appeared in my tank. I have absolutely no idea where he was on that rock or how he hid so long or survived me smashing the rock when I first got it but it was super cool finding it lol

Ocean live rock is the best stuff. mine was Tampa Bay Saltwater rocks.

 

[GarrettT]

If you use dry rock be sure to dose po4 daily. Not often discussed, but THIS is where people get into trouble and why people gravitate to LR without fully understanding the reasoning. Reef saver rock binds a TON of phosphate. Took me a year and half for the rock to stop absording phosphate. I was having to dose twice a day for a total of 0.15ppm in phosphate. Not exaggerating. If you only dose and test once or twice a week, you will get dinoflagellates. I would keep po4 no less than 0.2ppm in the beginning and in a dark container with a small amount of LR. Understand, the cycling part is easy, it’s the binding that is difficult to overcome.

I like dry rock as I like to carve and hollow out rocks to create shelter and caves for fish. Hard to do that when paying $10 per pound. The hollowness allows for more surface area for nitrifying bacteria to reside and substantially less material for phosphate to bind. More shelter, more bacteria surface, lighter weight, less binding. Basically less rock, more utility.

 

[Schulks]

Reef saver rock binds a TON of phosphate.

Would this cause a new dry rock aquarium to register 0 phosphate for a long time? I can never register any phosphate..

 

[GarrettT]

Would this cause a new dry rock aquarium to register 0 phosphate for a long time? I can never register any phosphate..

That’s exactly what it does, leaving dinoflagellates with a large welcome mat. During the first year, don’t aim for the usual 0.03ppm in po4, as that would leave you having to dose anywhere from 3-5 times a day, just so you don’t bottom out.

 

[GatorGreg]

If you use dry rock be sure to dose po4 daily. Not often discussed, but THIS is where people get into trouble and why people gravitate to LR without fully understanding the reasoning. Reef saver rock binds a TON of phosphate. Took me a year and half for the rock to stop absording phosphate. I was having to dose twice a day for a total of 0.15ppm in phosphate. Not exaggerating. If you only dose and test once or twice a week, you will get dinoflagellates. I would keep po4 no less than 0.2ppm in the beginning and in a dark container with a small amount of LR. Understand, the cycling part is easy, it’s the binding that is difficult to overcome.

I like dry rock as I like to carve and hollow out rocks to create shelter and caves for fish. Hard to do that when paying $10 per pound. The hollowness allows for more surface area for nitrifying bacteria to reside and substantially less material for phosphate to bind. More shelter, more bacteria surface, lighter weight, less binding. Basically less rock, more utility.

this is why beginners have trouble with dry rock. You have to understand that for someone who has been doing this it all sounds really simple. You have to understand. Most new reefers barely if at all understand the nitrogen cycle. Now we expect them to calculate, balance and dose nitrate and phosphate for a year plus or minus until saturation. Most probably would be absolutely dumbfounded at what products to buy to even start dosing.
Not to mention them short circuiting out and not being able to compute the fact that most reefers are doing water changes and using equipment to limit these nutrients to control algae and now they’re dumping it into their systems in significant amounts lol

most times that’s not going to happen.

 

[SlugSnorter]

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!

remember to make sure your rocks are in contact with the glass on the bottom once in the tank, or else they can shift and crush things that try to burrow around and beneath them