Is redsea salt okay to use to cure rock

[M1ke13579]

I am planning on starting a new tank in the near future and was planning one starting with dry rock (trying to avoid hitchhikers lol) but i see it says not to mix for more then 4 hours would this cause any issues if i left a power head and heater in while letting the rocks start their cycling process?

 

[t5Nitro]

You can use whichever brand you want to cure your rock. Id recommend simple instant ocean the purple bucket. Cheaper option with the same result. Those mixing instructions id also throw away. You're going to be circulating/mixing that water continuously in the actual tank.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

You will be fine.

But as a guy whose been around the hobby for about 20 years can I make a recommendation? Good cause I'm gonna.


Please don't avoid the hitch hikers. The amount of positive traction from other life forms.you will miss out on cannot be quantified.

As a new reefer, you should.set yourself up for success. That's not dry rock and bagged "live" sand and bottled bacteria. That's a long hard fought way to do things for even seasoned hobbyists.


Make this fun instead and start with live rock. From the ocean if you can. Real ocean live sand is also great. You will have time to identify and weed out most of the nastiesst hitch hikers before you have fish and coral.

This is a tough hobby at times. You want success on your first pass, not discouragement.

 

[M1ke13579]

You can use whichever brand you want to cure your rock. Id recommend simple instant ocean the purple bucket. Cheaper option with the same result. Those mixing instructions id also throw away. You're going to be circulating/mixing that water continuously in the actual tank.

Would it be a bad idea to use the water the rocks cured in for the tank once its set up?

 

[M1ke13579]

You can use whichever brand you want to cure your rock. Id recommend simple instant ocean the purple bucket. Cheaper option with the same result. Those mixing instructions id also throw away. You're going to be circulating/mixing that water continuously in the actual tank.

Would it be a bad idea to use the water the rocks cured in for the tank once its set up?

 

[M1ke13579]

You will be fine.

But as a guy whose been around the hobby for about 20 years can I make a recommendation? Good cause I'm gonna.


Please don't avoid the hitch hikers. The amount of positive traction from other life forms.you will miss out on cannot be quantified.

As a new reefer, you should.set yourself up for success. That's not dry rock and bagged "live" sand and bottled bacteria. That's a long hard fought way to do things for even seasoned hobbyists.


Make this fun instead and start with live rock. From the ocean if you can. Real ocean live sand is also great. You will have time to identify and weed out most of the nastiesst hitch hikers before you have fish and coral.

This is a tough hobby at times. You want success on your first pass, not discouragement

Im upgrading from a smaller tank I started with live rock that ended up being overrun with vermetid snails and i had no luck finding any solution to getting them under control I figured since im moving and upgrading now would be the time to make a change

 

[Gtinnel]

Im upgrading from a smaller tank I started with live rock that ended up being overrun with vermetid snails and i had no luck finding any solution to getting them under control I figured since im moving and upgrading now would be the time to make a change

IME there are certain pests that if you stick with the hobby long enough you will end up getting eventually and vermetids are one of them. Just starting with dry rock will not necessarily prevent it.

 

[M1ke13579]

IME there are certain pests that if you stick with the hobby long enough you will end up getting eventually and vermetids are one of them. Just starting with dry rock will not necessarily prevent it.

Would you recommend reusing some of the live rock from the old tank then? Cause other then that there were no real issues with the old tank i did have some algae problems i was dealing with but i feel like thats a separate issue

 

[t5Nitro]

Would it be a bad idea to use the water the rocks cured in for the tank once its set up?

No, not really, but you could also do a 20% water change or so if you have high nitrates following the cycle. Even then I wouldn't be too concerned. Fair amount of mixed reefs out there running high nitrates that some people would jaw drop.

 

[paragrouper]

Everyone gets to choose which route they go (live or dry) and there are fine arguments for each. I prefer live rock. In my current tank I used 60% live and 40% cured dry rock. Below are a few comments on pests.

aiptasia: I found a removed a few at the outset. Every once in a while I find and eliminate 1 in the display. I do have some I found in the bottom of my AIO chambers and I’m working on those. It’s important to note, I’ve found several on incoming coral frags too.

bubble algae: I did not have in the beginning, rather, I expect I missed it on an incoming frag. One interesting thing: I seldom find it on my live rock pieces, which have a fair growth of Coralline. I typically find it on the cured dry rock. Coincidence? Maybe.

vermetid snails: came in on live rock. I usually find and destroy a few on a weekly basis. Bumble bee snails do provide some assistance in keeping them in check.

I expect whichever route someone takes, they’re gonna deal with many of these issues sooner or later, but I had far less issues with the uglies and getting/maintaining stability was pretty straightforward.


my .02

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I am planning on starting a new tank in the near future and was planning one starting with dry rock (trying to avoid hitchhikers lol) but i see it says not to mix for more then 4 hours would this cause any issues if i left a power head and heater in while letting the rocks start their cycling process?

I think we strayed away from your question, but personally I do a mixture of both. I create an aquascape with new, but leave areas to add in live rock.
Back to your ?
Cheap IO salt to cure your rocks.
Start a light free cycle in the container (just like a tank) use a piece of shrimp and bottled bacteria.
once it is started, you will need to keep up the bio-load that you are going to transfer into to make it seamless. Doesn’t have to be exact, just in general. You can do that by the addition of ammonia or throw in a couple fish. Basically you are just creating a non- photosynthetic tank in a trash can.

 

[jimk60]

You will be fine.

But as a guy whose been around the hobby for about 20 years can I make a recommendation? Good cause I'm gonna.


Please don't avoid the hitch hikers. The amount of positive traction from other life forms.you will miss out on cannot be quantified.

As a new reefer, you should.set yourself up for success. That's not dry rock and bagged "live" sand and bottled bacteria. That's a long hard fought way to do things for even seasoned hobbyists.


Make this fun instead and start with live rock. From the ocean if you can. Real ocean live sand is also great. You will have time to identify and weed out most of the nastiesst hitch hikers before you have fish and coral.

This is a tough hobby at times. You want success on your first pass, not discouragement.

Live rock in no way assures success or failure. The first salt water tank I set up forty years ago was cycled with a piece of shrimp and a hermit crab. No bottle bacteria as or any other bacteria. That tank ran fine for five years till the under gravel filter became so clogged I tore it down.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Live rock in no way assures success or failure. The first salt water tank I set up forty years ago was cycled with a piece of shrimp and a hermit crab. No bottle bacteria as or any other bacteria. That tank ran fine for five years till the under gravel filter became so clogged I tore it down.

It helps and to say otherwise is intentionally obtuse.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Im upgrading from a smaller tank I started with live rock that ended up being overrun with vermetid snails and i had no luck finding any solution to getting them under control I figured since im moving and upgrading now would be the time to make a change

You’ll get them eventually anyways. if you have access to proper live rock and the budget for it there’s no point in starting with dry rock.
The only caveat to that is if you’re planning to do some real intricate aqua scaping….and even then I’d include some live rock.

 

[M1ke13579]

You’ll get them eventually anyways. if you have access to proper live rock and the budget for it there’s no point in starting with dry rock.
The only caveat to that is if you’re planning to do some real intricate aqua scaping….and even then I’d include some live rock.

I do have some live rock from my old tank that’s coming up on 2 years old but it seems thats the consensus im thinking of just trying to clean them off real good and use them

 

[jimk60]

It helps and to say otherwise is intentionally obtuse.

LOL! The word obtuse always reminds me of the movie the Shawshank Redemption. One of my favorites.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

LOL! The word obtuse always reminds me of the movie the Shawshank Redemption. One of my favorites.

Probably where I stole it's use to be honest. I'm not a king fan. But Shawshank is an outstanding film..