Torn about rock choice for first reef tank

[livinlifeinBKK]

Ok, if these guys really did spend that kind of money on algae control, Id take that into consideration. Ive always used live rock since its inexpensive and abundantly available where I am so I havent experienced the difficulties firsthand that others have experienced when starting a tank with dry rock and sand. I didnt know it was that expensive to manage!

 

[DSEKULA]

I like a mix, best of both worlds. My preference is to buy dry rock and scape it how I want the dt then add live rock or rubble to the sump or as a few islands in the dt. Ime this still gives the benefits of the live rock like almost instant maturity cutting way down on the ugly tank stages that come with dry rock while allowing for scaping and also keeping the cost manageable. The more live rock you can manage to sneak in the easier the start up will go. Many places offer rubble which is great to scatter as little island I. The dt, toss in the overflow or sump and can be removed once the tank is mature if some of the pieces don't match the dt scape.

 

[claydogg84]

I used all CaribSea and had no issues. Will absolutely use it again when I upgrade.

 

[nursedude]

I've done two dry rock startups now and would do it that way again. I never saw what I would call an particularly ugly phase.

The "100% live rock or nothing" crowd on here is pretty loud, and it usually isn't worth trying to talk over them. However, I'll come out of my shell in this case. I totally understand their point, and agree that in some cases that is probably the best way to go. However, for me it just didn't make sense.

The cost of getting rock to my location was a big issue, but the biggest was that dry rock allowed me to move slow on my first build. There is a lot to digest the first time you setup a tank. Not dealing with wet rock gave me a couple of weekends to figure out all of my mechanicals at my own pace. I could have got everything ready, and then ordered rock, but my was was more relaxing for me.

Is my tank pest free? Nope. I had aiptasia in it within the first 6 months. The 2nd one is pest free at this point, but it is a FOWLR, so not too surprising.

It is almost like there is more than one way to do this... LOL! Seriously though, we all know there are different options that ultimately end ups with the same result I appreciate your input because we need variety and options in the hobby.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t have a successful tank with dry rock and dry sand. Plenty have. But lots of us have tried multiple methods and found that wet ocean live rock is a shortcut for success. 200-300 dollars for rock feels like a lot but is a small cost when you factor in the overall costs of even a budget setup.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Dry rock is fine as long as it is the minority. I would start with 70-80% LR for less hassle down the road.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

If I had an unlimited budget for this build, I would 100% go with live rock, but it's simply out of my budget. I am just not willing to spend $400 on live rock, I would rather wait a few more weeks for a cycle, maybe deal with an algae bloom or two, and have all of that extra money to spend on corals, then to spend it on live rock.

If you were all dry rock- it would be more hassle than that. Plus, more than 2 weeks of issues. But, if you are at least using a decent amount of live rock mixed in, you're probably fine.

 

[polyppal]

For years, I’ve used synthetic rock, a bottle of turbo at the beginning, and a swig of MB7 directly to the biomedia chamber for the first few water changes. Never had cycle issues or significant outbreaks with that approach.

Over 20 years I’ve found the biggest factors to ugly phases & breakouts isn’t rock choice, rather:

• Excessive Bioload & Overfeeding
• Unnecessary initial lighting intensity & duration
• Lack of nutrient export (i.e. regular water changes)
• Not having CUC members that actually put in work (cough cough, Cerith and Turbos)

 

[BryanM]

I am aware of the discussions on this topic and I don't mean to offend anyone by posting more on this topic but I really need to get this off of my chest and I need help weighing my options. I want to apologize beforehand if I mess up any terminology.

Anyway, I am trying to decide between Marco rocks dry, caribsea dry live, and live Florida ocean rock. (or if you have another recommendation, include that below)

Caribsea - I've heard good things about it from my lfs, and this was my initial pick, because it's on so many YouTube videos. Now, the downsides (from what I have seen) are the price and the supposed algae and dino outbreaks caused by it.
MarcoRocks - Marco rocks has really good reviews on BRS, and I love that it's pretty much sterile, it's the cheapest of the 3, and it seems to be the easiest to scape (and most attractive scape imo), but the downsides are the little bacteria (meaning longer cycle) and similar to caribsea I've read about algae outbreaks on the forum.
Live Florida Ocean rock - I've heard mostly good things about this rock, but I'm having a hard time getting around the steep price and the insane amount creatures coming in on that rock (both good and bad) and I don't know if I wan't to deal with that. The pros are the very short cycle, the minimal algae (from what I've read on the forum), and I guess the established look.

For a little more context, I am setting up a red sea max nano g2 cube (20 gallons), It's going to be mostly softies and lps, and I'm planning on a clownfish pair, obviously some sort of cleanup crew, and possibly a goby (or something along those lines). The tank has aio filtration (no sump). If I were running a sump I would go with dry rock in the tank and the Florida live rock in the sump, but for this situation, I just have no idea. Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.

This thread, and many others clearly prove there's more than one way to skin a cat. Can't say I read all 4 pages of posts here, but I'm a new reefer that read a ton about this previously before setting up my Redsea 425xl.

My opinions:

1). If you can afford it, go live rock. I went with Gulf Live Rock and I am extremely happy. PM me if you want to know why.
2). If you can't afford the entire tank with live rock, seed 10-20% with live, and the rest with CaribSea/whoever... If I was doing dry, I'd have chosen CaribSea.
3). Clearly you can do dry only, add bacteria, and follow numerous guides. It works, it's simply just more patience required. Stunning tanks go this route.

I wish I knew of a place where live rock was cheap, but my experience it is not. But for me it was well worth it. I'm 3 months ish in, with 6 fish, 4 added corals, added a RTBA, cleaning crew, and maybe the best part of live rock is learning about all the hitchhikers you got along the way. I have an 8-10" high gorgonian that came with the live rock, a rock flower anemone, countless other odd corals (some say aren't even sold in the hobby), and things I have probably not even discovered, .... oh, and a rock boring urchin that's hanging out in the sump w/a piece of live rock that I'm thinking of moving in to the display.

 

[X-37B]

First I want to say your tank looks amazing! That growth in 10 months is great. At what point did you add the acros?

I just really in the last 3-4 months started adding acros. Not because I was worried about parameters but I was focused on Euphyllia. I purchased a large octospawn and brought in bjd lost a few torches and didnt want to dose the tank with cipro. So all euphyllia got put in a different tank and dosed with cipro after a couple unsuccessful kfc dips. Mean while I put some sticks in. They are starting to grow its been maybe 3 months for some and only a month or so for others. Once the torches had stopped melting and stabilized they went back in different spots. All this is just so you can see the history. My tank started cycling at end of January and got its first fish and corals at the end of February. I have some bubble algae and aiptasia I see you do also. Other then live rock/dry rock and over all coral choices I dont see a huge difference. I have coralline growing on the rocks, glass and plastic as do you. The tanks are roughly the same age mine is 8 months yours 10. I started with dry rock and sand you did live rock and bare bottom. I fail to see the difference in live rock vs dry rock between the two. I am not picking on you we are two of the few who put our tanks on this thread and you started with lr and me dry so two prime examples of it (either one) working well.

Yea I have friends that wont use live. I have never done an all dry tank. All live since the late 80's. I did a 120 with 50/50 and it worked well.
With that system corals were added in a few days. All the rock came from my other systems so no cycle.
Just took these of the 170. 5 months and counting.

 

[X-37B]

This is my 3 month old ext 50.
40lbs live and 1 big dead live rock I saved and bleached when I moved last year.
You can see the dead rock. It was the only rock to get the uglies. Coralline is starting to take hold on it now is some areas.
Corals were in in a few weeks.
Just took these.