What should I do for live rock?

[GARRIGA]

In the 90’s, the saltwater aquarium books discussed diatoms, cyanobacteria and hair algae in new and established aquaria. The uglies existed back then even using live rocks. The good old days with minimal uglies might be a myth. Another aspect of saltwater aquarium keeping that seems to have changed in addition to using dead rock is the speed at which aquarists ram things into their aquarium. While experienced aquarists can get away with minimal uglies, most do not.

I think when we understand the causes of the uglies, we will be in a better position to run some experiments.

Read those books. Just don't recall it likely because never experienced or seen at stores I frequented including wholesalers since I was in the industry and not as an employee but a business owner.

Honestly have no clue what causes or cures them but believe live rock beneficial to not experiencing them based on not seeing them ever in tanks having live rock. When in doubt. I always fall back on my experience.

Are we debating whether to bother with live rock or just details because only other alternative to instant tank being bottled bacteria and although used to think buying from several sources would add diversity that's no longer my belief and I'm back to going live rock or alternative of sand and/or rubble. Gotta admit playing with dry rock much easier once you go big tank.

 

[Uncle99]

First live rock ended with a bobbit worm.

Second ended two years down the road with gorilla crabs. Must have come in as babies.

Third went dry rock and bacteria.

Either way works well but dry requires just a bit more water maintaining.

5 years of happiness!

 

[Timfish]

Your definitely ant to use wild or maricultured live rock. Just FYI there's huge differences in what's marketed as "live rock". Live rock should not be confused with "liferock" which is dead dry rock that has been colored the color of coraline algae. Basically, "Live Rock can be divided into three catagories:

Aquacultured - dry rock that has had nitrifying bacteria added (has teh same benefit of adding bottled nitrifying bacteria.

Maricultured - Dry rock that has been kept in the ocean long enough to grow marine organisms that cannot be cultured economically in aquaria but are essential to reef ecosystems. (Only a tiny fraction of the microbial stuff can be cultured and stuck in a bottle.)

Wild - Naturally occuring live rock that has been harvested and has all sorts of stuff on it. It's the most expensive and hardest to get. It has the advantage of having organisms, including sponges and microbial stuff that is from a specific locations so it's possible to set up a more natural reef biome if that is one's goal.

You will hear a lot of fear mongering regarding live rock from the ocean about all kinds of problem animals that might hitchhike on it. In my experience the vast majority of pests (>95%) I've had show up have come from other aquarists. And the "pests" that do show up may be fascinating animals in their own right. A friend has had a mantis shrimp in her reef system for over 3 years and it's one of her favorite animals. It's peacefully coexisting with small fish, hermits and snails (one species of snail is reproducing in her system).

Here's an article on the benefits of oceanic sourced live rock:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I am planning to start a 75 gallon tank in about a month and I want to have live sand but am not sure about live rock. I want to have corals and eventually keep an sps dominated tank and I want a decent stocking of fish. I don’t like the idea of having the marco “dead” rock because I don’t want to end up with the uglies for a year. Therefore, I’m now leaning more towards live rock but I’m still a bit concerned about the pests and I don’t think I can afford 75 pounds of rock for the entire tank with my budget. So does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of rock is best for me and how much of it? Thanks

If you are building a proper 75g reef tank containing SPS and live rock is holding your budget, you will soon learn that LR will be the least of your expenses. I would not avoid LR because of of potential pests. No matter what, you will always have a pest issue. There is no way around it. Your lightning alone will cost 2-3x what some minimal LR would cost.

 

[Dan_P]

Are we debating whether to bother with live rock or just details because only other alternative to instant tank being bottled bacteria a

i think we are exchanging ideas.

Starting an aquarium with live rock still seems like the best way to start an aquarium. My argument is that no one has proven that it is the bacteria on live rock that seemingly starts an aquarium with minimum uglies, that is, minimized not eliminated.

 

[GARRIGA]

i think we are exchanging ideas.

Starting an aquarium with live rock still seems like the best way to start an aquarium. My argument is that no one has proven that it is the bacteria on live rock that seemingly starts an aquarium with minimum uglies, that is, minimized not eliminated.

Agreed

 

[The deepwaterhorizon reef]

If you are building a proper 75g reef tank containing SPS and live rock is holding your budget, you will soon learn that LR will be the least of your expenses. I would not avoid LR because of of potential pests. No matter what, you will always have a pest issue. There is no way around it. Your lightning alone will cost 2-3x what some minimal LR would cost.

I wouldn’t describe it as holding. I have factored in the costs of this tank but what I didn’t account for is live rock.

 

[The deepwaterhorizon reef]

Does tbs use a specific kind of man-made rock? Is it meant to mimic some kind of live rock?

 

[The deepwaterhorizon reef]

Also what is those line sand like in comparison to Carib-seas? How heavy is it and how easily is it thrown around from the flow of an sps tanks powerhead? Thanks

 

[LiverockRocks]

Does tbs use a specific kind of man-made rock? Is it meant to mimic some kind of live rock?

The manmade rock we use is from Walt Smith. A couple years ago, planted regular and monster sized branch, honeycomb, slabs, various arch sizes and caves. We also have some macro rocks cooking, traditional round shape.

All in, the Walt Smith rock has the most lifeforms.

 

[The deepwaterhorizon reef]

The manmade rock we use is from Walt Smith. A couple years ago, planted regular and monster sized branch, honeycomb, slabs, various arch sizes and caves. We also have some macro rocks cooking, traditional round shape.

All in, the Walt Smith rock has the most lifeforms.

thanks for replying tbs! I’ll keep that in mind when making my aquascape.

 

[The deepwaterhorizon reef]

I think I’m going to go with a hybrid of 20-30% live rock and the remainder dry rock along with several bottled bacterias to help hasten the process of converting the dry rock to live rock. I’m still on the fence about sand and will do more research. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I think I’m going to go with a hybrid of 20-30% live rock and the remainder dry rock along with several bottled bacterias to help hasten the process of converting the dry rock to live rock. I’m still on the fence about sand and will do more research. Thanks for the help everyone!

this is a really good idea. Its what I did as well and it worked perfectly to speed up my cycle.

 

[danimal1211]

i think we are exchanging ideas.

Starting an aquarium with live rock still seems like the best way to start an aquarium. My argument is that no one has proven that it is the bacteria on live rock that seemingly starts an aquarium with minimum uglies, that is, minimized not eliminated.

Well there is plenty of life that we don’t need a microscope to see that I would suspect aids in decreasing the severity of the uglies as opposed to dry rock with none.