North Borders Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Quick question regarding rock for a new tank! I'm going to be setting up and cycling my tank up in the next couple of weeks. My LFS is kind of small and only sells dry rock and live sand. Would this option be just as good as getting live (wet) rock? Or should I order a little bit of 'live' rock online from like reefcleaners or BRS? Link to comment
Admonition Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Dry rock and live sand will work perfectly fine. Many people use just dry rock. Just don't expect hitchhikers on your dry rock like you'd get on live rock (in case you were). Also, just a heads up, the rock at reef cleaners and BRS is dry rock Link to comment
North Borders Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 How big of a deal is it to be missing hitchhikers such as pods and worms? While beautiful, I don't plan on stocking my tank with any pod requiring fish like Mandarins. Will the live sand carry coraline algae? I've heard you can get that from crabs and snails that have it growing on their shells. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 How big of a deal is it to be missing hitchhikers such as pods and worms? While beautiful, I don't plan on stocking my tank with any pod requiring fish like Mandarins. Will the live sand carry coraline algae? I've heard you can get that from crabs and snails that have it growing on their shells. Coraline Algae will grow from almost anything... My recommendation is to order a lot of dry rock from ReefCleaners. Its much cheaper than your local fish store! Then just cycle away with live sand. It will be great and pest free Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 How big of a deal is it to be missing hitchhikers such as pods and worms? While beautiful, I don't plan on stocking my tank with any pod requiring fish like Mandarins. Will the live sand carry coraline algae? I've heard you can get that from crabs and snails that have it growing on their shells. It's only a big deal if you personally deem it to be If you want all the hitchhikers, then go for it. Just understand you're also risking the possibility of unwanted hitchhikers (usually regarded as pests). For a lot of people they're okay with that, myself being one of them back in the day. Personally, I'd rather just use dry rock. It has no 'pests' and I can take my time aquascapeing it out of water. As far as the coraline algae, that'll grow naturally as long as you keep your parameters in check with basic upkeep. It'll grow on dry rock I don't believe it's in your live sand, but yes, some hermits and snails have it growing on their shells. Link to comment
Lawnman Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 How big of a deal is it to be missing hitchhikers such as pods and worms? While beautiful, I don't plan on stocking my tank with any pod requiring fish like Mandarins. Will the live sand carry coraline algae? I've heard you can get that from crabs and snails that have it growing on their shells. I would go with dry rock. This will keep you from getting all the pest algae and critters. Cycle it with live sand like others have said or use dry sand and household ammonia. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Over time, as you add coral, you will most likely continue introduce pods, brittle stars, worms, etc that are on the coral and frag mount. I would seed the tank with live sand as it will introduce some micro flora/fauna and cycle the tank. Remember the tank requires a source of ammonia to cycle. Either fish food, raw shrimp, or liquid ammonia. Link to comment
North Borders Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 When I was cycling my freshwater tanks I spent the better part of a day searching stores for ammonia and finally found a gallon jug of it at ACE Hardware for 5 bucks haha. I have more ammonia than I'll ever use In FW tanks you dose til you hit around 4ppm of ammonia in the water, is it the same for salt? Link to comment
Gooburz Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Craigslist, you can find some amazing deals on dry rock and established live rock. Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 You might skip the "live sand" and just try and get a little live rock to boost the cycle. A little will work fine. I just hate paying for live sand that could have been sitting on the shelf for months or handled improperly. When you dump it in there's so much nasty stuff and in it. Guess that's just food for the bacteria though. I'm not sure if you can order by the lb from reef cleaners but if you can if get a few lbs of live rock and the rest dry rock. It will help seed the tank with coraline also. Been wondering about dry rock, when you use only dry rock and never introduce any coraline into the tank will it still naturally grow? Just hypothetical I know there bound to be some on frag plugs and such when added. Link to comment
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