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Cultivated Reef

“real reef rock”


nano_izzy

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i posted this same question in my journal with no response😣 so im posting here...hope thats okay. 

 

come to find out that the only rock my LFS sells anymore isnt real rocks but the manmade aquacultured stuff by the name of real reef rock. can anyone with experience with this chime in and let me know how you like this stuff?? im curious as to how this stuff compares to some of the other options out there.

 

i didnt even even know this was a thing until research after staring at my tank for a while and not seeing any living organisms on it haha. the last and only other tank i have setup was with live fiji rock that this same LFS used to carry. im also wondering a bit as to how my cycle will go with the “real reef rock” as i only have experience with the live fiji rock. 

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4 hours ago, nano_izzy said:

i posted this same question in my journal with no response😣 so im posting here...hope thats okay. 

 

come to find out that the only rock my LFS sells anymore isnt real rocks but the manmade aquacultured stuff by the name of real reef rock. can anyone with experience with this chime in and let me know how you like this stuff?? im curious as to how this stuff compares to some of the other options out there.

 

i didnt even even know this was a thing until research after staring at my tank for a while and not seeing any living organisms on it haha. the last and only other tank i have setup was with live fiji rock that this same LFS used to carry. im also wondering a bit as to how my cycle will go with the “real reef rock” as i only have experience with the live fiji rock. 

Did you buy them wet out of the LFS bin? If so they’re as good as any live rocks from the bin. They seem less porous, just enough nooks and surfaces for beneficial bacteria to colonize. 

if they sold them dry, then you have to treat it like dead rock. Hopefully it’s the wet version you got. 

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personally I love the stuff I buy it dry from premium aquatics have if ship out to Wy. and cycle it just like any other dry rock. no acid wash or long curing process just seed and start the cycle. 

check out my build thread for pics of that last batch I got.

 

 

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I am not a fan of that particular rock, I prefer life rock myself but its sold dry so you need to cycle longer, but that really isn't a big deal. I do miss the days of being able to get real live rock and the diversity it brought in, I never minded most pests, some were interesting....

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3 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Did you buy them wet out of the LFS bin? If so they’re as good as any live rocks from the bin. They seem less porous, just enough nooks and surfaces for beneficial bacteria to colonize. 

if they sold them dry, then you have to treat it like dead rock. Hopefully it’s the wet version you got. 

yeah they were wet and in one of their tanks with some clowns for sale. transported them home in a styrofoam cooler with no water but its only a 30 min drive back home. pretty much same process as when they used to sell the live fiji rock some years back. 

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1 hour ago, devaji108 said:

personally I love the stuff I buy it dry from premium aquatics have if ship out to Wy. and cycle it just like any other dry rock. no acid wash or long curing process just seed and start the cycle. 

check out my build thread for pics of that last batch I got.

 

 

awesome, thanks for the response and ill def check it out! i take it since you love the stuff, you dont have any complaints or very minor ones? have you used actual live rock before? if so how would you compare the amount of beneficial bacteria able to colonize between the 2? 

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22 minutes ago, squamptonbc said:

I am not a fan of that particular rock, I prefer life rock myself but its sold dry so you need to cycle longer, but that really isn't a big deal. I do miss the days of being able to get real live rock and the diversity it brought in, I never minded most pests, some were interesting....

the two are very similar aren’t they? ive seen alot of people using that as well but never seen any in person. 

 

i dont have much experience in the reef hobby as ive only ever had 1 other tank. however, i had live fiji rock only and loved to sit around during cycling and watch all the critters that were hitchhikers...definitely made the cycling process not seem so boring haha. i guess my main concern with this thread was making sure my nuvo10 with 10 pounds “real reef rock” will have enough nooks and pores to colonize enough bacteria to sustain my nano reef in the long run. 

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5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I used caribsea liferock, it's great. It's similar to the reef rock.

good to know, thanks! i was getting a bit cautious with some of the mixed reviews on different sites. seeing now how many people have beautiful tanks using life rock or other aquacultured rock i think ill be fine. now just need to exercise patience and let the cycling do its thing! 

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19 hours ago, nano_izzy said:

awesome, thanks for the response and ill def check it out! i take it since you love the stuff, you dont have any complaints or very minor ones? have you used actual live rock before? if so how would you compare the amount of beneficial bacteria able to colonize between the 2? 

 

yup used lots of LR in the past TBS, KP aquatics and others. 

I would say  its about the same. not as good as pukhani  but that stiff is hard to come by anyway + a long curing time or acid washing. real reef rock is reince and scape.   it looks a ton better than white  dry rock  but in 6-8 months the white stuff will be covered anyway.

 

I think RRR looks beter IMHO than the carib sea rock the normal stuff anyway something about how they colored that makes it look "dirty" that is just my option tho.

 

 

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On 2/10/2020 at 9:26 PM, nano_izzy said:

the two are very similar aren’t they? ive seen alot of people using that as well but never seen any in person. 

 

i dont have much experience in the reef hobby as ive only ever had 1 other tank. however, i had live fiji rock only and loved to sit around during cycling and watch all the critters that were hitchhikers...definitely made the cycling process not seem so boring haha. i guess my main concern with this thread was making sure my nuvo10 with 10 pounds “real reef rock” will have enough nooks and pores to colonize enough bacteria to sustain my nano reef in the long run. 

 

They are. I just prefer the color of the carib sea stuff over the real reef rock, plus at $9.45 CAD/lb for real reef rock, it gets pricey.

 

Personal preference really. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I can't stand the dyed reel reef rock products, it looks so artificial until it grows in. I prefer to go with a nice dry rock and seed it with well established live rock. The only version of the "real reef" stuff that I like is the tonga branch, but it has to be well established, otherwise the solid coloring they do to it looks super fake. I've never seen great biodiversity on much of it- and it isn't all that porous either. 

 

I like the reefsaver dry rock from bulk reef supply, with a bit of live added in to seed it. Very porous and jagged surface, and pretty light for it's size.

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