Do you really need Live Rock?

[williamsrt]

Hello All,

I was reading the book The Reef Aquarium Volume Three and on page 536

"the use of live sand has reduced the importance of the live rock as a biological filter."

The reason I ask is I am putting a 260 gal tank together and here in the UK live rock sales for 20.00 for 3 pounds of the stuff. What I was going to do is add alot of dead rock and may be just some live rock with allot of live sand. Would that work Just as well with soft corals? Tried to do a search on this, but it said to many request to post back to user so it errored out. And then there is the question about how alive is live rock.

Thanks,

Randall Williams

 

[Ti]

You can cut down the live rock you need by getting stuff like seachem matrix rock

 

[jdircksen]

Keep in mind that over time, your "dead" rock will turn into "live" rock. This is sometimes referred to as "seeding".

 

[MJAnderson]

If you start with mostly dead rock, I'd consider adding my bioload slower and hold off adding corals longer. It won't be as stable of a system. I think I read somewhere (but don't hold me to it) that it takes 6 months for a DSB to reach effectiveness. I don't know if that's the same for base rock to live rock.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

$20 for 3 lbs. of live rock is a great deal from an lfs anywhere - imo.....why not look around your area for other reefers and try to buy some of their established l.r.?

 

[jdircksen]

Since he is in the UK he may have quoted Euros. 20E = 26USD. But still, the price of live rock in the US seems to be from 6-12USD/lb.

 

[J. Montgomery]

I think that usings lots of "dead" rock (~2/3) and some live rock (~1/3) is a great cost-effective method. Compared to "No" rock, live rock is definitely an essential.

 

[williamsrt]

Hello,

I have used live rock before and do see the advantages of it. The thing is it just went to Cert which means it is now protected in the UK and kicked up the price to 20.00 dollars per 3 LB of it. And that is if you can even get it as of now it comes from France. Being that there is allot more technology now more then ever with our tanks it does make more sense to seed the rock then it does to take from the ocean. But what I do find funny is all of the saltwater stores around here still push the theory that you need 2 pounds per gallon of live rock. What would be the min I could get away with a 260 gallon tank? Anyone know? Could I just add seawater that has the same proprieties as the sand that is sold commercially?

This is a neat video that takes about 30 min to watch, but it talks about past, present, and future of live rock.

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/video/tbsaltwater.wmv

Thanks,

Randall

 

[Kurt03]

im setting up a 150 and dont want to buy all live rock for it. So im making alot of mine and then i will use the 60-70lbs thats in my 55 right now to seed it. It will be alot cheaper and you can make the rocks in whatever shapes you want. But it does take alot of extra time since it needs to cure and everything. if your interested search for diy rocks or something like that. The new thing in making your own rocks is to use water softner salt (that is pure enough) and mix that in with your concrete and sand and whatever else. After its dry then you have to cure it to leach stuff out of the concrete, then the salt dissolves and leaves the rock with tons of pores for bacteria to grow in just the same as rock from the ocean