Live Rocks really needed?

[DouglasTiede]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9274443#post9274443 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marsh
Most of the live rock people speak of, are pieces of a old coral reef...aragonite....very porous with a large internal surface area. Regular rocks without the porosity and internal surface area would not provide you with biological functions you may desire for a marine aquarium. My understanding is that the Mediterranean does not have coral reefs...your closest source I guess would be the Red Sea.

It use to have gorgeous coral reefs, they have ALL died off in the last 60 years..
can you imagine.. Man kind needs to really start paying attention!

 

[elegance coral]

You are correct Ozadars. We can't Perfectly duplicate the detritus cycle found in nature. However, I can't think of anything we can perfectly duplicate. The great benifet of detritus isn't the detritus itself but the small life forms that feed on it. Amphipods, Copepods, and probably many other tiny creatures feed on it. It is these creatures and their offspring that feed our systems. The flow through the rocks is not ment to remove all the detritus, just excess buildup. The remaining detritus within the pores of the rock can then feed these creatures. The pores in the rock also provide shelter for these creatures.
In my tank (description bellow) I have 3 royal gramas, 1 male square spot anthius, a mated pair of clowns, and a little damsil. I do not feed my fish. Ever. They are all fat and happy. Their colors are great and they grow well. I could never do this without LR. Porous live rock can cut down or completely remove the need to feed an aquarium. The addition of fish food is far worse on the overall water quality of a system than the slow build up of detritus. With machanical filtration and some maintenance detritus can be kept in check.
You mentioned that you have a newbie tank. In a newbie tank water quality can jump all over the place. After the tank matures the water quality should level off.

 

[ozadars]

The great benefit of detritus is actually the detritus itself. Many corals use detritus as food and it doesnt have an exact subsitute. I am not sure how would corals react to the deficient detritus in their diet though. I would like to ask this in the Eric Borneman's forum.

BTW, I mistyped. I am not a newbie. I was gonna write "in many newbie tanks", not my newbie tanks.

In my tank, I use very few live rocks. They are a bit porous but heavy and very old (I still use my first rocks). I dont use protein skimmer, I dont do water change. I have a high bioload and I love to over feed. I have strong current, use active carbon and caulerpas. And my water quality has never gone bad. I believe this is because I dont have a lot of place in the tank that trops detritus and they are quickly either eaten or collected.

 

[elegance coral]

:lol: Have a nice day.

 

[zoozimmy]

wow

 

[Leopard Man]

Has anyone actually tried this?

Anyone has any pics of a tank without LRs?

 

[airinhere]

This is my 120 gal with all man made rock. The rock was just put in last weekend and I am waiting on a few pillars I made this weekend. This is my third all aragocrete reef tank. I will seed the new rock with the same handful of pieces of natural live rock I seeded my other two 90 gal reefs with. I do use real live rock in the sump. So far I am experiencing good results. Healthy corals and fish. Hair algae bloom was pretty bad in the 90 gals, but it does go away.