Looking for LR

E

erndog1001

Premium Member
Hey everybody. My 350+ gal tank is finally ready to go. I'm looking for dry live rock atm. If you have some you're looking to sell give me a shout. I'm in Syracuse but I'm willing to take a ride if the price is right.
Thanks
 
It would be quite a haul for you, but arc in buffalo had some for like 2 a pound but not sure how much they had available
 
if you get dry rock make sure to treat with lanthanum, especially the tonga. other dry-rock is varied - nothing worse than starting with a bunch of dry rock thinking its clean and have it loaded with phosphate. We had to pull all the BRS tonga (lots of pounds) out of a buddy's tank to treat with bleach, then muriatic and then lanth to get phosphate under control (bleach was for the hair algae).

if you are looking local, I have more rock than I need. Planning to strip with muriatic tomorrow and start cycling. I'll sell whats left after I build the new tank for 2/lb
 
Blurry said:
if you get dry rock make sure to treat with lanthanum, especially the tonga. other dry-rock is varied - nothing worse than starting with a bunch of dry rock thinking its clean and have it loaded with phosphate. We had to pull all the BRS tonga (lots of pounds) out of a buddy's tank to treat with bleach, then muriatic and then lanth to get phosphate under control (bleach was for the hair algae).

if you are looking local, I have more rock than I need. Planning to strip with muriatic tomorrow and start cycling. I'll sell whats left after I build the new tank for 2/lb
Click to expand...


Oh man this is not good news. Ya know. just when you thought you knew something about what you're doing in this hobby. Someone comes along and throws ya a big ole curve ball! Lol. Ok so could you elaborate about this process bc I already have some i bought off a guy soaking in the tank. Its just RO/DI water No salt yet But i'll dump it and start again if I have to.
 
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dry rock is NOT live rock

dry rock is NOT live rock

dry rock is dead rock
erndog1001 said:
Oh man this is not good news. Ya know. just when you thought you knew something about what you're doing in this hobby. Someone comes along and throws ya a big ole curve ball! Lol. Ok so could you elaborate about this process bc I already have some i bought off a guy soaking in the tank. Its just RO/DI water No salt yet But i'll dump it and start again if I have to.
Click to expand...
RO/DI (freshwater) will kill all the marine life on any liverock- bad AND good.

One of the LARGE reasons real liverock is more expensive than dryrock is you WANT desirable marine critters that occur on real liverock. Sure- there are some unwanted pests. But you'll ALWAYS have to be vigilent againt them.. even if you construct a reef aquarium using DEAD (dry) rock.

There's no reason to dump the rock you already purchased.

Rock (both live and dead) for marine aquariums are actually old dead coral heads (or they should be. I tried granite once and it was useless!)

EXCESS Phosphates (PO4) fuel nuisance algae growth. We accurately determine low level PO4 in marine aquaria using a Hanna Checker or Colorimeter. (There are other low level PO4 tests. Hanna is most popular.)

If I were to purchase "pre enjoyed liverock" I would
1) make sure the aquarium it came from was NEVER treated with any meds
2) make sure that if it came out of saltwater and was kept wet it STAYS wet in saltwater
(or you'll have to recure it)
3) if it dries out or you kill life in/on it by soaking in freshawater you WILL have dieoff. Dying organisms fuel rising levels of organics. You can use the rock for sure... but I would cycle it/cure it/ "cook it" (note this process does NOT involve HEAT) PRIOR to placing it in an aquarium or do this process INSIDE the aquarium (as long as it's a new aquarium containing no living critters.)

You have many questions to ask for sure.
Save yourself TONS of later headaches and ask them!
 
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Ok I just spent the past hour or so reading up on the various treatment methods and I think I'm going to pass. I see no benefit to bleaching rock that's been in storage for a long time. There's certainly nothing left alive on it.
The Muratic acid bath could have benefits but since I'm going to be using a very effective protein skimmer and a refugium with macroalges. I don't think phosphates are going to be a problem either.
Or am i missing something here?
 
Blurry said:
if you get dry rock make sure to treat with lanthanum, especially the tonga. other dry-rock is varied - nothing worse than starting with a bunch of dry rock thinking its clean and have it loaded with phosphate. We had to pull all the BRS tonga (lots of pounds) out of a buddy's tank to treat with bleach, then muriatic and then lanth to get phosphate under control (bleach was for the hair algae).

if you are looking local, I have more rock than I need. Planning to strip with muriatic tomorrow and start cycling. I'll sell whats left after I build the new tank for 2/lb
Click to expand...

Ok where are you and when do you think it'll be ready for pickup?
 
If the rock has been in rodi I would skip the bleach and go to muriatic. That's what I'm doing with the rocks which are soaking in acid right now.

Up to you on whether to put them right in. The amount of phosphate coming out of the tonga before we treated it was unreal. Good equipment helps - if you have phosphate loaded rocks you will be burning through GFO which is expensive.

I'll post up what is left for rock when I'm done with stacking the new tank. I'm in Jordan ny
 
I think most everyone that knows what they're doing would agree on two basic things:

1) the liverock that came out of the other aquarium CAN be used again as long as it wasn't subjected to meds
2) at this point in time without some kind of treatment... that rock WILL fuel nuisance algae growth... and most likely a huge explosion of it

now... if you choose to do NOTHING.... the algae will consume PO4 and nitrates... but you'll still have to export them somehow: physical removal of algae, herbivores, herbivore poop etc. etc.

It's a steep learning curve for beginners: Nutrient export vs. import. Most aspiring reefkeepers give up maintaining an aquarium because of problematic algae. One thing is for sure: we know more today than 5 or 10 years ago on how to control nuisance algae... but it doesn't change the fact that we ALL must CONTINUALLY address the issue.
 
Gary Majchrzak said:
Funny. One of the most important decisions in building a reef aquarium is cost of the rock.

For some people.
Click to expand...

In his original post he mentioned price so I was just sharing the lowest price I've found. I ordered 100 pounds from them and for dry rock, I think it looks great. Plus they're a sponsor of rc.
 
don't take anything personally- I'm not singling you out.

Merely commenting on a situation that seems commonplace nowadays: many people (and especially those new to the hobby!) are failing to realize the components you use to build a reef aquarium make a difference in how it turns out.

I happen to be of the opinion that constructing a reef aquarium out of the best liverock you can obtain makes a huge difference in the end result :)
 
I agree with you. I just got sick of fighting with every pest possible that came on my live rock. I'm starting my tank again but I wanted a clean slate. That way it's my fault if any pests manage to make their way in haha.
I think the most annoying things I had were those little spiral shell things that just encrust everywhere. All over equipment and glass and they're tough to get off.
 
Personally I went with reefcleaners dry rock when I set up my 29 g - they were really good with communicating with me and i wanted smaller pieces instead of large chunks cuz it was a smaller tank and they were great and sent me exactly what I asked for and the rock looked great! I used about a third live rock from TRS and the rest was dry.

I got most of what is in my 90 right now with the tank - it was live rock from a previously set up tank. I have some asterina stars, a lot of tiny critter activitiy (copepods), and the coralline algae is sprouting up in specks already.

Like it has been said - with live rock you risk putting "bad things" in your tank, but you run that risk with the fish and corals you add anyways. If you can get live rock from another person's tank just make sure the tank looks clean and healthy and the rock has coralline instead of brown/green/red/slime on it.
 
Ryan2013 said:
I think the most annoying things I had were those little spiral shell things that just encrust everywhere. All over equipment and glass and they're tough to get off.
Click to expand...
these are Serpulids. Tiny harmless filter feeders that are common in almost every system that's set up with good quality liverock. These are not a bad thing. They multiple quickly but dense populations always end up "burning out" and going away.
 
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