New tank with dry rock no life

[tbradway]

10 years ago started tank with live rock . Had all kinds of algae and critters running around . Fish snails and crabs were all happy and busy.

New tank with Caribbean dry rock shapes. Beautiful but sterile, do I need a seed piece of live rock or add photo and zooplankton . Will fish food keep everyone happy. Don't want overgrowth of algae but some would be nice .

Maybe I'm better off with no nuisance problems from the start.

Thanks

 

[humphreyhh]

I started with dry sand and dry rocks. No problem. You just need more time for the tank to mature. I have zero problem with parasites, Aiptasia, etc. it's been great experience. Just be patient.

Though you could add a small piece of live rock from lfs. Make sure to check if the rock is clear of stuff you don't want.


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[sde1500]

Yea the problem with dry dead everything is just that, super sterile. Not bad to avoid unwanted pests, but not the best for diversity. If you plan on adding corals, plan on having life enter that way too. Certainly wouldn't hurt to look into adding some copepods and amphipods, snails, etc.

 

[mcgyvr]

I start with dry rock/sand all the time and when I purchase corals diversity comes in on that..
If you are going to be fish only then you will lack lots of microfauna,etc... present in reef tanks that can be beneficial.. How beneficial though is not really known in each application.

One can most certainly have a successful "sterile" tank and use dry rock/sand and only feed fish food and never need to add anything else..

So I guess the answer is "NO" you do not need to add phyto/live rock or anything else and just food alone is fine

 

[lapin]

To quote mcgyvr If you are going to be fish only then you will lack lots of microfauna,etc... present in reef tanks that can be beneficial.. How beneficial though is not really known in each application.
I too start with dry rock. Then over time I add coral and stuff just appears. Snails and crabs will bring in your greenery. Corals will bring in all kinds of things. I add pods, all kinds, including Amphipods. A little macro algae in the sump will add stuff. I added some cryptic sponge starter rocks to my sump and now I have lots of tube worms and even a non cryptic sponge in the display.
Of course you will get some unwanted guests. These are hard to avoid no matter how hard you try. Most can be dealt with pretty easy these days.
Seeding my tank with some live rock would have been faster but im in no hurry.

 

[not4unco]

Before going the route of using dry rock i'd suggest giving it an acid bath or you might end up with a phosphate issue like I did and have to start over again.

 

[Bpb]

Dry rock is fine you just have to really put effort into adding biodiversity if you want it quicker. Otherwise it'll take a while anything alive you add to the tank will being in microscopic spores and sponge pieces and pods ect. When I bag up frags for sale the bags are always crawling with pods, mysid, ect so they'll always find their way in eventually. Good and bad. You at least get to use some scrutiny with dry rock. I agree the shapes rock is beautiful. I consider buying some to supplement my scape


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[marzvt]

Don’t be tempted to add live rock or even “cured” rock from a pet store. I added a piece of cured rock because I liked the shape and I have been battling aiptasia ever since.

 

[ChronicReefH2o]

When I first started in the hobby many years ago, I used ONLY dry goods to keep pest out of the tank and under control. This is a 1% chance of keeping a system clean. Once you start adding fish and corals, they need to be QT for a good 1-2 months before going into the main DT. About 90% of the reefer's don't QT and straight into the DT their fish and corals go. Even when QT, its not a 100% that it will be clean, there is always a good chance you will be introducing something into the tank and not even knowing it.