Rock and Live Rock

[JeffyT]

Hello RC,

I just recently stumbled upon Sk8tr noob tank startup stickies thread and I came across the description of putting rock down, then sand, then live rock.

The question I have for you is the first step or rock not live rock?

And if they are different, What is the purpose of having regular rock and then live rock?

 

[RocketEngineer]

Live Rock has all sorts of organisms growing on it including sponges, algaes, tube worms, pods, and the like.

Rock is typically dry rock where everything that was alive on it has now died. Dry rock is cheap because they don't have to take care of it when shipping.

By purchasing mostly dry rock and a few pieces of LR, it is possible to save on the setup costs early on. Given enough time the critters on the LR will populate the dry rock turning it back into LR.

You don't want to put the LR under the sand because being buried will kill off most of what is living on the rocks. That is why the dry rock goes in first, then the sand, then the LR.

 

[JeffyT]

Thank you so much for the info,

So from your explanation I've come to an understanding that Dry Rock just use to be Live Rock.

I was sort of thinking like.. you would put in rock pieces so that nothing grows on them and have some live rock where the corals can flourish. That way you can prevent crowding :X

 

[Timfish]

I use local limestone myself, not live rock that's been killed. You do want to make sure you get a good quality live rock. You'll also hear a lot of people say not to get live rock either wild or that's been cultured in the open ocean because of the concern of pests being introduced. If you quarintine your rock like your fish or corals (I set it on eggrate several inches off the bottom of a bare tank) the risk is minimalized and you will reap the benefits of sponges and inverts you can not easily get any other way. Speaking to the risk of pests, I have encountered them all. By far the most expensive in both terms of labor to remove and cost of lost livestock are the various flavors of Bubble Tip Anemones. Mojanos com in a distant 2nd. BTAs I've introduced myself :headwally: and Mojanos I've only encountered from other aquarists (my main reason for quarintining ALL frags now if I personally do not know the history of the aquarium the frags came from). Everything else has been a novel experience only vary rarely repeated (only ran into krakon aka bobbit aka eunice worms once but they are fascinating).