Live Rock for Fish Only: worth the risk?

Thanks for the advice above. I followed the link ... there sure are a LOT of parasites that could come in with the LR.

I'm trying to find some pics of what healthy cured LR in a tank looks like. (How pretty it is or can be will help me decide whether to use it). Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

I have Live Rock in my swim tank. I don't see anything wrong with it also I do cure and flush my rock before I use it.

 

www.google.com , then click on images, then type in Saltwater tank

 

FYI, this site had pretty good pics:

http://www.livestockusa.org/LIVEROCKGALLERY.html

 

I'm with Diver. You can never have enough LR. I have one FOWLR and a Reef tank. I have 90 lbs in my 65 gal and abot 65 lbs in my 46 gal FOWLER. I also have rubble in my sump. IMO THE best place for LR is Premium Aquatics
I bought a ll of mine from them Tonga and Fiji cured. Delivered wet and well worth the $.http://www.premiumaquatics.com

 

You need to really think about the kinds of fish you plan on keeping in your tank. Then you can work on the inverts that are compatible with those fish. For instance, obviously you wouldn't put a Undulated trigger in a tank with Peppermint shrimp!
As far as the lr/ls and filtration is concerned...the more the better with regards to filtration especially with fish as they deficate alot and add an enormous amount of waste to your water, thus the need for strong filtration. Live rock and live sand will do nothing but help you. I would tend to use more live sand than live rock-about 5" of live sand is good to help house your bacteria needed to support the fish in your tank. A strong protein skimmer would also be very important. I would make sure that the skimmer is made for a bigger tank than you have. For instance your tank is a 65 gallon tank, so purchase a skimmer able to handle say a 100 gallon tank not one that tops out at 65 gallons. More is better!

 

YES Coral Reefer is on the mark!!!!!!! SKIM SKIM SKIM!!!!!!!8)

 

The most important thing about having live rock in a fish only tank is going to be that it's a much more natural environment for the fish. If anything it would be less stressful and keep them in good shape to fight off any possible diseases they might be exposed to.

I would still keep other filtration with a fish only tank unless it was stocked very sparingly. Nitrates will be a problem since the filtration will be much more efficient at making them than the rock would be at removing them so you'll need regular water changes to help with that. The good thing is though, there are quite a few fish that can deal with higher nitrates than you'd typically find in your average reef.

Onto your LFS. They don't keep their fish with liverock in the tank? If they do, what's the difference when they bag up your fish? I keep liverock in every single tank here whether it has fish in it, just stars, or even only hermit crabs.

Finally, how would liverock in a fish only tank be dangerous but at the same time they recommend it for a reef setup? Wouldn't your LFS agree that a reef setup was a bit more fragile than a fish only setup?

There's always going to be something in your water which is just waiting for a compromised fish to latch onto much like the common cold and flu are just about always out there ready for you to catch. The key is to keep your fish healthy and stress free enough that they can fight off the disease before it does any damage or not even succumb to it in the first place.

HTH

 

Thanks for all the advice. Looks like most people (and most sites on the web) agree that LR is a good thing for fish-only tanks. Thanks for the suggestion on premiumaquatics.com. Looks like a great place to buy LR.

Yep - I'm planning on a protein skimmer for up to a 100 gal tank (for my 65 gal)

JustPhish -- my LFS does not keep liverock with the fish. Their LR didn't look very good anyways. I think I'm going with premiumaquatics.com.
My LFS was saying that LR is good for reef tanks (but not fish-only) because FO does not need as much biological filtration as a reef-tank.