Question number 1

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by freerider, Nov 17, 2009.

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  1. freerider

    freerider Plankton

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2009
    Messages:
    3
    Location:
    Lethbridge, Alberta
    Evening everyone.
    plan on getting some LR this weekend or early next week to start cycling my tank. I have been looking online because even with shipping it works out alot cheep then buying in from a LFS here.
    the question is. i have been looking at a website marcorocks.com
    and along with live rock they have dry figi rock.
    is there any drawbacks for using dry rock? Coraline algae might take awhile to grow there i guess, but after the cycle isn't most of the Coraline algae dead anyways?
    i pondering this to much and it takes me a week to come up with a decision on something as simple as live rock.
    i was also looking at another website that sell live uncured rock from the Florida keys.. sea life inc i believe it was. But im not sure about putting rock like that,full of critters and Coraline algae and not so good algaes in my tank to cycle..
    Thanks alot
     
    freerider, Nov 17, 2009
    freerider, Nov 17, 2009
    #1

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  2. anpgp

    anpgp Dragon Wrasse

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Generally it's a lot cheaper to buy a couple pieces of lr and then use dry base rock for the rest. The dry base rock will over time become lr as things spread. There are no drawbacks to using dry base rock as opposed to all lr.
     
    anpgp, Nov 17, 2009
    anpgp, Nov 17, 2009
    #2
  3. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Location:
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    never used that site free rider - location is not ideal for me

    but in general my prefference is for mostly dry base rock , with a couple of pieces of live rock to help seed the base rock and to give the coralline required to eventually colour up the base rock
    I prefer this for the reasons you list above , namely getting a load of unwanted pests and nuisances with live rock

    Steve
     
    steve wright, Nov 17, 2009
    steve wright, Nov 17, 2009
    #3
  4. pgreef

    pgreef Fire Goby

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    Location:
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    Well, one of the drawbacks of dry rock is that you'll miss out on some diversity of live in the live rock. You won't get a variety of small feather dusters and such. On the plus side you won't get the nasty hitchhikers like aiptasia.
     
    pgreef, Nov 17, 2009
    pgreef, Nov 17, 2009
    #4
  5. freerider

    freerider Plankton

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2009
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    Location:
    Lethbridge, Alberta
    sounds good, thanks for you help
     
    freerider, Nov 18, 2009
    freerider, Nov 18, 2009
    #5
  6. missionsix

    missionsix Super Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Bend,Oregon - USA
    I cycled my tank with all base rock and still ended up with nuisance macroalgae. :angry:
    Freerider, I would only use base rock. If you have access to "hand pick" some live, then grab a piece that has been thoroughly inspected and loaded with nice coralline and good hitch hikers. The point I was trying to make by mentioning my nuisance algae problem, If the nutrients are available, they will come;D............
     
    missionsix, Nov 18, 2009
    missionsix, Nov 18, 2009
    #6