Success with dry rocks for New Tank? Senior Reefers please advise

[dtdream]

Hi guys, I've had mixed reef tank before so not totally inexperienced, but that was many years ago and now itchy backside start again.

So the challenge I'm facing is the choice of rocks for my new setup. In the past, live rock was the default option as it was relatively cheap and easy to get. But it seems nowadays we are limited to dry rocks or very expensive cultured live rock.

Can any senior reefers advise if they have had success with dry rocks? I don't think I'll take the caribsea life rock option as it is apparently synthetic and not great in the long run (slower coralline algae and corals slow to encrust is what I have read), plus I don't really like the fake purplish look. I'm most likely going with the Marco rock option, but I'm worried about bio-diversity. While bottled bacteria can assist in the establishing the nitrifying bacteria, you still don't get the critters, sponges, copepods, etc which I think are essential to a successful reef tank. I think even coralline algae we have to seed in a purely dry rock set up? 

Can any senior bros advise what they did to enhance the bio-diversity in their tank if they started out with purely dry rock only? Any other advise is also appreciated!

[Otaku Reefer]

i also use dry rocks from the start, caribsea purple dry rock, dont think that part of caribsea rock is true, my rock encrusted with coraline algae. alot ppl tend to conclude stuff without proper apple to apple comparison, so take with pinch of salt. Most important in reefing is patience, i have a QT system which i do nasty stuff to it and corraline algae just cant grow. once i stop all the funny stuff and just maintain proper schedule, i start to see corraline liao. Its all about parameters stability and things will grow eventually.

Just need to be patient and slowly add fish coral. Hope it helps.


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[JiaEn]

Welcome back to reefing! 

Modern dry rocks such as macro rock are very clean. So there is much less worry on absorbed phosphate. 

1 hour ago, dtdream said:

you still don't get the critters, sponges, copepods, etc which I think are essential to a successful reef tank.

This is true. However, once you start to stock up the aquarium with corals, these can come along. It does take quite a bit longer for the tank to mature,  but it will happen eventually. 

1 hour ago, dtdream said:

coralline

About the coralline algae,  I view them as a nuisance species. They consume plenty of elements, and takes up surface which should be encrusted by corals. I try my best to prevent them from growing. 

[Thehaddonicarpet]

Welcome back to reefing! 
Modern dry rocks such as macro rock are very clean. So there is much less worry on absorbed phosphate. 
About the coralline algae,  I view them as a nuisance species. They consume plenty of elements, and takes up surface which should be encrusted by corals. I try my best to prevent them from growing. 

Agreed. Lots of Coralline uses alk pretty fast, as well as trace elements. I have 2 urchins to control the bright pink coralline in my tank but to no avail. It does look good though. As with most things, too much is not very good


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[JiaEn]

Yes, urchin can help a bit,  but rather insufficient. 

I take the approach of managing coralline like any other algae - deny them favorable conditions for growth. 

[winston.jazzi]

What are the methods that could be employed to deny coraline growth? Scraping them manually and siphon out?

Yes, urchin can help a bit,  but rather insufficient. 
I take the approach of managing coralline like any other algae - deny them favorable conditions for growth. 

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[JiaEn]

I find that if I add more organic nutrients in the aquarium,  the growth of coraline will be quite reduced. 

I use FM organics and FM amino 

Basically the tank is at the state where the organics are too much for coraline to grow,  but too little for cyano and dino to grow 

[Thehaddonicarpet]

Lol my coralline grows no matter what the conditions. Mixed reef so it dosnt bother me although I need to dose slightly more


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[dtdream]

 

11 hours ago, Otaku Reefer said:

i also use dry rocks from the start, caribsea purple dry rock, dont think that part of caribsea rock is true, my rock encrusted with coraline algae.

This is helpful, thanks, good to know that dry rock is not an impediment to Coralline. 

10 hours ago, JiaEn said:

About the coralline algae,  I view them as a nuisance species. They consume plenty of elements, and takes up surface which should be encrusted by corals. I try my best to prevent them from growing. 

Hmm I did not really think of it that way, but yea I guess it does make some sense. Though I read that certain species of coral like to grow over the coralline algae, and other corals such as SPS can outcompete coralline algae anyway in a healthy system. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-frags-encrust-over-algae.453398/

9 hours ago, JiaEn said:

I use FM organics and FM amino 

Sorry can give full name of "FM"? Is it the name of a brand?

6 hours ago, Thehaddonicarpet said:

Lol my coralline grows no matter what the conditions. Mixed reef so it dosnt bother me although I need to dose slightly more

Yea in the past I just ended up dosing a little more. 

For me personally I think Coralline algae does look nice and also helps with other less desirable algae issues in the long run. Plus I plan to add the more challenging corals such as SPS only when I see Coralline algae growth. Apparently Coralline algae growth is a good indicator for when the tank is ready for more demanding corals. So hope to get some Coralline in any case

But yea ok going to back to the main question of dry rocks, it seems others and also you guys are using dry rocks with fair success. Plus I realize there are a ton of additives now, even live copepods that we can add, so will try the dry rocks and see how it does. Thanks for your replies guys! 

[JiaEn]

1 minute ago, dtdream said:

Sorry can give full name of "FM"? Is it the name of a brand?

Fauna Marin

[JiaEn]

2 minutes ago, dtdream said:

SPS can outcompete coralline algae anyway in a healthy system.

Very true. That's why the goal is to tune the system such that sps can out compete coralines easily  

[dtdream]

5 minutes ago, JiaEn said:

Fauna Marin

Got it thanks!

 

4 minutes ago, JiaEn said:

Very true. That's why the goal is to tune the system such that sps can out compete coralines easily  

Yeap, at least 1 year away I guess! Tank haven't even arrive, 1-2 months out! 

[dtdream]

Hi guys, anybody know which dry rock is better? Marco Rock or DD Aquascape Rock?