Fish Only With DEAD ROCKS (FOWDR)

[Elune]

Fish Only With DEAD ROCKS (FOWDR)

Will the lau jiaos here give opinions and comments about its pros and cons of Dead Rocks?

[cdckjn]

no point right????

If you do everything right, the dead rock will turn into live rock - after a long long time if you add the correct additives, then dead will become alive....

[Elune]

My concern here is about uncured live rocks that comes with harmful parasites / bacterias / worms that hitchhike on the live rocks we buy.

that is why I wanted to know if anyone agrees with me that dead rocks are safer thus easier for beginners.

Cuz beginners like me dun have to be concerned abt handling other live creatures / corraline on our rocks. We can then just focus on the fishes.

[mUAr_cHEe]

I am kind of out of touch with the market. Is anyone selling dead rocks? How much?

[VILLAIN]

I am kind of out of touch with the market. Is anyone selling dead rocks? How much?

I tot those second hand dry ones from pasar malam all dead rocks? Some free.

[Ah-lim]

How about buying some cured live rocks from fellow reefers?

Personally, I dun rather like dead rock, because, I have one[for testing purpose] in my tank, and it take ages to become alive.

No point lah.

Got crab, use bottle trap. Got worm? let it eat those left over food.

[Qxnviolet]

Personally i prefer live rocks for asthetic reasons. They look much nicer than dead ones. Like Ah-Lim mentioned, you could try get some cured rocks from fellow reefers. Using uncured rocks will be ok too if you are starting up a new tank.

[cdckjn]

I would buy rocks from fellow reefers - in this way you can almost be sure that the rocks do not have any funny new "stuff" that should surprise you.

But cannot be help if you buy soft corals from the LFS - almost 100% got hitchhakers (from my experience).

[Elune]

muar_chee: guess ur getting outta touch with reading also... , the topic is about "pros" and "cons" of having Dead Rocks, not about who is selling or buying dead rocks.

Ah-Lim pointed out that Dead Rocks takes a long time to come alive. Thats a disadvantage. Thanks for contributing.

Qxnviolet pointed out LR's advantage in aesthetic appeal (of cuz lah bro... But its Dead Rocks we're talking about here...)

but u mentioned also that "Using uncured rocks will be ok too if you are starting up a new tank". Please elaborate on this statement, as to "Why is this so?".

cdckjn : erm... off-topic. its Dead Rocks we 're talking about here. Getting LR from fellow reefers is common knowledge already... but i do agree that : "you can almost be sure that the rocks do not have any funny new "stuff" that should surprise you.". Then again, Dead Rocks CONFIRM has No funny things ( if there is any to even begin with), while LR from fellow reefers may have OLD "stuff" that I may not really want at all, even if its good living things.

Back to Dead Rocks. I say "DEAD" ones... advantages over Live rocks, and disadvantages of Live rocks.

[blueheaven]

IMO, I'd rather go for FOWDR (sounds nice) than a FOWLR

The reason being mainly on algae issues.

Considering that a fish only system is going to have lots of fish, the nitrate level is definately going to be on the high side. And this is especially so with beginners who are not willing to invest in big skimmers or have the time to do regular water changes.

If you use LR, chances are that you will get a diatom bloom and all sorts of different algae blooms. This can be quite discouraging as the tank will look "dirty" and the reefer probably gives up.

But one big disadvantage of dead rocks is that all the good bacteria that we want are also absent but I believe that can be re-established using commercial bacteria additives.

So LR or DR, it all depends on the reefer himself

[patrick123]

IMHO, if this is fish only tank, it doesn't matter whether is dead or live rock. Since even if you use live rock, the coraline algae will disappear after a while due to the lack of strong light (MH type), and calcium/kh (unless you want to dose kalkwasser in a fish only tank).

So either way, both will look like dead rock after a while.

But for reef tank, you need to be careful. Make sure you know the source of the dead rock and it is not exposed to copper. More importantly, need to check to make sure it does not continuously leech out phosphate which will become a long term problem for you.

[Elune]

bro BH, very critical contribution from you! I agree very much on the diatom and algae issue.

With SPECIFIC reference to small tanks (Nano / Pico), Live Rocks causing diatom blooms is REALLY discouraging.

bro patrick123: yep, i also agree that coralines tend to die off due to lack of proper strong light. so IMO, its better off starting off dead. or else when the things inside / above the Live Rock starts to die / rot.... imagine that in a 1 feet - 2 feet tank...

patrick123: you mean the rocks will leech prosphate? Dead or alive?

[Ah-lim]

ahhh, reminds me of my old 1 ft. So ya starting a nano?

IMHO,

Another advantage of using live rocks, is of the bacteria on it which will helps to support the nitrogen cycle, bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. If you have enough liverocks, the rock will house enough bacteria for your bioload.

Add a good skimmer or change water more often to reduce nitrate, then the water will be in rather good condition.

I can say that with enough water movement, there shld not be much algae problem.

And use distilled water too.

So, if ya wanna use dead rocks, I believe u need another way to handle the bioload?

[hondaker]

hmmm, got another query after all that inputs, let's say i understocked a tank (means 1 fish in a 4ft or something like that), does that mean i can do with less rocks? since the waste produced by 1 fish will mean that the bacteria will stablize at a lower level

[Maxstar81]

I prefer live rocks.

I never regret getting the uncured rocks from ah beng's shop.

Yup, they are full of critters & a PiTa when curing. After alls said

& done & when everything has settle down, U look at the rock w/

its host of natural goodies (pods, fan worms, macroalgae etc.).

U know its worth while. Not to mention more natural.

Got some signature saying natural reef dun have glass bottom ?

Well i say natural reef dun have dead rocks either.

[ReDDeviLs]

maybe u can get some liverocks and the rest dead rocks..

or dose some bacteria addictives to let bacteria grow

[Volitan]

Speaking of live vs dead rocks, does anyone know how long live rocks can stay out of water before they "die"? I mean, when we 1st set up our tanks, aren't the live rocks delivered or transported w/o water? So, if they do "die", can these rocks still be considered live rocks?