base rock or live rock?

[ihavtats29]

just wanted to see who has used just live rock in thier tank or used base rock and seeded it with live rock?

[ihavtats29]

ive done both

[AquamanE]

IMHO enough patience is needed in this hobby already. Having to wait for base rock to seed for me would be like living in a chinese torture chamber. :)

Again, also IMHO live rock choices are more asthetically pleasing than base rock.

[Mako]

Nice thing about base rock is you can play with your aquascape dry. Gives you the time to be more imaginative with your layout and build proper support structures. End result is usually much better.

Cost is another big factor as I am sure you have surmized by now.

As for time.... well to me seeded live rock kept in the proper environment wastes no time in coming to life. And you know what they say about good things and time.

[ihavtats29]

i agree with lager tanks it would cost thousands just for the live rock im gonna use 100 lbs of base rock and 50 lbs of live i allready have 25 lbs of live rock

[nalbar]

I can see how a person doing a large tank wants to save money. You can always hide the base rock. It's probably what I will do when I upgrade.

But more comes on live rock than bacteria. It has thousands of creatures that you can only get by going 'live'. To me, base makes no sense on small tanks (smaller than 100g, lets say).

One particular downside of dead rock is that it is an empty landscape, ready to be claimed. And the likely claimants are the fastest growers. Who are they? Unwanted algaes and other pests.

And don't get me started on manufactured rock.

[ihavtats29]

at 2 lbs per gal and most lfs selling live rock for 9$ a lb thats a lot of $$$$$ im going for 150 lbs in my 90 gal thats $1300 and to be honest im far from rich ive keept smaller tanks and have done both all live rock and mixed live and base ive had no problems with pests or alge besides 100 lbs of base rock is only $120 to $150 i have 25lbs of live rock allready that went from my 10 gal to the 90 im only planning on buying another 25 to 30 lbs of live rock

[ihavtats29]

bump

[Electrobes]

With me it isn't cost but safety. All my rock is base minus a seeder. It does take a little bit of time for the rock to come alive but honestly with all the things you can avoid I think it is very much worth it.