Dry/immitation rock

[nanojg]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Eco-RoX-(-Fiji-Rock-)/c7/index.html


Anyone use this? I think I am going to go with either a dry or immitation rock on my next set up. I will take my time to seed it and dont want to deal with all the "extras" on live rock.

Any other options? What about seeding, I was thinking of just putting a small piece of live rock from my other tank, eventually the all the live stuff will spread right?

[xJake]

I haven't used that product specifically, but it looks to be of fairly good quality. I have used dry base rock in the past, and I've never had issues using it in place of live rock.

To answer your questions...

1) Yes, many people use dry base rock as an alternative to all live rock.
2) There are plenty of other options, including "Tuffa" Rock, "Lace" Rock, and many others; there are also several other companies that offer similar "dry" or "imitation" rock to that of BRS.
3) A small piece of live rock would work, but I would suggest 1 or 2 large pieces instead. The fact is, the more live rock you put in the tank, the faster the dry rock will become seeded with beneficial flora and fauna. Larger pieces of live rock contain more diversity in the types of organisms they support; mainly, what you're after is the anaerobic bacteria that populates the interior pore structure of the live rock. Without a large population in place already, your dry rock will take a much longer time to become seeded with these beneficial populations of de-nitrifying bacteria. Small pieces of live rock tend to lack this anaerobic area within their structure, and consequently are not ideal (at least IMO) for seeding dry, imitation, base rock.

Keep in mind, it takes a lot more than just bacteria for your dry base rock to become actual "live" rock. There are hundreds, and thousands (possibly even millions) of different types of organisms that need to populate your dry rock before it is able to adequately sustain a coral reef mini-ecosystem. This can take months for many organisms and even years for some. On the other hand, this doesn't mean that you cannot keep corals, fish, and inverts after just a couple weeks after the initial cycle.

Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that dry base rock takes much longer to reach the level of maturity that is needed to support the stability you see in systems that have been established for many years. However, when done right, systems with dry rock work just as well as, if not better than, systems with wild-collected "live" live rock.

[nanojg]

thanks xJake. Maybe I'll get a bigger piece of live rock and cure it for a while in another tank and try to rid everything I dont want on it (various algeas, aptasias, crabs if I can find them, etc.)

[gradth]

http://www.marcorocks.com/

I have 100lbs of this in my display and am quite happy with it.

[pauldrapeau]

I just set up a tank with the Eco Rox from BRS. They are great! I'll post pics in my tank thread later tonight as the sandstorm has just died down.

I ordered 50 lbs and rinsed them then put them in a tub of salt water with heat, a powerhead, a small rock and a sponge from an established tank. Then I put in a fair mix of foods (flake, frozen shrimp, pods from a bottle etc.) I saw a huge ammonia spike and it stunk for about 3 weeks. Then it cycled normally. I did a few water changes then put the rocks in the display with "nano" rocks and "rubble" from a few LFSs, online vendors, and an established tank after checking over each rock pretty well for obvious pests.

I'm already seeing worms and life colonizing the eco-rox, they blend into the display nicely with the natural stuff and I was able to set up a tank using only a few lbs of "real live rock".

So far so good... I would definitely do it again.

[nanojg]

great looking forward to it

[nanojg]

wonder if you can purchase bristle worms?

[demonboy369]

search for detrivore kits