Is it necessary to add live rock?

[stealle]

I will be starting a 200 gallon tank next spring. Is it really necessary to add live rock to Marco Rock? I like the idea of trying to start a pest free tank. The addition of any live rock come the risk of introducing a number of things I don't want in my tank. I'd rather choose what living things are in my tank. I was thinking about using the Prodibio Bio Digest and Bioptim to "seed" the rock. Does anyone know if this will work as well? Does live rock contain different beneficial bacteria not included in the Prodibio products? I'm not sure what bacteria are included in the Prodibio products. There is also Fritz-zyme Turbo Start 900. I suppose a combination of products wouldn't hurt. I do plan to continue with the Prodibio products indefinitely even after the tank is established. Any suggestions for "artificially seeding" Marco Rock?

[seattlerob]

I started a 90g system about 7 weeks ago using all dead rock and no live rock at all. I did it for exactly the reason you mentioned, to not introduce anything 'unknown' from liverock.

I cycled my tank for about 3 weeks, but honestly I didn't see much of a cycle. In hind sight it kind of makes sense since there was really no die off occurring with dead rock, so no ammonia & other spikes to be seen. After 3 weeks I introduced 2 fish (from my other tank my new tank was replacing), and then about 2 weeks later I introduced a huge clean up crew. I'd say I saw some cycling occur after introducing the fish, and also after adding the CUC. Skimming on the wet side during this time, and also doing more frequent water changes, 5g about every 2-3 days.

Just now starting to see some coralline growing in spots. Hopefully doing it this way will keep all the pests I've had in the past away!

Good luck, HTH.

Rob

[stealle]

I started a 90g system about 7 weeks ago using all dead rock and no live rock at all. I did it for exactly the reason you mentioned, to not introduce anything 'unknown' from liverock.

I cycled my tank for about 3 weeks, but honestly I didn't see much of a cycle. In hind sight it kind of makes sense since there was really no die off occurring with dead rock, so no ammonia & other spikes to be seen. After 3 weeks I introduced 2 fish (from my other tank my new tank was replacing), and then about 2 weeks later I introduced a huge clean up crew. I'd say I saw some cycling occur after introducing the fish, and also after adding the CUC. Skimming on the wet side during this time, and also doing more frequent water changes, 5g about every 2-3 days.

Just now starting to see some coralline growing in spots. Hopefully doing it this way will keep all the pests I've had in the past away!

Good luck, HTH.

Rob

Where did the coralline come from? This might sound strange, but I would actually prefer not to have coralline algae. Sure, it is a (small) sign of healthy tank parameters, but to mo it is just something to clean off the glass. Not to mention I think it clogs the "pores" in porous rock which reduces water flow through the rock. However, I think coralline is inevitable in any reef tank. If you introduce corals you will eventually introduce some coralline attached to the coral or a coral plug.

Back to the main topic. Since Marco Rock does not have any decay, I was planning to toss in some dead mysis as a source of dead matter to help start a real cycle.

[seattlerob]

Funny, I never thought about that...where it came from. But, I would have to say it came from the snails I added. Many of the snails have coralline on their shells. I hear you on the cleaning the glass, but also agree it is more than likely inevitable. At least this time my tank is glass vs acryllic, which I am pretty sure will be easier to keep clean than acryllic.