Live/dry rock/sand!

[SirKevinD]

Hey everyone! I was wondering what to do about this. I am going to start a 60 gallon tank and do it the right way this time. Really put some time and money into it. Should I start with live rock i can get at my LFS or should I use dry rock like BRS sells? If I use the dry rock and cycle my tank, add fish and corals, will the rock begin to look like live rock i see at the LFS minus the potential pests or algaes etc.? And with the live sand, better to use live sand or some other kind of sand? Thanks everyone!

[cro117]

i'd just use dry sand. it's cheaper and the "live" isn't usually all that alive.

as far as the rock, base rock will take a bit of time to catch up to live rock, and you might never see coralline algae unless introduced, but it will, in time, be just as laden with beneficial bacteria as the stuff from the LFR. my suggestion would be to get some base rock to cut down the expense, but also get some live rock from the LFR to seed it.

[SirKevinD]

So theoretically I could place the live rock in my refugium and see the spread of coraline and beneficial organism to the live rock in my main tank? And thanks for the sand info. I will probably just get the cheap stuff.

[tallball158]

So theoretically I could place the live rock in my refugium and see the spread of coraline and beneficial organism to the live rock in my main tank? And thanks for the sand info. I will probably just get the cheap stuff.

Yes but it will take time to build up in your display tank

[tamaroo]

IMO, I would suggest buying mostly dry rock from somewhere like BRS and get a limited amount of nice live rock from your LFS. You don't need to fill your entire tank with live rock--it will all be live eventually. For the sand, get some basic dry aragonite.

[IloveGreatDanes]

I started with all live rock and a half and half mixture of live and nonlive sand. It also made the cycle go faster.

[raybyrne67]

I will be using all dry rock so I can plan the rock scape. Then I will seed it with a few pieces of live rock. I've done this in the past and it has worked well. You just have to be patient because it will take a lot longer to cycle and establish the reef.

[crsswift70]

I'll go ahead and suggest reefrocks.net for both sand and dry rock. If you contact them, they will pick out exactly what you are looking for. I requested all flat pieces for shelves and a retaining wall and i got exactly what i was wanting. For another $15, i got 40 pounds of sand for "free". But yes, you will want some live rock to seed it and speed up the cycle time. If possible, get a piece or two from different reefers or LFS's for diversity.