Live Rock Question

[jdunphy]

I am buying and putting in live rock today to cycle tank. Do I add just base live rock to cycle and then add premium rock later to get the coraline and whatnot or should I buy some premium now along with your basic live rock? And if so at what ratio?

Thanks!

 

[camaroracer214]

it really doesn't matter as far a premium vs base, it's more of an aesthetic thing. base rock tends to be less covered in coralline algae and tends to have less "life" as far as the visible stuff goes. the premium rock tends to have more coralline and more growth of various things, and also has more unique shapes.

base rock is supposed to be just that, a base. it's cheap with boring shapes and less life. i'd get quite a bit of base rock to build a nice foundation, then get the more premium stuff to make it look better.

there's no formula for rock really. i'd recommend at least a pound per gallon, but it usually requires more to make the tank look "complete" or "full". you could do all premium rock, but it would be expensive. you could do all base rock, but it won't look as nice.

also realize there is a distinction between base rock and dead/dried out rock. if a piece of rock is dried out, all the life on it is probably dead. if that's the case you would have to get some good live rock to seed the dead rock and make it live again.

 

[jdunphy]

Ok I had about 35 lbs of lace rock in the tank for about 5 days. So tonight I added 15 lbs of live rock tonight. Looked pretty good. Some pieces had good amount of coraline alge. I also added a packet of Bio-spira I am uploading pictures. Let me know if you think this is too much rock. I am wondering if it will be too full once I start adding corals and inverts and a few fish.

 

[camaroracer214]

as long as the structure is fairly stable it should be fine. it looks like enough rock. you'll be able to put corals all over the place, from top to bottom.

 

[Capslock]

I like that rock setup btw. It appears you put in a nice cave for any creature you will be purchasing? They will certainly like that, esp. the ones who prefer darker areas.

Just a note, you are going to end up with a lot of junk on your sand with the new rock put into place. It will happen over the course of a few months.

This is what happened in my tank, and while I personally think it looks more natural to have some pieces on the ground others find it unattractive; just a thought.

I was lucky enough to have a piece of my live rock come with handful's of small fan worms, they all decided to close up shop on the rock and congregate on my sand.