Foundation rock is great also for fish safety. When creating an aquascape, there’s always risk of fish swimming or burrowing underneath larger pieces of rock and getting hurt. IMO going with a base rock will lessen the risk.
I have used both seeded live rock and dry rock and had success both ways! As for the dry rock though I really love the Caribsea Reef Rock I got, but it came completely dry (still using the rock in my lagoon)! Awesome topic and video!
I bought reel reef when they said it was live. Then I noticed something significant when I moved and had to clean my rocks; there is absolutely no porous holes of any kind in the rocks I paid for-they’re essential a marble with paint. There seems to be more chance of Marco rocks developing deeper pores than the so-called live rock. I have no idea how you can call something live seeded rock when there is absolutely no way of bacteria penetrating the other layer. Maybe BRS and all other stores should stop promoting these as live seeded rocks-surface bacteria is not seeded-Its illogical. Do they look good, they most certainly do, but they’re not true live rocks.
My choice is a mixture. Mostly Marco Rocks, but about 10 lbs or so of legit live rock (quarantined) like KP Aquatics or Tampa Bay Saltwater. Maybe an investigates on seeding a tank this?
BRS should hire someone to find non-reefing equipment reefers use and then stock it - like the Karcher window cleaner and that special glue for NSA... you know now that you are expanding and all ;)
Anyone broken up real reef to make NSA? I know you're gonna end up with some white here and there but I feel like you could make custom shapes that start mostly purple. Also I know people have used PVC primer sometimes to "paint rock" though any "paint" could potentially reduce bacterial "surface area". How far are we off from commercially available reef safe rock paint/"makeup"?
Why doesn’t anyone make Tonga branch rock the dry rock look so when you cycle a tank it changes colour together. Not bright red or purple straight away.
I live in the UK, could I take some small pieces of rock from the sea here and use them to cycle my tank or would the bacteria die due to the temp difference etc?
Do you know of any stores in the twin cities area that carries the carib sea life rock? I assume BRS doesn't let people just come poke around the warehouse to look at it (maybe time for a retail front? :) )Looking to do my first tank and I'd love to see it in person before deciding on that vs marco rock.
If I live by the water, could I buy dry rock and then put it in the water off my dock for a while? I know this isn't realistic for 80% of the hobby but seems like it could be an interesting way to seed (assuming it's not illegal).
The main concern with doing this near the shoreline would be potential pollution. But if you're familiar with companies like Tampa Bay Saltwater actually take dry man made rock and drop it into the ocean to become live rock, which is similar to what you're thinking about here.
What about the Walt Smith 2.1 Reef Rock or the CaribSea LifeRock Original. I was thinking of using one of these types of rock for the day one purple color and no unwanted pest which one of the 2 would you guys or anyone recommend buying?
We used the Walt Smith Project Reef Rock on the BRS160 back in the day and have used the LifeRock on many many tanks around the BRS office. Both work, but we've definitely been using the LifeRock and other rock types like Real Reef most often these days.
I have been out of the hobby for a long time. I used an additive called Purple Up (I think) to get my rocks to color pretty quickly. Does that still exist and what are this group's thoughts on it if it does?
Is the caribe sea live or have bacteria spores or is it just pretty! I have some of that left but a want shelf rock tank this time! Damn to bad I cant mix because self rock is white! I dont want all of my tanks looking the same and thats the stuff I have in my other two! Please tell me you know of purple shelf rock! I know it dosnt really stay puple but by the time it changes its already colored! Is paint bad for tank, corals fish ect? I painted my IM screen top from white to black and notice its chipping off into tank! I just removed it today actually. I need some dark screen or something to remake it with if possible. Do you knw where I can get something like that for the Im nuvo 20?
Check out the Real Reef shelf rock. It's got a nice natural purple look to it! As far as the sand goes, Caribsea offers both live and dry options depending on what you're looking for.
I got crazy lucky and bought live caibe sea with tonga branches ,arches caves ect and a brute trash can for 30 bucks and over 50 lbs. I havnt glued frags yet because of not knowing the par. I have it up against the back of tank connected with caribe sea arches . My question is should I only put low light corals on tongas? They stand vertically so light dosnt directly hit them! I thought I would put zoas and shrooms on them except for the bridge piece I have connecting them that get direct hit of light but it is on the back wall! Does anyone sell shelf rock with bacteria or live that you know of? My lfs has dry for 3 a lb so really tempted but wanting to add coarl soon since I bought to much lately and dont want to risk getting off to a bad start! Last tank I didnt even turn lights on for 4 months and had no ugly stage at all! I dont have the time now to go slow! Any suggestions that wont cost a fortune. I have spent over 1k in corals lately! LOL
Honestly not a big fan of these rocks. Although it was bad for the environment, real live rock from the ocean were perfectly and naturally imbalanced and inconsistent. In a sense, these rocks are too uniformed for me (especially if they're manufactured to be purple). While going into a fish store that was about to close, I did chance upon some lace rock which is the closest to live rock that is available. Having these rocks, I'm down to setup a nano again.
I just do not understand why we debate Live vs Dry rock, instead of Live/Dry Hybrid! My next tank will be about 10 pounds of real live rock, covered in all the natural goodness, mixed with some form of dry rock. This way you get all the natural biome seeding your dry rock from day one, and cut down on the cost of full 100% live rock. Additionally, bacteria in a bottle will only address the bacterial cultures (and even that, likely not in a balanced manner) but leaves out all the microfauna and meofauna that are the building blocks of a healthy biome.
Harvesting live rock is illegal.... Look it up. They don't sell what they use to sell in stores 20 years ago if you got into the hobby in the last 10 you don't know the difference. The rock used to come with all kinds of critters and mandarins were easy to keep alive.
@@mimicmage Sigh….if it’s illegal why can you buy it? There are places in Florida that aquaculture live rock. I believe Walt Smith still aquacultures live rock.
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Foundation rock is great also for fish safety. When creating an aquascape, there’s always risk of fish swimming or burrowing underneath larger pieces of rock and getting hurt. IMO going with a base rock will lessen the risk.
I have used both seeded live rock and dry rock and had success both ways! As for the dry rock though I really love the Caribsea Reef Rock I got, but it came completely dry (still using the rock in my lagoon)! Awesome topic and video!
I got the reel reef rock in all my tanks live rock tanks running perfectly 9.00 lb LFS
Can we get a BRS investigates on whether the bacteria on Real Reef Rock makes a difference during a cycle?
I bought reel reef when they said it was live. Then I noticed something significant when I moved and had to clean my rocks; there is absolutely no porous holes of any kind in the rocks I paid for-they’re essential a marble with paint. There seems to be more chance of Marco rocks developing deeper pores than the so-called live rock. I have no idea how you can call something live seeded rock when there is absolutely no way of bacteria penetrating the other layer. Maybe BRS and all other stores should stop promoting these as live seeded rocks-surface bacteria is not seeded-Its illogical. Do they look good, they most certainly do, but they’re not true live rocks.
My choice is a mixture. Mostly Marco Rocks, but about 10 lbs or so of legit live rock (quarantined) like KP Aquatics or Tampa Bay Saltwater. Maybe an investigates on seeding a tank this?
BRS should hire someone to find non-reefing equipment reefers use and then stock it - like the Karcher window cleaner and that special glue for NSA... you know now that you are expanding and all ;)
Anyone broken up real reef to make NSA? I know you're gonna end up with some white here and there but I feel like you could make custom shapes that start mostly purple.
Also I know people have used PVC primer sometimes to "paint rock" though any "paint" could potentially reduce bacterial "surface area".
How far are we off from commercially available reef safe rock paint/"makeup"?
Good thing I live right on the great Barrier reef just gonna go diving
Why doesn’t anyone make Tonga branch rock the dry rock look so when you cycle a tank it changes colour together. Not bright red or purple straight away.
I live in the UK, could I take some small pieces of rock from the sea here and use them to cycle my tank or would the bacteria die due to the temp difference etc?
What is the mat on the inside of the tank? Where can I get one?
Used marco rock on my original aquascape and loved it. Then switched over to the caribsea live rock for my upgrade!
@@brewed544 yep! It's original purple coloring dulled out after a while, but around that same time coraline algae started to grow over the rock.
Do you know of any stores in the twin cities area that carries the carib sea life rock? I assume BRS doesn't let people just come poke around the warehouse to look at it (maybe time for a retail front? :) )Looking to do my first tank and I'd love to see it in person before deciding on that vs marco rock.
Give New Wave Aquaria a call. They're a wholesale customer of ours and have a large rock selection 🙂
If I live by the water, could I buy dry rock and then put it in the water off my dock for a while? I know this isn't realistic for 80% of the hobby but seems like it could be an interesting way to seed (assuming it's not illegal).
The main concern with doing this near the shoreline would be potential pollution. But if you're familiar with companies like Tampa Bay Saltwater actually take dry man made rock and drop it into the ocean to become live rock, which is similar to what you're thinking about here.
What about the Walt Smith 2.1 Reef Rock or the CaribSea LifeRock Original. I was thinking of using one of these types of rock for the day one purple color and no unwanted pest which one of the 2 would you guys or anyone recommend buying?
We used the Walt Smith Project Reef Rock on the BRS160 back in the day and have used the LifeRock on many many tanks around the BRS office. Both work, but we've definitely been using the LifeRock and other rock types like Real Reef most often these days.
I have been out of the hobby for a long time. I used an additive called Purple Up (I think) to get my rocks to color pretty quickly. Does that still exist and what are this group's thoughts on it if it does?
Purple Up does nothing. Randy Holmes-Farley has talked about this on R2R in the past. Coralline comes naturally and one day you will curse you have it
Is the caribe sea live or have bacteria spores or is it just pretty! I have some of that left but a want shelf rock tank this time! Damn to bad I cant mix because self rock is white! I dont want all of my tanks looking the same and thats the stuff I have in my other two! Please tell me you know of purple shelf rock! I know it dosnt really stay puple but by the time it changes its already colored! Is paint bad for tank, corals fish ect? I painted my IM screen top from white to black and notice its chipping off into tank! I just removed it today actually. I need some dark screen or something to remake it with if possible. Do you knw where I can get something like that for the Im nuvo 20?
Check out the Real Reef shelf rock. It's got a nice natural purple look to it! As far as the sand goes, Caribsea offers both live and dry options depending on what you're looking for.
I got crazy lucky and bought live caibe sea with tonga branches ,arches caves ect and a brute trash can for 30 bucks and over 50 lbs. I havnt glued frags yet because of not knowing the par. I have it up against the back of tank connected with caribe sea arches . My question is should I only put low light corals on tongas? They stand vertically so light dosnt directly hit them! I thought I would put zoas and shrooms on them except for the bridge piece I have connecting them that get direct hit of light but it is on the back wall! Does anyone sell shelf rock with bacteria or live that you know of? My lfs has dry for 3 a lb so really tempted but wanting to add coarl soon since I bought to much lately and dont want to risk getting off to a bad start! Last tank I didnt even turn lights on for 4 months and had no ugly stage at all! I dont have the time now to go slow! Any suggestions that wont cost a fortune. I have spent over 1k in corals lately! LOL
A lot of SPS corals do great on branch rocks. Especially if they have a branching growth pattern like most acros.
Honestly not a big fan of these rocks. Although it was bad for the environment, real live rock from the ocean were perfectly and naturally imbalanced and inconsistent. In a sense, these rocks are too uniformed for me (especially if they're manufactured to be purple). While going into a fish store that was about to close, I did chance upon some lace rock which is the closest to live rock that is available. Having these rocks, I'm down to setup a nano again.
I just do not understand why we debate Live vs Dry rock, instead of Live/Dry Hybrid! My next tank will be about 10 pounds of real live rock, covered in all the natural goodness, mixed with some form of dry rock. This way you get all the natural biome seeding your dry rock from day one, and cut down on the cost of full 100% live rock. Additionally, bacteria in a bottle will only address the bacterial cultures (and even that, likely not in a balanced manner) but leaves out all the microfauna and meofauna that are the building blocks of a healthy biome.
Dreaming of the return of Pukani. Marco rock is way too hard to chisel/break. No sir.
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Drives me crazy with I hear someone say I’s. Not correct. Ryan stop using that to denote plural possession of a list. Lol
Live rock is illegal and best...
Live rock is not illegal.
Live rock is perfectly legal. The hell you on about?
I think you mean the export of certain live rock from certain countries is illegal.
Harvesting live rock is illegal.... Look it up. They don't sell what they use to sell in stores 20 years ago if you got into the hobby in the last 10 you don't know the difference. The rock used to come with all kinds of critters and mandarins were easy to keep alive.
@@mimicmage Sigh….if it’s illegal why can you buy it? There are places in Florida that aquaculture live rock. I believe Walt Smith still aquacultures live rock.