Dry Rock

[Eric Noa]

Well I have been thinking about using dry rock for the aquascaping of my 220g tank. I saw the reef saver rocks that BRS have for sale and I like them a lot and they look like they will be really easy to put together. What I was thinking of doing is using the live rock that I have now on my 65g tank and just putting it in the sump or refugium so that way I can still get all the benefits from the live rock but they just wont be on the display tank. What I was wondering is if the dry rock would eventually start to grow coraline algae since my live rock is in the sump? The main reason why I wanna do this is because I don't want to introduce any pest to the new tank like the asterina stars that I have now in the tank, an any other pest that its in the tank that I might no know of, they would just be in my sump or refugium. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of going this route?

Also what I want to do as far as the design of the rocks is I want to have an island on each side of the tank and then have like a branch of rock from each island and meet in the center of the tank, almost like if it was a bridge. How many pounds of dry rock would I need to have a nice about of rock in the tank?

Thank you for all the help in advance.

 

[Rcpilot]

If you have pests on the current rock - then don't put it in the new tank. Not even in the sump. The asterina starts will find their way into the new tank, even though the contaminated rock is in the sump.

Just start fresh with dry base rock. It will all be live rock and it will all be covered in coraline eventually. The big plus - you already know this - is a pest free tank.

 

[Eric Noa]

Thanks for the advice. As far as pest the only one I know that I have is the asterina starts.

 

[Rcpilot]

The thing with star fish - even though they are in the sump - all it takes it ONE of them to go through the return pump and end up in the tank. Arms get torn off, but if it survives........

Now ya got asterina stars in the tank. :frustrat:

 

[yote]

There is such thing as a pest free tank.Unless of course all you have is water and rock.
The minute you start adding fish and coral,you start upping your chances of having pest.Aiptasia spores,asterina stars,flat worms.Any pest you can think of can and will hitch hike in on frags.in clumps of cheato.

 

[reeffreak]

Yote is right on the money.We can introduce bad things with the livestock we add later down the road.I'm not sure I would toss the rocks.There are beneficial fauna in the rock and live bacteria.Scraping the coralline with a stiff brush will help it spread to the display.

I think 1lb per gallon of dry rock will be good.Remember,you get more dry rocks compared to live since there is no water.

 

[Eric Noa]

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I'll see what I decide to do and I'll keep you guys updated when I start the build.

 

[Tetra1]

I used half base rock and half live rock. So far so good. The only real pest I have are asterinas. I do not have any others aside from maybe a couple of apistasia of which I killed. I like the way mine looks and it is already turning to live rock and it has only been up for a short while. Good luck with it!

 

[sen5241b]

I have used a lot of dry rock and it can save you a whole lot of money.

If you use 1 pound per gallon in a 220G and you get good rock at $8 a pound (I've seen primo rock at 9$ a pound) that come out to $1760 just on rock.

 

[Eric Noa]

I have used a lot of dry rock and it can save you a whole lot of money.

If you use 1 pound per gallon in a 220G and you get good rock at $8 a pound (I've seen primo rock at 9$ a pound) that come out to $1760 just on rock.

Yea thats a lot of money for Live Rock!!!

 

[sen5241b]

Yea thats a lot of money for Live Rock!!!

I just noticed you are form Cape Coral, FL. There are coral quarries in Florida and I have gotten a lot of good dry rock from them cheap or free. I saw one down in the Keys. I've found a lot of smaller pieces on the beach. The best dry rock is dead coral skeletons.

 

[Eric Noa]

what do you mean Coral Quarries... where can I find them?

 

[yote]

He's meaning limestone rock quarries.

 

[sen5241b]

He's meaning limestone rock quarries.

I'm not a geologist but when I was in the upper Keys there were these deep Quarries they carved out using heavy machinery. They were about 100 feet deep in some places. They Keys are made almost completely of ancient dead coral skeletons or 'coral rock' which is not the same thing as limestone. They were all filled with bright blue water. There were chunks of the coral rock laying all around the quarry. There was one place that sold perfectly carved squares of coral rock. On the coast of south west FL, I see smaller pieces of white branch coral wash up on the beach all the time. It is harder to find larger pieces on the beach though. There are a lot of coral reefs off the coast of Florida in colder water.

 

[sen5241b]

I was just googling some sites and there are tons of quarries on FL. (Yes, fossilized coral IS limestone).

Quarries in FL Yellow Pages by SuperPages

Lists of Quarries and Quarry

If you were to grab a few 100 pounds of the stuff from some abandoned quarry and cure it cheap plastic bins you might sit on a pretty profit.