Live Rock question

[kingzfan]

I have a question regarding setting up a reef tank. I finally convinced my GF to let me go back to Salt...:D . My question is...is it better to with all Fiji live rock. I found a place that has uncured Carribbean Live rock. This is uncured..but much less expensive. Would it be bad to use about 25lbs of this and 25lbs of Fiji live rock??? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for everything

[OrionGirl]

I'm of the opinion that the wider the diversity of life, the better, which menas mixing rock from different places is great.

However, there's a bigger difference here--cured, vrs uncured. The cured rock will experience some die off during shipment, but the majority of the die-off will already have taken place (meaning, less diversity of life--the mobile forms may have crawled off in the cycling tank). Uncured live rock will have a greater diversity and quantity of life on it, though it may also include 'unwanted' life, like mantis shrimp.

Adding uncured live rock to a new tank is fine--it will help the tank cycle. The cured stuff probably shouldn't be added to a new tank, since you'll be killing off a bunch of the stuff that remains.

Another concern--some rock is less dense than others. The more porous the rock, the better bio-media it will be, but you'll also have to pay attention to the volume--15 pounds of porous rock takes up lots more space than 15 pounds of denser rock. I think--and will be corrected if I am wrong--that the Florida rock is usually denser than the Fiji rock. Not sure if there's a difference between Carribean and Floridan rock, though--they are pretty close, geographically.

[karlas]

id say go for it the more types of rock you can get the more critters you will probably end up with. also depending on the type of rock some works really well for base structure like tonga because of it being more branchy. i think carribean might be a little more dense then fiji but still does the same job

[mogurnda]

I have only used Caribbean rock, so I can't comment on the Pacific rock other than to say that it is apparently lighter and more porous, and will probably be a better denitrifier. But it has had to travel across a big ocean, and lots of stuff dies.

The Caribbean rock has a few advantages:
1. If you buy it from the supplier, they can air freight it to you, so it can go from their holding tanks to your house within hours. It is never dry, there is little die off, and it doesn't have to "cure" in the sense of smelly dead things. It will cycle a little in your tank.
2. There is a ton more on it. Sponges, worms, stars, cucumbers, corals, tunicates, bivalves, on and on. I just did a thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195898) on Reef Central regarding what is left after a year. Some doesn't make it, either because it gets eaten by other inhabitants or it starves. Lots makes it, though, and it's quite impressive stuff. If you're interested, I'll try to repeat the thread here, but there's no user photo gallery at AC, so I may have to improvise for the pix.
3. It's aquacultured, so nothing's stripped off the reef. My understanding is that this isn't much of a problem, because Pacific rock isn't taken from the reef itself, but there it is.
4. Great customer service, at lease at Tampa Bay Saltwater. They really seem to care about the rock and the customers.

The main disadvantages are:
1. Unwanted hitchhikers. I got a lot of hairy crabs, a large flatworm, a few fireworms, but no mantis. Take the good with the bad.
2. It's dense. It is coral rock, but it's coral rock from a roadcut. My NO3 has never gone to 0, but it could be my feeding habits or too shallow a sandbed.

[BrianH]

I would agree with morgunda and adding that Gulf-View (http://www.Gulf-view.com) is also a great company to deal with when buying aquacultured caribbean live rock.

Brian

[Ray Pollett]

Figured I'd add my 2cents worth.

I like a diversity of rock. I use different kinds when my customers allow me. I usually use some fiji and some aquacultured from Tampa Bay Saltwater(TBS) ( www.tampabaysaltwater.com ). If I was only going to use one for 60 pounds of rock I would use the Aquacultured from TBS for the diversity of life it has. I 've used it to cycle my tanks before also. I Put everything in the bag with the rock into the tank. Even the dirty water ( a lot of life in it ). Mantis Shrimp is only thing I remove, if I see one.

Ray