Live rock question

[Apwhite]

Right now I am cycling my 10g saltwater tank. I was looking for live rock and I stumbled across this. I was a little concerned because part of the description said they won’t affect cycling? Is this the kind of live rock I’m looking for or no?
Link:

$$$ Money Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock (by the lb)

Free Shipping on Everything, Rewards, Free Swag, Price Matching & Free Returns.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

$$$ Money Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock (by the lb)

Free Shipping on Everything, Rewards, Free Swag, Price Matching & Free Returns.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[Donya]

Live rock that has beneficial bacteria to do the filtering always has to be wet. Dry rock is never live; I'm kind of surprised that site is listing it like that (I've ordered stuff from them before including dry rock).

Edit: my phone glitched out and posted mid typing. Was trying to say normally dry rock is listed as base rock or dry reef rock, etc. You can get away with some dry some live as long as you have a good piece or two to start the colonization. Live rock is usually pretty expensive per pound so that's something a lot of people do.

 

[Donya]

Another couple thoughts I should add in here. I haven't been in the market for live rock for some time and always got mine at a LFS that sold it, so it occurred to me I should check hat the situation is online since that's where you're looking (and not everyone has a LFS that sells it within driving distance). So I just had a poke around online to see what options exist and it would appear there aren't many, certainly none I'm seeing that will just ship a piece or two, which is what you'd want for a 10g. The options I'm seeing are very expensive for too much for a tank that size and not from sites I'm familiar with. Things change I guess.

Another option is a bag of live sand and to let it colonize dry rock - it will take longer to colonize the rock, but in a small tank a bag of live sand can actually work pretty well. Some will say there's no point in getting live sand vs dry but I've had good experiences with it personally and have used it to help kick start smaller tanks in the past. Going that rout will not get you the 1-week-and-you're-ready filtration of just putting in a bunch of actual live rock though; you'd have to go slow and start with just a few hermits crabs for a few weeks, feeding them periodically.

 

[Apwhite]

Live rock that has beneficial bacteria to do the filtering always has to be wet. Dry rock is never live; I'm kind of surprised that site is listing it like that (I've ordered stuff from them before including dry rock).

Edit: my phone glitched out and posted mid typing. Was trying to say normally dry rock is listed as base rock or dry reef rock, etc. You can get away with some dry some live as long as you have a good piece or two to start the colonization. Live rock is usually pretty expensive per pound so that's something a lot of people do.

I’m getting new rock because I was told that bacteria will colonize on it better than it will on lava rock which is what I originally put in the tank. Will the dry rock still do this job? I can’t seem to find any wet live rock as there isn’t any at my LFS

 

[Donya]

Will the dry rock still do this job?

Yes, it will.

 

[Apwhite]

Another couple thoughts I should add in here. I haven't been in the market for live rock for some time and always got mine at a LFS that sold it, so it occurred to me I should check hat the situation is online since that's where you're looking (and not everyone has a LFS that sells it within driving distance). So I just had a poke around online to see what options exist and it would appear there aren't many, certainly none I'm seeing that will just ship a piece or two, which is what you'd want for a 10g. The options I'm seeing are very expensive for too much for a tank that size and not from sites I'm familiar with. Things change I guess.

Another option is a bag of live sand and to let it colonize dry rock - it will take longer to colonize the rock, but in a small tank a bag of live sand can actually work pretty well. Some will say there's no point in getting live sand vs dry but I've had good experiences with it personally and have used it to help kick start smaller tanks in the past. Going that rout will not get you the 1-week-and-you're-ready filtration of just putting in a bunch of actual live rock though; you'd have to go slow and start with just a few hermits crabs for a few weeks, feeding them periodically.

I do have live sand in my tank. I just purchased some caribsea base rock and hopefully that+time will do the trick. One more thing—it doesn’t appear that there are many (if not any) inverts at my LFS either. What is the advantage to having, say, hermit crabs in a tank? Is it crucial? (Should I try to find some somewhere else?) Thank you for all the help!

 

[Donya]

Inverts like hermits and snails are typically used to form a cleanup crew that maintains the live rock and keeps uneaten food and algal growth under control. Hermits pick over the rock and keep it from accumulating debris that would block flow to it and decrease the filtering ability, and they eat uneaten fish food and some algae (but not only algae; no crab is herbivorous). The snails are herbivores that clean microalgae from the glass, rock, etc. The usual order for setting up a tank is LR fist then cleanup crew a week later then fish a week or two after that. Your situation will be different in that the rock will take time to colonize, in which case you end up with less waste and a more stable environment giving the cleanup crew the occasional food pellet or algae wafer while things get established than you would going straight for a fish, which make a ton of ammonia per their size compared to inverts.