[CollegeReefer]

As many of you already know, one of the most expensive parts of building your reef or FOWLR tank is buying the rock, your key filtration. At 5 to 10 US dollars a pound, one can see how mush this adds up when certain types of rock require 1 to 2 pounds per gallon. Live rock prices are continuing to increase with the increasing regulations of what can be harvested from the ocean. But for many hobbyists, money is not issue when building a new system. Actually most will say including myself, that one should not skimp on the new set up unless one wants to experience many problems down the road.

This idea of getting the best things you can afford is not just for the hobbyist ease, but more specifically is for the well being of the tanks inhabitants. Many on this forum and other forums alike look down on those who continue to have tank inhabitants die. Those same members are outraged when the new hobbyist continues to add new inhabitants to replace the ones that died with little consideration to the effect it causes on the environment. But with more information coming to the average citizen on how we as humans are destroying the environment, we are seeing a growing trend to go “green.” More and more Saltwater enthusiast are thinking green with there new aquariums. Many are putting only coral frags that are prorogated from others tanks which limit the species taken from the ocean. Many are only putting tank bred fish into there aquarium so that the fish are not taken from the wild. These same people are discovering that by using tank bred fish, invertebrates, and prorogated corals, they are having even more success in the hobby because of the lack of certain parasites that are associated with animals taken from the ocean. The next step though is to start using these practices when it comes to Live rock.

There are many companies today that sell live rock that not taken from the reefs. Organizations like Tampa Bay Saltwater Company and Sea life inc. These companies mine rock on land and dump it into a specific area leased by the state for ocean critters to live in. Ultimately they are setting up a new home for fish, inverts, and plants to thrive in. After so many years, they harvest the pile and sell it to you. Though this aquaculture live rock is environmentally sound it can cost more then buying live rock taken from the natural reefs.

An alternative method that is starting to be used by more and more saltwater enthusiasts is to use dry rock that can either be made or bought which is then seeded with live rock and live sand from an already established system. This method has been proven by many hobbyists. This method of setting up a tank is environmentally sound and very cost effective. This thread will be dedicated those who use dry rock and seed it with live sand and live rock from an already established tank. This thread focus is to turn this hobby green. We want to save and preserve the reefs not destroy them.

I will be leaving my account and experience of setting up a 75 gallon tank using only 20 pounds of live rock and 50 pounds of dry rock. The 75 gallon tank has been set up for under a month with the live rock in place and has already shown the dry rock getting the beneficial coralline algae. Coralline algae though is not the only thing need to seed a tank. What makes live rock and live sand live are all of the little critters that inhabit the rock and sand. With that said I have ordered 7 pounds of garf grunge to help the seeding process. I have also ordered live sand activator, mud, pods, and other small invertebrates from IPSF.com to aid in the process. I will keep you well informed on how the seeding process goes.

I will like to note that many have argued that seeding live rock from other tanks is the best, for you get a variety of different species that one wouldn’t find on 1 particular reef. It is my belief and others belief that it you get sand and grunge from others established aquariums, your tank will thrive much better then if you got everything from one place. I apologize for such a long post but I hope you take this thread into consideration when you plan your next reef. Also if you have started your tank using dry rock and seeded it with live rock and live sand, please feel free to share your experience.