Do You Have To Have Live Rock?

[KeeperOfFish]

I was reading about "Fish Only" systems of saltwater so does that mean its just fish with no live rock?????

 

[dollabill420]

Yep, FO = fish only , FOWLR = Fish only with live rock, lr just adds a quick cycle and added filtration, dry base rock turns to live rock after a while in an aquarium

Hope that helps

 

[KeeperOfFish]

Ok good because I really want saltwater fish but live rock is so expensive.

 

[carey]

You can buy base rock that is awesome for like 2.50 a lb.

Reefcleaners is having a sale still I think for 50lbs for like $100. Check them out.

 

[KeeperOfFish]

That sounds good but I don't have 100$ to spend lol

 

[carey]

Well you could probably get some locally and with that its not "live" so you can add the rock as you want without curing it or worrying about hitch hikers. It doesn't have to be all at once.

Theres some real benefit to having rock in the tank, it acts as a major part of your filtration and the more the better (within reason)

 

[KeeperOfFish]

Oh ok well I think I'm gonna start with a fish only tank and build up from that

 

[carey]

Good luck! Show us pics when you have them.

 

[KeeperOfFish]

Thanks! I will but it might be awhile before I get them gotta get some money first

 

[fouldsy]

Not wanting to some-what hijack this thread, but is there anything different in the cycling process when utilizing base rock rather than live like this? I just ordered in 30lbs of base rock from reefcleaners.org for my developing 20g long as it is quite a bit cheaper than live rock, especially with their free shipping on 30+lbs, and I'm not really in any kinda of a hurry to get the tank established so don't mind if it takes a while to get cycled.

 

[carey]

I do belive you woudl cycle the same way just using an ammonia source such as a shrimp or straight pure ammonia. That will build up the bacteria colonies which in turn will put "life" into your rock. What are you using for filtration? Hob?

 

[fouldsy]

Ok, thanks. I figured it would be along the same lines for cycling with live rock (I was planning on a shrimp in a fine mesh net), just a little slower. I cycled my 55g FW with pure ammonia, but didn't think it could be done in the same way with SW? Good to know.

I have a pair of Marineland Maxi-Jet Pro 400's as I wanted plenty of circulation (and Foster & Smith were having a decent sale on them), but I'm now considering adding or replacing one of the 400's with a HOB filter until the base rock has some growth on it?

 

[carey]

Hmm it's up to you what youd prefer. I would recommend some sort of mechanical filtration whether its a hob or canister. I've used oneor the other on all my tanks so far with good results. I'm new to the world of sumps lol, just put my first one together recently.

 

[fouldsy]

Well, I figured a sump might be a little overkill on a 20g Maybe not.

But (trying to keep somewhat on the thread's topic!), I was also figuring on running without a protein skimmer once the base develops in to live rock as I'm fairly religious about PWC. One of the appeals of live rock is in the job it does of filtering down the water somewhat.

 

[carey]

If you are that good about doing pwc's you could probably get away without one. My cube doesnt use one and I didn't use one on my other 29g for a while. You just gotta keep the filters cleaned and the water changed.