Rocks for a new tank?!?!

[ff.rice]

Ok folks, I have a 30 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump..... I have been cycling it now for about 3-4 weeks. I have about 40-50 lbs of live sand in it between the DT and the sump tank. I don't have any livestock in it yet due tank cycling. My question is.... What kind of rocks can I put in my tank? I want to do live rock, but its soooo expensive! My LFS also has dry/dead fiji rock also that is a little cheaper. I've also heard that you can use landscaping rocks as well as long as they are cleaned well. Are any of these better than the others, or a mixture of all of them, or what's going to be the best/most cost efficient way to achieve some good stuff (caves and algae) for my tank?

 

[Mebbid]

If you want the rock for filtration then the most budget friendly way is to get dry rock. It might not be a terrible idea to seed it with a few pieces of live rock just to get some of the microfauna in your tank and reproducing.

Landscaping rocks are generally suggested against. Especially lava rock because there is a good chance of it containing some heavy metals. Saltwater is a big investment and skimping in the early stages could end up causing some massive problems. I would definitely go with the dry rock to save money rather than regular rock. If you wanted to look online then you could check out bulk reef supply, I just bought 40 lbs of dry rock from them that was all very nice.

 

[ff.rice]

Thanks..... You confirmed what I thought was going to be the best for me. I was planning to use the dry rock seeded with live rock until I heard about the landscape rock and wanted to make sure it wasn't going to work better. Thanks for the heads up about online I haven't been able to find any so far but I think I've been looking in the wrong places.

 

[Mebbid]

If you wanted to use some regular aquarium rocks I would suggest either lace or texas holey but those will cost you about the same as dry rock if you are buying it online.

 

[TheTodd]

I've seen conflicting stories on whether lava rock is bad for saltwater. My personal experience is that I have had it in two FOWLR tanks. One several years ago (pre-Internet and when LFS used to sell it for saltwater tanks) and its in my 75g FOWLR now. I've never experienced problems with it. The old tank had several fish that lived several years. I've used live rock for reefs though.

 

[Murf]

I bought dry Marco live rock for cheap and it is now live after I seeded/ cycled it. It looks really good too

 

[ff.rice]

I bought dry Marco live rock for cheap and it is now live after I seeded/ cycled it. It looks really good too

That looks very nice!! Where did you get that from? Did you order it online?

 

[Murf]

That looks very nice!! Where did you get that from? Did you order it online?

yea I bought from Marco rocks. They are great. I did a shrimp cycle too.