Upcoming 75g Build - Base or Live Rock???

Getting ready to set-up my new 75 and was thinking about using about 50lbs of base rock, and the rest with some primo live rock to seed with. I guess my main question is how long do you think it would take before the tank would be fully cycled to be able to add livestock and corals? I would think Iit would be a quick cycle, and have a low bioload and increase slowly over time as the base rock gets seeded?

The $$$ difference is the big key for me. It would save about $100-$150 which could be put towards a skimmer or something you know?

Just looking for the best suggestions....

Also, I've looked into reefcleaners.org and "marco rocks" for base rock. Anyone have experience with either or both and have any preferences?

Thanks so much!

 

You could do 75# base and one primo live rock if you want, will work the same either way and save you more money.

 

+1

If I was doing all again I would use a nice dry rock w/ a piece of live to seed the dry rock. Less nasties introduced into tank plus more $$$ to use towards other items.

TJ

 

If you seed dry rock it is basically the same in terms of microorganisms. You might want to seed it several times with different stuff to get a good biodiversity.

Your rocks won't be covered with sponges, feather dusters, Coraline etc.

You can put up your tank and get it running. Then add seawater from someone else's tank. You will already get diatom bloom and stuff. When stuff stabilizes add a live rock from one location and then a week later maybe a shipment from some other location(ie Indonesia) will come in and you can add some more live rock from that location(ie Hawaii).

Sounds solid to me and can save a lot of cash. It's just a bit slower and less fancy.

 

I just bought my 75th pound chunk of Base Rock for my 46 bow that I am going to set up. And let me tell you, at 2 dollars per pound for base rock vs 6-10 dollars a pound for live rock, it definately makes it worth it. I will buy a small nice piece of live rock around a few pounds or so to seed my other rock with, and i would definately recommend going this route.

 

Thank you, I think I will choose this route.

Last question...reefcleaners "Florida Rock" or Marco Rocks' "Key Largo" rocks?

Or are they the same thing...hmmm

 

I also just upgraded and used 80lbs of marco rock. I am very pleased with it. I added about 40lbs of it to my exsisting tank then scraped all the coralline off my glass( It was solid on the sides and back of tank) Let it sit for a couple of weeks and within a week of switching everything over it to is now covered in coralline. Looks great!

 

Marco Rock is great. www.marcorocks.com

 

That confused me, you added 40lbs of marco to an existing tank, then scraped all the coralline off the walls and within a week the new base rock was covered?

 

I upgraded from 75 to 125. I purchased the dry marco rock 2 weeks before we did the upgrade. I rinsed 40 lbs of the new rock and put it into my 75 to get a junp start on the seeding process before we did the switch. So in three weeks time it had already started growing coraline on it. I will attach a pic it.