# Live rock only tanks



## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Easy or hard?

No fish just live rock to watch everything grow on it while possibly moving to fish at a later date. My question is do you still need items such as a protein skimmers or phosphate reactors while keeping live rock only?

Edit: And how would you feed the organisms on the live rock?


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Why??


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

i second the "why" remark..

live rock does have lots of cool stuff living in it, but its job is to clean and filter tank etc...

but, ill bear with you and answer anyways.

to keep a tank with just live rock you will need adequate lighting, T5 white marine bulbs will do, and very good flow over the rocks. you will also need to make sure you have no "dead" areas. these are parts of the tank that the water gets little to no movement.
alos having part of the live rock on the base of the tank, against the sides etc will cause "dead" areas.

i have a tank full of live rock at the moment and it just sits there. nothing moves, nothing grows off it
youd need to spend a fortune on really great quality fiji rock or the live rock from an already established tank to get anything cool on it.

why not just go straight up to soft corals?
no fish, just corals.
with the same setup as live rock, you could easily keep some kenya tree, star polyps, leather corals etc.

can you answer why you would like a live rock only tank though cos id like to know


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

Ah i thought featherdusters, mantis shrimp, small crustations etc grew on live rock which was why I was interested. These are the sort of things im mainly interested in, not so much the fish but the life forms that grow within a marine environment. Corals I have heard are quite difficult to keep which is why I didn't consider them.

Good quality pre-cured Fiji rock is fairly cheap near me. About £8.50 a KG from Rocks N Critters.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

You can buy just a few KGs and fill the rest with porous rock which will slowly become seeded. That way you can watch everything slowly (emphasis) develop.

No harm in adding a few hardy fish though, maybe a shoal of Chromis or something?

I'd be hesitant to go straight into corals with the price of some of them!


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## _jake_ (Jul 3, 2008)

Pair of clowns would be cool.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

WHY 
1. well because live rock can make a tank much much more stable for marine fish

2. It has loads of interesting creatures

3. Its much more cheaper than corals and easyer to mentain


Most of my marine set ups are live rock and fish only some like my edge i will add a few soft corals.


Pearson Design- yes no dead areas is a very important point but tbh u dont need T5s for just fish and live rock i have found normal marine flourecents to be sutable.


Protine skimmers aint neccesary because weekly water changes will do just as good job.

Chromis, pair of clowns, smaller damsiles, firefish, basslets ect :whistling2:

errr! when was live rocks only used to filter tanks yes sure its bacteria cleans water but fuji and some others looks absolutely stunning.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

berry1 said:


> WHY
> 1. well because live rock can make a tank much much more stable for marine fish


He doesn't want marine fish. Just rock.


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

berry1 said:


> WHY
> 1. well because live rock can make a tank much much more stable for marine fish
> 
> 2. It has loads of interesting creatures
> ...


edge? as in edge tank? bit small for marines imo..

also, if you want to get the nicest growth and potential from live rock, then T5s are necessary. they provide more lighting for the coraline algae growth, and also for any of the smaller inverts and feather dusters on the rocks. some live rock comes with small mushrooms and polyps attached, these would also benefit from T5 lighting as opposed to standard T8s

ive had tanks both ways and found the T5s to cause much more growth in live rock than T8s
yeah T8s will do the job, but to a lower standard is all


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## xx-SAVANNAH-xx (Jan 9, 2010)

Lucifus said:


> Ah i thought featherdusters, mantis shrimp, small crustations etc grew on live rock which was why I was interested. These are the sort of things im mainly interested in, not so much the fish but the life forms that grow within a marine environment. Corals I have heard are quite difficult to keep which is why I didn't consider them.
> 
> Good quality pre-cured Fiji rock is fairly cheap near me. About £8.50 a KG from Rocks N Critters.


I done pretty much the same as what you want i filled a small tank with live rock put a couple of filters in and filled it with inverts, hermits,emerald crabs a peacock mantis, some polyps and mushrooms. You will need lighting, and you might get a few random bits on live rock but you will end up buying most of it.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

Morgan Freeman said:


> He doesn't want marine fish. Just rock.


WHAT u have to be joking live rock no fish now that would be frigging boreing yes it may seem interesting at the time but i can guarantee u will want some sort of fishy or coral sooner or later.





Pearson Design said:


> edge? as in edge tank? bit small for marines imo..
> 
> Errr! yes its a little on the small size but its working a treat for me no problems.
> 
> ...


Yes that is very true i was just pointing out that its possible to keep it with standard T8s 




xx-SAVANNAH-xx said:


> I done pretty much the same as what you want i filled a small tank with live rock put a couple of filters in and filled it with inverts, hermits,emerald crabs a peacock mantis, some polyps and mushrooms. You will need lighting, and you might get a few random bits on live rock but you will end up buying most of it.


:flrt::blush:


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## Pearson Design (Jan 21, 2010)

xx-SAVANNAH-xx said:


> I done pretty much the same as what you want i filled a small tank with live rock put a couple of filters in and filled it with inverts, hermits,emerald crabs a peacock mantis, some polyps and mushrooms. You will need lighting, and you might get a few random bits on live rock but you will end up buying most of it.



bet your crabs and snails lasted long with the mantis lol

ive got a baby peacock at the moment, in his own acrylic tank. he has detsroyed all my small snails and a hermit crab, so now he is fed on brine shrimp and anythig he finds on the live rock


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## Devi (Jan 9, 2011)

Am I the only one who kinda likes this plan? Live rock is pretty damn interesting. My favouite inhabitant in my marine tank is a big black xanthid crab, he's in my bad books atm though cause he ate my remaining fish, but he's so active and does weird things like building sandcastles. I'm kinda tempted to let him keep the tank to himself now, he's grown in 2 years from about 2cm wide to almost 3 inches.
Personally I'd set up as a home for unwanted hitchikers, anyone who gets a mean looking crab, or a funky little mantis, can send it to a good home free of charge. Maybe even buy a few cool things, arrow crabs maybe? 
Feeding depends on your inhabitants, mysis, marine flake, algae wafers, just research what you have and what they eat.


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

berry1 said:


> WHAT u have to be joking live rock no fish now that would be frigging boring yes it may seem interesting at the time but i can guarantee u will want some sort of fishy or coral sooner or later.


Maybe eventually but ive only got a 50L atm and although its designed for marine i don't have the cash for much on the side at this point in time.

And its the inverts and the whole life forms in/on the live rock thats the most interesting thing about Marine. (At least to me I love inverts) Coral I like but Id rather get used to grips with the basics before I started into that. Fish I could eventually put in but again Id rather get used to the basics before putting fish in.

I have zero experience with Marine, even getting the salt and PH levels right is going to be an interesting task.


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## brittone05 (Sep 29, 2006)

Subscribing here - I reckon a live rock set up would be amazing to watch as it grows - not just while it cures and cycles which is what most of us see before adding fish etc that take your mind off the rock itself.

Agree with Devi - some of the "nasties" when you have fish and coral are totaly gorgeous in their own right and deserve a tank all of their own with rock and lights :d xx


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## Lucifus (Aug 30, 2007)

brittone05 said:


> Agree with Devi - some of the "nasties" when you have fish and coral are totaly gorgeous in their own right and deserve a tank all of their own with rock and lights :d xx


I think I would very happy if a bunch of Mantis shrimp started popping up in my tank.


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## xx-SAVANNAH-xx (Jan 9, 2010)

Pearson Design said:


> bet your crabs and snails lasted long with the mantis lol
> 
> ive got a baby peacock at the moment, in his own acrylic tank. he has detsroyed all my small snails and a hermit crab, so now he is fed on brine shrimp and anythig he finds on the live rock


You wouldnt believe me but everything iv put in is still alive i think i have the most docile mantis going. You can even touch him and iv only had him a few months.I had a mantis which came on the rock and he killed that, he also killed a dancing shrimp but other than that he leaves the hermits and crabs alone.:2thumb:


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## xx-SAVANNAH-xx (Jan 9, 2010)

Devi said:


> Am I the only one who kinda likes this plan? Live rock is pretty damn interesting. My favouite inhabitant in my marine tank is a big black xanthid crab, he's in my bad books atm though cause he ate my remaining fish, but he's so active and does weird things like building sandcastles. I'm kinda tempted to let him keep the tank to himself now, he's grown in 2 years from about 2cm wide to almost 3 inches.
> Personally I'd set up as a home for unwanted hitchikers, anyone who gets a mean looking crab, or a funky little mantis, can send it to a good home free of charge. Maybe even buy a few cool things, arrow crabs maybe?
> Feeding depends on your inhabitants, mysis, marine flake, algae wafers, just research what you have and what they eat.


i like your idea i think inverts are much more interesting than common fish and corals. go for it.


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