So true. If you don't QT your corals the only benefits to dry rock that I see are the price and ease of styling. And even if you do QT for months there is zero guarantee it worked like you hoped since some problems are very hard to spot and can take a long time to develop to noticeable or plague proportions. Also, what are the reef pests you are trying to prevent? GBA, GHA, Caulerpa, aiptasia, mini stars, hydoids, bristol worms, flatworms, and brittle stars. These pests would require at least a month in QT with very careful attention. Some would require 3 or more months to be sure.

exactly , some stuff is going to be easy to keep out some stuff is going to be next to impossible.

less chance of pests from the startup...most definately

pest free forever...that depends on you and has nothing to do with your liverock:)

You might find some LR on sale for $5 here but most of the time it's right around $8 for quality rock. So, yeah dry rock is deff. cheaper here.

Every pest in my 40 has come in on corals. My "pest free" 40 didn't even last a month.

I'm going to try to hit six weeks pest free with my NC24. :)

thats like home too liverock is 15.99/lb .....if your lucky you can get someone to sell out at 6-8$ but thats a steal of a deal then. so it does depend on what the market is like.

the op is from calgary though so price wont be much of a comparrison.

I have NEVER seen a store in Calgary sell Live Rock for $2-3/lbs. Which is about what I paid for my Dry Rock. (from a shop)

"Used" LR like the stuff you posted for sale, sure, you can find for cheap, but buyer also runs the risk of pests. Regardless of how pest free someone THINKS their LR is, there could always be something in it that the seller doesn't know about.

Denny's live rock prices are what other hobbyists are selling live rock at, for the most part: not retail pricing.

The retail pricing for dry rock is considerably cheaper: around $3/pound versus $10/pound.

its next to impossible to keep "all" pests out , the hiding places in liverock are too many so if say someone buys a coral it needs to be removed from it base, and then qt.

depending on what you want or dont want will depend on how long you qt.


for examle brittle stars are easy to kill, nudis,flatworms and red bugs for exaample not so much.


and the worse thing is even if you do go months or even a year pest free......once that one gets through its all a lost cause then anyways, alot of pests do not need a mate to reproduce so one is often enough to get the pop going:(

your qt tank would need more work then your display tank will , i think its a better practise to familiarize yourself with pests of all kinds and learn how to deal with them and what methods are best for you.



pests are bed yes but its not the end of the world, the trick is to jump on something the minute its noticed and to approach it the right way....most times its us who wins in the end.

yes and thats true too , though not to say that if the store down the street has his liverock advertised as $5 hes not gonna sell it for $3....i was at a store the other day(a big box store) and i didnt think they haggled over prices but apparently they do as they agreed on $4/lb for 30lbs of liverock.....im pretty sure the price on the sticker was $7.99/lb

Sweet deal!

I still wouldn't buy it. :lol: I don't think either the "dry rock" or the "live rock" crowds are really swayed much be cost. I think there are other factors that each team is more hung up on.