Opinions on Live rock in Fish Only Tank

[joncat24]

whether you have to have it or not, I am not going to debate. In my opinion , no saltwater tank looks complete without some live rock nd livesand. That being said, it will help your tanks filtration if you use some live rock. You don't have to fill it like a reef but it will help and looks nice. And as stated before, II...you get tangs and such it will help with the stress factor.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
i agree with you. the problem with new hobbiest is that they try to find a cheaper way of doing things..the fact is that this hobby isn't cheap.
cheap things turnout expensive in the long run..
i'm not trying to make this an argument, but when someone is asking for advice on cutting corners, we should give them the best possible advice that he's looking for. i know is not the best for the animals, but i guees he has to live and learn..
No, I know this hobby isn't cheap. That is why I said that he can mix it with base rock. Rock can also be purchased over time. He can start off with 20lbs of base and 10lbs of LR if he wants. It becomes a lot more expensive in the long run to keep replacing fish, or buy meds, or extra salt for the water changes needed without natural filtration. I didn't come into this hobby knowing everything, far from it. I had only FW experience and bad advice given to me. I also reply daily to people who have put themselves and their fish into situations where they have to re-do their setup costing even more money. As you said, this is not a cheap hobby. I don't believe that it should come off as a cheap hobby. It costs more to fix mistakes than it does to do it right the first time. I am not trying to discourage anyone at all. The rock does not have to be purchased all at once, but his fish will benefit greatly from it.

 

[aztec reef]

i also told him that it makes sense to by most of it baserock and a little lr.
i also been doing this saltwater thing for a while , i also made alot of mistakes and spend tons of money (first year was the most i have ever spend and all of it was mainly to upgrade equip). and i blame 50%(my self for being ignorant) and 50% lfs for giving me crappy advice. but that's history!
it all depends how much love you have for this hobby i guess. if you want to provide the best ecosystem then i would say get 1.5-2lbs per gallon of lr. it doesn't have to be all live. but then some people might say. why would i want that much live rock when is a fish only tank? it will just look like a rock tank.. so i say your tank, your choice..
i'll give you the last word.

 

[scottikis]

Thanks for all of the opinions, I appreciate your input. I understand that this is an expensive venture and I want to establish a tank that is both pleasing to look at and healthy for fish. It may have sounded like I'm only looking to cut costs, but that's not exactly where I was going. My goal is to make informed decisions without being "taken to the bank" as a rookie. Thanks again

 

[crazyaqua]

I used a bunch of old shells that i found off the beach boiled them to make sure they were clean and added them to some of the live rock i had and they have become full of life. so if your near a beach or a place were you can find some good porous dead rock use that and then add some live rock and it will be alot cheaper and make your tank look more natural. good luck