Stella's Salty 20g

The Mind Trick montI is getting pretty big... and may need to be fragged soon, (eek!) because he's encroaching on an acro!


This acro... a green mille. Thought I might lose this guy after the dosing debacle but if you can believe it... after his slow recovery from that, he started to grow at a faster rate than before. Hubs and I joke that we should stress the corals into growth... kinda like how some plants are stressed to encourage growth.



My unkown acro, which looks like a Garf Bonsai, but isn't. I'm not nutty for acros but idk... this guy might be my favorite, (but I still love you Mr. Duncan!!) This guy suffered pretty bad during/after the doser mistake too and this is the coral I stressed the most about for many, many weeks. Glad to say that after the recovery... it too started to grow a little faster than before!


The red montI is also getting too big for it's neighbor's good. There's a green montI next to it... which we can hardly see at all. Green dude's getting moved this week because I'm kinda loving all the plating on the red.


The candy cane is getting moved too because that beautiful guy deserves a better spot. Hope to share a good pic of him soon. And that blue eyed leptastrea above..? It's also a beast, encroaching on everyone around. The birdsnest holds it's own, but I couldn't believe it when I saw my favorite little chalice receding from the touch of leptastrea. I thought chalices could hold their own, but yeah... now that I know that this particular chalice isn't so dangerous, it was a lot more comfortable for me to move it elsewhere. Hope to get a good pic of the chalice sometime soon too.

 

Your tank is looking amazing M! Sooo mature and filled in. Its stunning!

I love those mushrooms, they look amazing. I think your disco are doing better then mine actually! Mine have been POd for a few weeks now and idk why

Everything seems to grow insanely fast in your tank too! That galaxea, wow, that's a ton of growth. Its beautiful. Hopefully my Sonic frag grows out quickly in the new tank and I can send you some of that too, in the spring once this super cold is gone

That red montI is giant, I need to pick up a red one as all I have is the green. We've got a huge colony at work I can grab a piece off

How many heads does your candy cane have now? It seems like mine took a reaaalllyyy long time to settle in and has finally taken off, its splitting all over the place now, has 9 mouths at this point!

 

Your tank is looking amazing M! Sooo mature and filled in. Its stunning!

I love those mushrooms, they look amazing. I think your disco are doing better then mine actually! Mine have been POd for a few weeks now and idk why

Everything seems to grow insanely fast in your tank too! That galaxea, wow, that's a ton of growth. Its beautiful. Hopefully my Sonic frag grows out quickly in the new tank and I can send you some of that too, in the spring once this super cold is gone

That red montI is giant, I need to pick up a red one as all I have is the green. We've got a huge colony at work I can grab a piece off

How many heads does your candy cane have now? It seems like mine took a reaaalllyyy long time to settle in and has finally taken off, its splitting all over the place now, has 9 mouths at this point!

Thanks bud! The kind words really mean a lot from my favorite young pro.

Hmm, the candy cane was growing well right along with yours but I'm afraid he fell behind and as of now, has 5 polyps. This is, of course, likely due to the slow encroachment of shade caused by the red monti. Well, he's not in the shade anymore!

I'll need to get a new FTS soon because the Kryptonite Candy Cane got a well deserved prime spot today. He's still a bit mad... and I hope I don't regret this... but that pop of color is looking really great at the back of the tilted rock on the left, behind my favorite lil acro. It's a pretty drastic change in lighting but I know this hardy coral can take it and I'm pretty excited about giving him higher flow here too. Both of these things may just help me get that tightly clustered look I'm hoping for... a la Inappropriate Reefer's fine example.

 

Lol Stella, you need a bigger tank.

 

wow that fts is beautiful. Your tank always amazes me at how a 20l can look so darn big in pics. Duncans are great since getting mine with 2 heads about 5 months ago now I have 9 heads lol They make you want to feed them lol. That mind trick montI makes me want to touch it lol

 

I'm glad to be back on FL to see more of your tank stella, you don't post it as much on IG. That garth bonsaI looking thing, I think I'm in love lol. The fts is amazing, that lights doing a great job too by the looks of things.

 

creeping this from another post

absolutely beautiful !!! Makes me want to do saltwater even more one day lol
love the corals

 

creeping this from another post

absolutely beautiful !!! Makes me want to do saltwater even more one day lol
love the corals

Thank you!!! Wish I had new pics and a flashy update for you. Alas, the lights are too low for any pics tonight. I do expect I'll get some tomorrow though, because I have exciting news...

I'm not sure I've even shared this here yet but I have had a fish in quarantine for over 6 weeks now and finally, as of today, the stocking of our little reef tank is back up to 3 fish. A Royal Gramma joined the Clown and Goby today. New dude was released near the hammers (in Scorch's old area ) and did exactly as expected. He hung out under the hammers all day. The other fish don't seem to have noticed, (though I'm quite sure they're aware), so that bodes well for now. Night is descending and the hammers are slightly withdrawn so I can just see his little face as he hangs out just under the very low arch that is the entrance what was Scorch's lair. I'm super glad the Gramma has found comfort here today and a few minutes prior to writing this, I saw him venture out, though not far and not for long.

HI'm occupying this area is what we hoped for but still worried over because this is also the only place we ever see the emerald crab. Crabby girl isn't there all the time... this is just the only place she's been seen since adding her to the reef. That said, she isn't seen much, however, at the LFS I got crabby from, I saw her defend her stance/spot from an encroaching fish that was slightly larger than the gramma. Meaning, I had no doubt she's snap at new dude to get him out of that safe zone if she happened to be inhabiting it at the time. Hopefully, the fish will now prevent the crab from encroaching.

Since I'm here, I may as well admit that I made what could have been a very grave error today, and in doing so, remind others to be wary of repeating this dumb but easy to make mistake. As always, there are distractions in life. When I was headed towards the tank with the water change stuff today, in my head I was chanting.. don't forget to disable the ATO first... don't forget to disable the ATO. I'm sure you've guessed it by now, and you'd be correct, after breaking up a kiddo argument, I forgot my mantra. While removing water, I could hear a trickle, so looked down into the bucket and thought the noise was coming from water exiting the hose above the bucket's waterline. It was a quick thought and just as quickly dismissed as nothing being wrong. So, for a few minutes there, the ATO was triggered by the falling water level and began dumping freshwater into the reef tank. Got it disabled and finished water removal from the tank. While doing so, I could see that swirl in the water at near the surface... the swirl indicating freshwater is mixing into saltwater. So, I brought the siphon hose up to just below the surface in an attempt to remove whatever freshwater I could.

I suppose it's a good thing that I was supposed to do the water change yesterday and got as far as mixing water before other things came up and the wc got pushed to today. During that time, the mixing container evaporated a tiny bit, bringing salinity up to 35.5ppt. I'd normally add a bit of RODI to bring it back to 35ppt exactly... but not today. When 4 gallons of that water with a slightly higher salinity content mixed into the tank that was no doubt a little low on salinity, well, the tank ended up right back at 35ppt. Even better, nobody (fish or corals) got mad about this quick variance. In my experience, corals are quick to anger and can be uber slow to make happy again. So, I'm feeling confident that all is well but am also keeping a closer eye than usual and will continue to do so for several days.

Addie42 - The above sounds like a scary story, and it certainly could have been, but don't let this scare you away. Saltwater is not as hard as it may seem and I'm here nearly every day, so if I can be of any help with your someday salty plans, please just let me know and don't hesitate to tag me if and when you have salty questions.

 

Amazing

 

Thank you!!! Wish I had new pics and a flashy update for you. Alas, the lights are too low for any pics tonight. I do expect I'll get some tomorrow though, because I have exciting news...

I'm not sure I've even shared this here yet but I have had a fish in quarantine for over 6 weeks now and finally, as of today, the stocking of our little reef tank is back up to 3 fish. A Royal Gramma joined the Clown and Goby today. New dude was released near the hammers (in Scorch's old area ) and did exactly as expected. He hung out under the hammers all day. The other fish don't seem to have noticed, (though I'm quite sure they're aware), so that bodes well for now. Night is descending and the hammers are slightly withdrawn so I can just see his little face as he hangs out just under the very low arch that is the entrance what was Scorch's lair. I'm super glad the Gramma has found comfort here today and a few minutes prior to writing this, I saw him venture out, though not far and not for long.

HI'm occupying this area is what we hoped for but still worried over because this is also the only place we ever see the emerald crab. Crabby girl isn't there all the time... this is just the only place she's been seen since adding her to the reef. That said, she isn't seen much, however, at the LFS I got crabby from, I saw her defend her stance/spot from an encroaching fish that was slightly larger than the gramma. Meaning, I had no doubt she's snap at new dude to get him out of that safe zone if she happened to be inhabiting it at the time. Hopefully, the fish will now prevent the crab from encroaching.

Since I'm here, I may as well admit that I made what could have been a very grave error today, and in doing so, remind others to be wary of repeating this dumb but easy to make mistake. As always, there are distractions in life. When I was headed towards the tank with the water change stuff today, in my head I was chanting.. don't forget to disable the ATO first... don't forget to disable the ATO. I'm sure you've guessed it by now, and you'd be correct, after breaking up a kiddo argument, I forgot my mantra. While removing water, I could hear a trickle, so looked down into the bucket and thought the noise was coming from water exiting the hose above the bucket's waterline. It was a quick thought and just as quickly dismissed as nothing being wrong. So, for a few minutes there, the ATO was triggered by the falling water level and began dumping freshwater into the reef tank. Got it disabled and finished water removal from the tank. While doing so, I could see that swirl in the water at near the surface... the swirl indicating freshwater is mixing into saltwater. So, I brought the siphon hose up to just below the surface in an attempt to remove whatever freshwater I could.

I suppose it's a good thing that I was supposed to do the water change yesterday and got as far as mixing water before other things came up and the wc got pushed to today. During that time, the mixing container evaporated a tiny bit, bringing salinity up to 35.5ppt. I'd normally add a bit of RODI to bring it back to 35ppt exactly... but not today. When 4 gallons of that water with a slightly higher salinity content mixed into the tank that was no doubt a little low on salinity, well, the tank ended up right back at 35ppt. Even better, nobody (fish or corals) got mad about this quick variance. In my experience, corals are quick to anger and can be uber slow to make happy again. So, I'm feeling confident that all is well but am also keeping a closer eye than usual and will continue to do so for several days.

Addie42 - The above sounds like a scary story, and it certainly could have been, but don't let this scare you away. Saltwater is not as hard as it may seem and I'm here nearly every day, so if I can be of any help with your someday salty plans, please just let me know and don't hesitate to tag me if and when you have salty questions.

Can’t wait to see pics of your new fish!!
Yes a saltwater tank is a MUST for me in time (I’m still pretty new to fish and only in my 2 year of university)
Until I have my own I’m living vicariously through you fishlore reefers! Keep posting photos! Love it

 

I still look at your and Lchi87 reefs with amazement. I might talk myself into trying it someday. When I have a bigger place and more financially stable. One marine fish or coral can cost more than some freshwater stuff that I struggle to afford.

 

Go price a flower horn Lee. Lol

 

Thanks again Addie!! Yeah, idk how much info you've found about my experience on this thread, but I had a 55 gallon saltwater (no corals) when I was straight out of high school. Things were okay, but not great, and we had to give it to friends when life took a turn. And then it took us over 10 years to start again. So, you are very wise to wait until you're settled in, and I could not recommend the slow and steady approach more.

Thanks JLeeM !! I'll be here for you too when the time comes. Hrmm, you should talk to Culprit , my favorite reefer from TN. He's become quite experienced over the last couple of years and could certainly point you in the right direction as far as budget reefing in a land-locked state. Take the following paragraph with a grain of salt, because I know I'm lucky in location when it comes to all things tropical.

I won't disagree that salt is more expensive than fresh, but I will say that the general idea that salty stuff is crazy expensive isn't true as far as I believe. I've never spent more than $15 on a fish and the cost of coral frags has mostly been around $15 too... Many of them were less and a few were more, (and lots were free trade with friends and/or killer deals during coral live sales.) Could I spend more? Definitely. Will I? No, because I'm happy with the cheaper offerings as well as the hunt to save pennies on what I want, and in the end... I'm a cheapskate!

The build though... That's pricey. It took a few months to gather all the equipment without burning a hole in our wallets. Even that was a good thing though because it gave us lots of time to research. Have I mentioned lately that I am eternally grateful for Fishlore and BRS's YouTube channel? Between the two, we have learned much about reefing over the last couple of years.

I must say, I truly think we have such a gift in our lovely clownfish. We've all heard the stories of how territorial they can be, and even the least aggressive species (Percula and Occelaris) can be pretty jerky sometimes. Ours is just so accepting of other fish, even after being the king of our tank for many months now. The gramma has ventured away from his hole several times today and always goes to the side of the tank... and the clownfish spends about half his day just around the corner from there, behind the big left-side rock, cuddling with the torch. (Still so glad that's worked out for them both.) Anyhow, this leaves the clown behind the gramma when they are both in the area. I'm glad to say that there's no aggression whatsoever from the clown. He was the same with Scorch... the clown will slowly approach like he's just floating over as if merely curious. The gramma notices this but doesn't seem to mind, and then the clown will retreat to his cuddle spot again. This hangout area works out perfectly for yours truly because this side is the pane nearest me when I'm sitting in my favorite spot, hanging out on my favorite forum. Didn't want to startle the gramma by getting too close or pulling any other camera tricks... like turning off the flow to aid in my eternal effort at getting a clear pics. Here's the best I've got so far.

 

won't disagree that salt is more expensive than fresh, but I will say that the general idea that salty stuff is crazy expensive isn't true as far as I believe. I've never spent more than $15 on a fish and the cost of coral frags has mostly been around $15 too... Many of them were less and a few were more, (and lots were free trade with friends and/or killer deals during coral live sales.) Could I spend more? Definitely. Will I? No, because I'm happy with the cheaper offerings as well as the hunt to save pennies on what I want, and in the end... I'm a cheapskate!

Oh wow! I didn't know you could get them that cheap. I've only seen the really crummy corals at Petco and a little LFS for crazy money. Past that I've seen websites that ship for $45 and up easy.

 

Oh wow! I didn't know you could get them that cheap. I've only seen the really crummy corals at Petco and a little LFS for crazy money. Past that I've seen websites that ship for $45 and up easy.

Heheheheh We live and learn my friend. More than half of my coral came from World Wide Corals, who do live sales at least half a dozen times per year. During these sales, yes, there is crazy expensive coral... but a LOT of it is super affordable. Lots less than $20, a bunch less than $15, and some less than $10. If you purchase shipping before the sale starts (pre-sale), you get $5 off, which makes shipping $25 regardless of the amount of coral purchased. If you buy pre-sale shipping and follow some other simple instruction they give, you get a free gift, which may be samples of products, a t-shirt, and at least twice a year, it's a free frag. Making the best out of a live sale takes up a whole weekend for me... literally, glued to the PC for like 30 hours over 2 days, but it was worth it. I've partaken in 4 of them and all of those corals arrived healthy and colorful, then over time grew quite well. Outside of sales, WWC is pricey like everyone else, though non-sale shipping is still cheaper than most at $30. They also have a fantastic quarantine process and personally, I've never dipped their frags nor worried about hitchhikers, (not dipping or quarantining corals is a pretty big no-no once we've established our pricey reef tanks.) I've never bought from them outside of sales but half of my corals came from them, and I couldn't recommend the retailer enough. It doesn't hurt that they are in Florida, so am I... and that makes shipping even cheaper for me. $20 in-state outside of sales, $15 pre-sale shipping.

Edit: I'm sure this pic is somewhere else on this thread but Addie just reminded me of it by liking it up in the Insta photo thread. Here's one example of a WWC live sale haul JLeeM

 

Stella, you make it so hard for me to wait on setting up a Saltwater tank!! You have a beautiful tank, corals, and fish!!

I am thinking that I will do a 30L (36 x 12 x ?? I think 15) saltwater setup with a 20L (or another 30L if I can find one) sump underneath on a double stack wrought iron stand. I will put a curtain over the bottom to hide the sump. Is that a good size? I think I will make this my Christmas this year to start a Saltwater tank.

 

The hauls from wwc are sick ! I loved watching your corals turn up, that frag rack was booming then.

 

Thank you so much tfreema

I think a salty tank will make an excellent, long-lasting gift to yourself that you will enjoy for a good long time, (lol, which isn't always the case, especially with the kiddos.)

A 30L is an excellent choice! So much room for swimming and scaping, yet still within the nano range... meaning equipment is more affordable and it's shallow enough to easily light. The sump... is not entirely needed yet still a very good plan. You'll have that room for equipment, filtration, and nutrient control while keeping your display free of all of that.

I'm not the one to talk to about plumbing though. To me, that is what you'll want to spend the most time researching. How you'll move the water. Otherwise, the thing that I have to say is most important for a reef tank... lighting. Think you might know that I consider cheaping out on lighting at first, which wasn't all that cheap, to be the biggest early mistake I made with reefing. To be blunt, spent a couple hundred outfitting a T5 fixture that couldn't fit well over our tank, then spent more than twice that on our current light, which we are happy with, thank goodness! Don't be like me... don't buy lighting twice early on. If you start a FOWLR, then spend a good long time researching the lighting that will best fit your tank and invest in it, then I would consider you a better reefer than I. If you want to start looking at lights for a long tank, I might suggest starting with the MaxSpect Razor or an SBReefLight Ultra like I've got. I use at half power, max, and corals are growing. Of course, so has algae... still working on that.

The hauls from wwc are sick ! I loved watching your corals turn up, that frag rack was booming then.

Heck yeah!! Those were exciting times! Oh!!! I just noticed that my favorite little acro is on the frag rack in that pic!! I'm so, so glad to see this comparison! I thought I'd lose it during the dosing debacle but it's happy now and so pretty. Took on the birdsnest, and won! (Edit: I shall get a new pic of that one.)

 

My goodness but it's been too long... especially since pics! The reef tank had it's 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago so, yeah, it's time.














The Rainbow Monty is more rainbow-ee on the frag rack... but polyps are smaller there too.


Nothing's been added for... gosh, idk how long. Not since the hermits (who went through qt), and after that, just a half dozen Berghia's for another aiptasia outbreak that has since gone. Berghies are awesome! Wish I could keep 'em around. Anyhow, everyone's doing great and that makes me a super happy and stressless reefer.

Our clown deserves a mention because he's just perfect proof that attitude and aggression are individual traits among these little percula and ocellaris varieties. I'm guilty of warning just about every newb about the possibility of murderous aggression and you just never know. I can now firmly say that my little designer guy is old enough to have reached maturity yet, he's a really nice guy. He still sleeps right next to the goby's lair every night and they've been buds since they came home with me. The gramma is the (not so) new guy. This fish is totally gorgeous and really fun to watch. At feeding times, he is unafraid to snatch his share, even if it's hanging out of the piggy clown's mouth. Such bravery! The clown doesn't even seem to care and goes on looking for whatever else he can find. Most of the time the gramma hangs out front and center like my old best salty buddy Scorch did... but for some time every day, the clown is snuggling in the torch that still lives behind our scape and at those times, the gramma is hanging out very nearby... like he's buddies with the clown or something. Anyway, the fish are terribly cute in their behaviors and not at all what I might have expected. It took a looong time, but with the goby and shrimp doing their thing and the brave yet unaggressive behavior among the clown and the basslet, I can say that I am 100% happy with the stocking of our tank. Only wish old Scorch would have lived and thrived with the rest... and this goes to show, even in doing our best in stocking from least to most aggressive, sometimes things just don't work out as planned.

The doser... is working. So is the ATO and the corals grow, grow, grow. All this tank needs is it's weekly water change, the occasional trim of chaeto and refreshing of ChemPure Blue and 20 minutes or so of testing per week... and we usually do it.

 

Wow that is one beautiful tank you got there! Good for you!

 

Looks amazing M, the only one from our group to keep her tank the same for the duration. The growth and just overall look of the tank is amazing. My favorite responsible Reefer My Reefing hero !!

 

Thanks Geoff! I do wish I could show it off better but that doesn't take away from the joy it brings nor the joy in sharing with the Fishlore fam.

Aww G, my reefy brother... You flatter me. We'd not be the same without you. We've all had our ups and downs but when you've got a tank running, then you've got a candy shop... and it's on fire!

 

Thedudeiam94 --- Couldn't remember if you've seen this thread before but in case you haven't... well, I've seen you talking about a salty 20g.

 

Thedudeiam94 --- Couldn't remember if you've seen this thread before but in case you haven't... well, I've seen you talking about a salty 20g.

Thank you very much! I needed this thread!

 

Thank you very much! I needed this thread!

So glad to help and grateful that I can do my part in furthering the hobby. Reefing is... not that hard! It's a little overwhelming in the beginning, sure, but like anything, it gets easier with knowledge and time. That said, the amount of advice on the internet can be pretty overwhelming... and is often contradictory between sources. So, if I may offer advice...

As always, I am SUPER thankful for the Fishlore community, since it was those stickies in the Saltwater Beginner's Forum as well as the threads from a few Fishloreans who became great friends that gave me the kick in the rear I needed to get back into reefing.
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...et-nano-saltwater-guide-for-beginners.327674/ (<--- This one is newer than my tank but was written by one of two guys who were my mentors when I started the current reef tank. You can find who I mean on the first pages of this thread, plus, in the very first post, you'll find my equipment and stocking lists. Anyway, this link is to a great, straightforward guide on starting a smaller reef tank while saving some pennies.)

(The following were written by one of my favorite Aussie's and these really go into the depths of what reefing is... and are exactly what I was looking for when I first began researching reefing here.)
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...uarium-part-1-where-to-start-research.118422/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ing-nature-home-researching-equipment.119039/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ing-nature-home-researching-equipment.119039/

Idk if it's obvious but we are very much budget reefers, so please don't mistake me when I say... BRStv (on YouTube) has a playlist titled 52 Weeks of Reefing, which was a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE learning source for us. Did I make it apparent how helpful this playlist was/is for us? Naturally, this retailer will show and recommend all kinds of top-of-the-line gear but we may take what we need and leave the rest from this particular wealth of information. This is my favorite, by far, when it comes to reefing channels on YouTube. When you've got questions... they've got answers. Check out their other playlists too.

 

Your tank makes me want to get back into a reef tank. I think it's beautiful!!

Edit just to say I love the yellow watchman goby! I had one and they are so much fun to watch!

 

So glad to help and grateful that I can do my part in furthering the hobby. Reefing is... not that hard! It's a little overwhelming in the beginning, sure, but like anything, it gets easier with knowledge and time. That said, the amount of advice on the internet can be pretty overwhelming... and is often contradictory between sources. So, if I may offer advice...

As always, I am SUPER thankful for the Fishlore community, since it was those stickies in the Saltwater Beginner's Forum as well as the threads from a few Fishloreans who became great friends that gave me the kick in the rear I needed to get back into reefing.
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...et-nano-saltwater-guide-for-beginners.327674/ (<--- This one is newer than my tank but was written by one of two guys who were my mentors when I started the current reef tank. You can find who I mean on the first pages of this thread, plus, in the very first post, you'll find my equipment and stocking lists. Anyway, this link is to a great, straightforward guide on starting a smaller reef tank while saving some pennies.)

(The following were written by one of my favorite Aussie's and these really go into the depths of what reefing is... and are exactly what I was looking for when I first began researching reefing here.)
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...uarium-part-1-where-to-start-research.118422/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ing-nature-home-researching-equipment.119039/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...ing-nature-home-researching-equipment.119039/

Idk if it's obvious but we are very much budget reefers, so please don't mistake me when I say... BRStv (on YouTube) has a playlist titled 52 Weeks of Reefing, which was a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE learning source for us. Did I make it apparent how helpful this playlist was/is for us? Naturally, this retailer will show and recommend all kinds of top-of-the-line gear but we may take what we need and leave the rest from this particular wealth of information. This is my favorite, by far, when it comes to reefing channels on YouTube. When you've got questions... they've got answers. Check out their other playlists too.

Ack....all this info!!! I can feel the urge to try the dark and salty side out pressing in on me. Must... resist................for...now..........

 

I can get live rock for 3.99 a lb from a lfs is that a good deal?

 

I can get live rock for 3.99 a lb from a lfs is that a good deal?

That is a good deal if you are sure you're getting live rock that is somewhat mature and (hopefully) clear of algae and pests.

The question of whether to go with live or dry rock is one for you to answer my friend. I know this is a long thread and wouldn't expect anyone to know all my tank deets so just want to share that personally, dry rock is preferred. Yes, it will take longer to cycle, but my tank cycled in 29 days, (lol, seriously, not 30...29!) and live rock can bring all kinds of beneficial microfauna and such, but it can also bring pests, (don't even ask how much time, money and aggravation went into dealing with aiptasia.)

Also, I am first a budget reefer and live rock ime can easily be twice what you're getting it for. Shoot, I've paid $6 per pound for cured rock, sold as live rock, but it didn't cycle the 5 gallon tank I put it in and was bare of things like coralline and pods. So, $4 is really a deal but there's another downside I see to live rock... it must be kept wet. If you'd like to 'play with your rocks', that is, design a rockscape with the intention of it becoming a great looking reef over time, then you want dry rock because rockscaping is a heck of a lot easier outside of the tank.

So, on another personal note, I would never set up a reef tank without playing with my rocks. What I've learned from my current tank is... next time I'll skip the dense, heavy, hard to break FijI dry rock, and instead, will go with Marco rocks, aka Reef Saver Rocks by BRS. I swear, I am not their spokesman, lol. Anyhow, these rocks are perfect for creating an awesome scape! As for awesome scapes go... I'll show you examples.
Nart's Lagoon Build - Round 2!!! | Saltwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 299291

Pics on page one show several nice scapes created with dry rock. On page 4 and 5, scaping is in progress... can't do that with live rock. On page 16, the scape goes in the tank and corals are attached. Keep scrolling to see how crazy awesome the tank looks after those corals start to grow in.

Now, the downside to dry rock is that it may (usually does) contain dead organics, which means you may want to cure it in saltwater outside of the tank because dead organics break down into ammonia and phosphates... food for algae. My buddy Nart had to cure that awesome scape for quite some time I believe, and best advice really tells us that we should cure any type of dry rock. However, I have seen many, many reports of Reef Saver Rocks not being cured, and not releasing ammonia, nitrates, or phosphates... meaning, the rocks are said to not need curing at all. Also, shipping is free on orders over $29 and free shipping on just about anything that weighs 20lbs. (about what you'd need) is practically unheard of.

Sooo... yeah, there's my rock speech, and I swear I am not affiliated with BRS. You be sure to do you my friend. As long as you're informed, you'll make the right choice for you.

 

Yeah... it was PukanI rocks that took me forever to cure, either 60 or 90 days till it stopped leaching excess nutrients. But that is some amazing light and extremely porous rock.
Great advice as always Stella!
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