Week 12: Live Wet Dry Reef Rock Explained, Beginner How To Guide Saltwater Aquariums & Reef Tanks

Bulk Reef Supply bulkreefsupply...
My First Fish Tank myfirstfishtan...
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Table of Contents:
00:00 Hook
00:23 Coral Vault Giveaway Winner
00:52 Intro
01:22 What is Reef Rock?
02:01 We, Dry, Live, Reef Rock? Confusing Terminology
04:13 Where Does Reef Rock Come From?
04:33 Four Functions of Reef Rock
06:23 Pros & Cons of Wet Reef Rock
10:13 Pros & Cons of Dry Reef Rock
11:53 Reef Rock Shapes
14:27 Buying Options
18:40 How To Cure Reef Rock
20:26 Coming Up Next Week
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Music: www.epidemicso...
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Video Description:
What Is Reef Rock
Calcium carbonate
aragonite
Highly porous
Can you use any rock?
Confusing Terminology
Live rock, dry rock, wet rock, dry live rock, wet live rock.
Where Does Reef Rock Come From
Human made
Ocean
Quarry
Functions of Reef Rock
Biological filtration
Aesthetics
Coral placement
Hiding place for fish and inverts
Pros/Cons of Wet Reef Rock
You can still purchase wet reef rock. There are companies in the USA that “cure” reef rock in the ocean for several months.
I was always nervous of wet reef rock, because of the pests and hitchikers.
My thinking has changed. I believe now that the benefits of wet reef rock outweigh the cons.
Pros of wet reef rock:
Cycled
Biodiversity
Beneficial bacteria
Fun to see what critters you get
Cons of wet reef rock
Expensive
Can destroy reef
Hitchikers and pests can overcomplicate things for beginners
Pros/Cons of Dry Reef Rock
Pros of dry reef rock
pest/hitchhiker free
Less expensive
More aquascaping options
Cons of dry reef rock
Not cycled
Lack of biodiversity
Shapes
Base, branching, shelf, rubble, arch, shapes, trees
Buying Options
How much do you need?
Brands
Cornerstone
Marco Rocks/Aquamaxx
CaribSea
Two Little Fishies Stax
Real Reef Rock
Get a mix of shapes
colors
Curing Reef Rock
What is curing?
Do I need to cure
A simple RODI rinse will suffice
Coming Up Next Week
Aquascaping
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Affiliate disclaimer: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!
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Edited On:
Macbook Pro- 2019, 32gb Ram, 8 core Intel i9
Final Cut Pro X
#myfirstfishtank #marinedepot #coralvault #reefrock #liverock #caribsea #marcorocks #aquamaxx #cornerstonerock #twolittlefishies #liverock

[@freakygoblin3068]

LiVe rock.. not to be confused with caribsea liFe rock. Other option for excess left over rock.. if you have a sump, place it there for additional bacterial filtration. Can also be useful if later you want to add an island for coral such as Green Star Polyps (GSP), which you want to keep apart from the rest. You may also find yourself simply wanting to change your aquascape slightly and need another piece.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

This is great advice! A fantastic place to put the extra! I have some in my sump!

[@lenpugh6267]

Great vid with good info!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DeanR3]

Currently watching through beginners series i must say the most helpful i have found, so a great thank you 😁 hope you make more on dofference of corrals etc . Thanks again Dean

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Thanks Dean! I'm actually writing the scripts for the coral videos now!

[@kjstorm7601]

I just got my first reef tank going with a few corals. I thank you for all your knowledge. You have helped me a lot

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Glad to help! :-)

[@johnnozzi-photovideo6543]

Putting together my first saltwater tank this weekend. I have been watching your content non-stop and loving it! Wish me luck!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Good luck John! You can do it!

[@atlasaqua2627]

Get excited about aquascaping! it can be so satisfying and amazing when you get a unique shape for the rest of your aquarium's life

[@MyFirstFishTank]

I wish I was good at it! I just can't get excited about something I'm soooooo bad at!! I wish you lived close by so you could scape my tank!

[@RogueAquariums]

@@MyFirstFishTank take your time and be creative. 😊

[@eastnjman368]

your the reason I why I bought my SCA tank. Always love your vids

[@MyFirstFishTank]

:-). Great to hear!

[@Algaewarrior]

Aquascaping is my favorite part of setting up a tank! I used stax which is great to build with, but I wish cornerstone would have been available! Awesome looking rock!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

I totally agree! Except for the part about scaping being my favorite! I'm terrible at it so of course... I dislike it!!!! It takes a true artist to make a beautiful scape!

[@Algaewarrior]

@@MyFirstFishTank took me almost 2 weeks with multiple design changes. Still a work in progress with the tank started but with stax you can create small structures and piece them together to form large ones.

[@tekkersreefer8055]

Wicked vid reefer 👍🏻 can’t wait for next one really good vid u do be help and I see u still got gawjus floors still lol did u try that tank out in ur Garage see if it flooded it

[@MyFirstFishTank]

I actually filled it up about a quarter of the way inside the house and leveled it. Then I put a 20 gallon trash can on the crack side. Waited a couple days, then filled it up halfway. A couple more days and 100% full. Still holding after about a week so I'm super hopeful!

[@tekkersreefer8055]

@@MyFirstFishTank 🤞🏻 for u coz lot cash to pay out buy new Replacement by way so enjoy ur vids really good to watch 🙌🏻 just got redsea 300xl I’m starting atm

[@tekkersreefer8055]

Iv one off redsea 300xl u won’t get mine any were Very limited addition soon mine up Iv do vid of mine

[@RogueAquariums]

I remember when I started my first FOWLR tank using live rock from Fiji. I had so many hitch hikers in the rock work My preference is dry rock using a fish less cycle but I believe there are pros & cons to both like you mentioned. Nice video 👌

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Thanks Darren!

[@temushin]

Thanks for the clarification on curing... I've had two experienced people tell me I need to cure my marco rock... I didn't do it, but I told them I did.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Oh I'm glad I could help. It's a confusing topic for sure! And as for Marco rock, there could definitely be some dead matter on the rock, but in my experience, it was never enough to warrant curing!

[@ct2368]

Great video. One thing I thought you should add was that you can get wet live rock that has been cycled in a fish tank from your lfs.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Great point! :-)

[@karepy]

great editing as always !

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Appreciate that Ricardo!

[@karepy]

I mean it !you’re by far above every other content creator on making your videos entertaining and of great quality!

[@nataliemaldini5603]

You've got a bristleworm on your top :)

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Yes I do! I need to start looking into a mirror before filming! I can't tell you how many times I've had food on my face for a video!

[@nataliemaldini5603]

@@MyFirstFishTank happens to the best of us🤣 great video btw love your content!

[@DadHD]

Can you really say wet rock doesn’t need cycled? Surely you need to check as you don’t know how it’s be stored or shipped, has it dried out at some point and then been wet again? There is also the die off that can come from wet rock... can cause an ammonia spike in the first place. I only know this because I put wet rock in my first system 3 days before I was ready to start my cycle and with nothing else in there, just the rock. 3 days later I had an ammonia level of 1.5... Might be a bit better to say it will likely cycle much much quicker and not to be afraid of that? Other than that, what a great breakdown of the rock types! Makes so much more sense now.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

This is a good point. I think you said it better that wet reef rock will cycle much quicker, but probably not instantly. I guess it depends on how it is shipped. If it is just wrapped in wet newspaper there will likely be a lot of die off. But if it is shipped in bags with water, probably a lot less. Good for beginners to know though for sure, thanks for commenting.

[@pauldeacon8764]

Great video Matt! 😀👍👍

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Thanks! 👍

[@Rockina2bar]

No hiding spots leads to Stress, stress leads to disease, disease leads to death.... Death leads to fear, fear leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.... Therefore no hiding spots is the path to the dark side

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Deep... very deep! :-)

[@FamilyTanks]

Hands down some of the best reef content out there. We can only aspire to do as well. Keep it up!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

I appreciate that! You are too kind!!

[@TheAquaholic]

really wish i could find cornerstone in canada!

[@konohagakure6385]

I live on the seafood. There are many Liferock here. my question, how to get rid of pests in liferock without killing good bacteria

[@im160bpmplus]

Stop stringing us along Matt :D

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Ha. There's a pun!

[@zuar555]

awesome work man! can you share the name of the song in the intro please?

[@zuar555]

my B - I see it in the description as I should have expected. Top notch work man, you've found a new admirer!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Thanks Zeek! It is called "Extravaganza" by Jules Gaia! I think I put the artist name at the end but not the title! Thanks for watching!

[@sayurasem]

CaribSea arch/ shaped rocks are so dense it cost so much for one piece at lfs.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Yeah, they are spendy for sure, quite heavy too. I wonder if that means they are less porous? The only big downside with caribsea rock for me is it breaks so easily in shipping, that the arches I purchase almost always have to be glued back together!

[@garrycole9187]

Wet reef(live) rocks are either cured indoor by locals but most of it is dumped off Florida and is there much longer than 6 mos. They may stay there for years but the company that does it, has been doing it for a long time and has stacks of rock based on time that it has been in the ocean and they constantly dump new rocks as they take the old one out to sell. 20 years ago, I had some real fiji rock, and I kept it wet for years after I left the hobby. When I moved, I finally just sold it off for nothing. I wished I had carry that tote with me to this day across the country. I am glad we are not destroying the reefs around the world just for the rocks. As hobbyist, we need to be conservationist and not depleting the reef for our own entertainment.

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Thanks for sharing all of this Gary. I would love to visit those wet reef rock facilities in Florida someday and get the backstage tour!

[@davidmartineziii7343]

My current build exclusively sports a pair of the Caribsea LifeTrees and some miscellaneous Life Rock shapes to fill out the tank a bit. The thing that puzzled me is that on the CSLR pieces, it says that they’re “seeded with beneficial bacteria” and all you have to do is add it to the water and literally set it and forget it. I’ve not been able to find an answer to this question yet, but is this true or do you feel that it might just be a marketing thing? Always looking forward to new content!

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Yeah, I have read that they are filled with spored bacteria, but if that is true, which they say it is... it doesn't help in the cycle, at least not in my experience. I think it's more of an advertising gimmick personally.

[@josephposada1830]

Heavy metal is cool 😎

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Indeed! But not in rocks! But it does rock!

[@josephposada1830]

@@MyFirstFishTank I finally got the tank I wish to use for Saltwater. It's a 50 gallon Sea Clear. What do you think about Acrylic? It was a great deal. The light fixture needs help though LoL

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Acrylic is great! Lightweight and clear, it just scratches easily, so be careful!

[@mvhpets]

the fact that the first section of the video is named "hook" offends me😂

[@MyFirstFishTank]

Ha! That made me laugh!!!