What to Look for When Buying Dry Reef Rocks

Shopping for Dry Live Rock is time consuming even if you're very familiar with this product. For someone who is new to keeping fish it can be confusing with so many choices and so many names for the same product. Dry Live Rock also goes by Dry Reef Rock and Base Rock but these are all the same thing. Knowing what to look for will make finding the best rock for your project a lot easier and give you better results.

When you're looking at Dry Rock you need to know whether or not it needs to be cured before you use it. The environment it was in decides that factor. All of our Reef Rock is mined rock and does not need to be cured. We have our own cleaning process which is a system of high pressure and hot water which makes them safe to use when they arrive with a quick rinse to remove crumbs and such that come about during shipping. 

Now for what to look for in the rock itself. When we buy Reef Rocks the first thing we look at is the size to weight ratio. A good Reef Rock is comprised mostly of argonite and calcite which makes it on the lighter side for it's size. Stay away from 
ones that are very heavy. Ones that are overly heavy probably contain a lot of clay, quartz, chert or other properties that don't have the beneficial properties calcite and argonite do.

The next thing to check for is surface features. We want Reef Rocks that have pitting, crevices, waves and pores. These are the surfaces conducive for growing
the beneficial bacteria needed for a productive Reef Tank.

Once you find a product that meets your standards you need the shapes and sizes that will let you create the Reef you probably already have in mind. We have so many shapes and sizes. If you don't see what you need to accomplish your goal, let us know and we'll show you what we have here.

In our Dry Live Aquarium Rock Gallery we have an assortment of Dry Rock by the pound, kits with assorted shapes and sizes to create a scene and some very large pieces that are 2 feet, to 4 feet long that by theirselves will make a complete Reef.