What is live rock
- Thread starter JKO
- Start date
live rock is rock that has life on it. (I know.. a circular definition). Live rock is usually rock that is pulled out of the ocean and sent to you or your lfs. It contains many creatures both big and small that help with filtration and adds beauty to the tank. It is usually porous carbonate rock. Sometimes they are pieces of limestone that has been tossed in the gulf of mexico for many years. Sometimes they are coral skeletons that have been covered in mud, algae, etc that is removed from the pacific ocean. Walt Smith, the largest distributor of Pacific rock has more information on live rock here:
http://www.waltsmith.com/news/about_live_rockandsand.html
The two online distributors of florida aquacultured live rock are:
http://www.gulf-view.com/
http://www.tbsaltwater.com/
Hope this helps
http://www.waltsmith.com/news/about_live_rockandsand.html
The two online distributors of florida aquacultured live rock are:
http://www.gulf-view.com/
http://www.tbsaltwater.com/
Hope this helps
As above, live rock is the porous carbonate rock that makes up reefs. It contains a variety of bacteria that live in it's numerous multisized holes and perform aerobic biofiltration near the surface of the rock and anaerobic further towards the middle. It may hopefully also be the home for sponges polyps, crabs, copepods, worms and many other creatures usually good, occasionally bad. It's usually a good source of algaes (desirable) as well.
It's the easiest way to et good filtration and is the centre of what's known as the 'Berlin system' , along with protein skimming. It's used in both reefs and Fish Only w/ Live Rock (FOWLR).
When it's transported , stuff sually dies, the rotting off and cleaning process is called curing, and should not be done in the display as it can be grim.
Many people buy their live rock over the internet, but I feel this can be a bit dodgy for the begining aquarist, especially those with a small tank. If you;re buying 50 pounds plus it's worth it BUT 1. You can't see what you're buying, 2. A lot of larger orgabisms will likely die. If you only want 10 pounds for example for your 10 gallon, accept the cost and buy what you can see. That's just my opinion, but there's a lot of good and not so good rock out there. Plus you better like the shape, aquascaping because it's not clever to keep shhifting it round.
There several grades, I went to a shop that I think is awful (their fish die too often) last week , but they had the best rock I'd ever seen, even with button polyps, blue sponges, they wanted about 22 dollars a kilo, for a small tank I'd have bought it though
It's the easiest way to et good filtration and is the centre of what's known as the 'Berlin system' , along with protein skimming. It's used in both reefs and Fish Only w/ Live Rock (FOWLR).
When it's transported , stuff sually dies, the rotting off and cleaning process is called curing, and should not be done in the display as it can be grim.
Many people buy their live rock over the internet, but I feel this can be a bit dodgy for the begining aquarist, especially those with a small tank. If you;re buying 50 pounds plus it's worth it BUT 1. You can't see what you're buying, 2. A lot of larger orgabisms will likely die. If you only want 10 pounds for example for your 10 gallon, accept the cost and buy what you can see. That's just my opinion, but there's a lot of good and not so good rock out there. Plus you better like the shape, aquascaping because it's not clever to keep shhifting it round.
There several grades, I went to a shop that I think is awful (their fish die too often) last week , but they had the best rock I'd ever seen, even with button polyps, blue sponges, they wanted about 22 dollars a kilo, for a small tank I'd have bought it though
As said, ordering live rock on the internet is really only worthwhile if you purchase it in relatively large amounts. I've found the best deals on live rock from other local reefers. See if your area has a local reef club, or post on any of the FS/Trade forums on the many fish websites. I was able to purchase 110 pounds of live rock, plus fish and corals for $100 in two separate deals. Great description of live rock Wayne!