live rock?

P.Olsen said:
As for the question, "what is on live rock cultivated from the ocean that does not exists on base rock which has underwent a cycle", really?? What cycle, what exactly do you think happens when you put base rock into a tank, tub, whatever? The ony thing that will happen is it will get wet, there is nothing to die off to create a cycle.
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You answered my question with a question. I am simply trying to understand what you are saying. You said that base rock will never be "live". Then you just said that cultivated rock harvested after 10 years is good live rock. That harvested rock was base rock right up to the point that they dumped it in the ocean.

So what exactly is live rock? Can base rock be seeded with live rock and over time become live? Earlier you said no, now it sounds like yes.



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jcarlilesiu said:
You answered my question with a question. I am simply trying to understand what you are saying. You said that base rock will never be "live". Then you just said that cultivated rock harvested after 10 years is good live rock. That harvested rock was base rock right up to the point that they dumped it in the ocean.

So what exactly is live rock? Can base rock be seeded with live rock and over time become live? Earlier you said no, now it sounds like yes.



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Not in an aquarium, if you drop the base/dried rock in the ocean for a few years then it is a different story and now it is cultivated and not base/dried, we are talking about putting base in a tank with a couple pcs of LR, it will NEVER happen IMO
 
So, what amount of time does rock need to be in the ocean to be considered live rock?

If I put a piece of live rock cultivated in the ocean for 10 years into an aquarium next to some base rock, what specific organisms will still reside in the live rock but not in the base rock after 10 years?

I simply don't understand your definition. Sounds more like preference to me.

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When you place the base rock in the tank with the live rock, the bacteria, pods, bristleworms, microfauna, algae(good and bad), micro brittle stars, etc from the live rock will eventually over time spread to the base rock, making it also live. It doesn't take too long, over a few months time. :)
 
I used 50 pounds of live wet rock in the center of my tank then added 150 pounds of dry rock into it. About 3 months later it was all overrun by the Coraline algae and cycled good enough to support any life i added to it, All you need to make sure you keep close eye on all parameters as in calcium,nitrite,nitrate,pH,salinity.I also keep other things set for different life in my tank but it all depends on what your keeping.Our LFS will check all parameters for free.
 
Smitty said:
When you place the base rock in the tank with the live rock, the bacteria, pods, bristleworms, microfauna, algae(good and bad), micro brittle stars, etc from the live rock will eventually over time spread to the base rock, making it also live. It doesn't take too long, over a few months time. :)
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Exactly.

Infact, I don't think that anybody would be able to tell what was the live rock, and what was the base rock in my aquarium after only a year. It all looks the same, it all has the same organisms and growth on it.

I believe that rock which has been subjected to live rock over time is refered to live rock. There is no set amount of time that stipulates that rock must be put on a reef for X years in order to be considered "live". Nor is there anything different between live rock that spent X years on a reef vs. rock that spent X years in a healthy aquarium seeded by live rock.

The term "live" is the problem here. The term should be "matured".
 
jcarlilesiu said:
Exactly.

Infact, I don't think that anybody would be able to tell what was the live rock, and what was the base rock in my aquarium after only a year. It all looks the same, it all has the same organisms and growth on it.

The term "live" is the problem here. The term should be "matured".
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I agree. :)
The lfs isn't constantly buying expensive "live" rock to sell the public, they're cultivating some base rock in the back of the store for months until it becomes "live" and then they sell it as live rock. It's another efficient way they save and make money.
I have 110lbs of live rock in my tank, but actually I only bought 10lbs of it from the store, the rest of it was dead/base rock that has become live over time.
 
Smitty said:
I agree. :)
The lfs isn't constantly buying expensive "live" rock to sell the public, they're cultivating some base rock in the back of the store for months until it becomes "live" and then they sell it as live rock. It's another efficient way they save and make money.
I have 110lbs of live rock in my tank, but actually I only bought 10lbs of it from the store, the rest of it was dead/base rock that has become live over time.
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I agree that it is live rock that they cultivated in the back of the store.

What I think P. Olsen is trying to say is that there are varying degrees of live rock and that the stuff from the ocean is the best.

I think there is some logic to that opinion. I got several kinds of live rock when setting up my tank, and one store had stuff that had obviously recently been pulled from the ocean.

Do I think that after a year in my tank, that those particular rocks are different from the base rocks I seeded, no.

Now, if you are only getting live rock that has been put into a tank to cultivate and mature that has never seen any of the organisms on some of the rocks from the ocean, then you will never get those.

That isn't however what makes live rock live. That is what makes live rock good.
 
Smitty said:
When you place the base rock in the tank with the live rock, the bacteria, pods, bristleworms, microfauna, algae(good and bad), micro brittle stars, etc from the live rock will eventually over time spread to the base rock, making it also live. It doesn't take too long, over a few months time. :)
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Agreed! :)
 
I heard tbsaltwater.com has very good quality rocks, with lots of life form. I know people who wave received good and bad hitchhikers(mantis shrimp, eels, urchins, fish, barnicles, etc) with their rock shipment.
 
kurens said:
so where is the best place to buy few pounds of live rock "pulled from ocean"??
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I picked up my live rock from Ocean Design Aquarium on Irving Park Road on the west side of the city.

Their stuff had so much growth on it of various types. It looked awesome.
 
I wad there this past weekend and they didn't have much. What they did have had a lot of life on them like sponges, mussels and other polyps.


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misenplace101 said:
I wad there this past weekend and they didn't have much. What they did have had a lot of life on them like sponges, mussels and other polyps.


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Its best to call them on the day that they get the shipment to see if it arrived. If you stop in, they can tell you approximately when the next shipment will be in, however; if storms kick up or other issues down around Florida, they can't get the rock up then the shipment is delayed.
 
sounds good.will try to step by tomorrow to find out.1-2 more weeks and i can get some water finally:)
 
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