what live rock is the best

[NWhoric]

well i couldn't find a live rock forum so i just added something here. what are peoples preferences to the different types of LR out there??? i know there are alot of different kinds and i was jw which was one of the better ones to have? right now i have mainly fiji

thanks for the help guys

Nathan

[Geoff]

the larger and lighter the LR the better. whether it is base rock or actually LR i do not think that it matters. i prefer to have all base rock less annoying critters being added to your tank. also being that fresh LR is taken from lagoonal areas, they tend to already be full of phosphates.

G~

[NWhoric]

so you are basically sayin get stuff thats been in tank for a while instead of the fresh stuff.... alittle confused..

[Geoff]

pretty much. all you want out of the LR is the bacteria. the rest of the stuff is not necessary for keeping a reef tank. i used 99% base rock for my tank. back before all of this silly sand bed stuff started LFS would actually have multiple vats of LR. one for the new stuff that just came in, and another full of cured LR that they would sell. the new stuff was so full of phosphates and dying matter that. nothing has changed about the LR it is just people for some reason think that all of the dying matter and phosphates is useful now.

G~

[NWhoric]

Originally Posted by Geoff

pretty much. all you want out of the LR is the bacteria. the rest of the stuff is not necessary for keeping a reef tank. i used 99% base rock for my tank. back before all of this silly sand bed stuff started LFS would actually have multiple vats of LR. one for the new stuff that just came in, and another full of cured LR that they would sell. the new stuff was so full of phosphates and dying matter that. nothing has changed about the LR it is just people for some reason think that all of the dying matter and phosphates is useful now.

G~

hmm thats weird. ok now thats settled. what type do u like i.e. fiji, lalo, tonga deep water, Melanesian Live Rock, Caribbean Live Rock, normally when im buyin i try to get the best lookin stuff for the cheapest price. cant remeber if ive asked u before but whats the best way to make/cure ur own rock?

[Geoff]

the best way to cure LR is to stick it in a large tub with SW and a lot of flow. every week or so siphon out the detritus that will collect on the bottom. that is all that is necessary to cure LR. this is all that was going on back in the early 90's. the LR was not even lit back then. it was in huge plywood tanks in the back of the store. you would just start pulling chucks out and weighing them if you liked them. back then 90% of all LR was caribbean.

i would honestly look at base rock. significantly cheaper and you have very little curring needed depending on the condition. it seems there are a few places out there that sell unwanted LR. they dry it out then sell it to you as base rock. nothing wrong with this except some of it could need significant curing to get all of the phosphates out. this could also be true of any "fresh" LR you could get.

several people are getting something called Marco rock or something like that. check in the General Discussion forum to make sure i have the name right. these seem to be a mixed bag of unwanted dried LR. they are very inexpensive and people seem to like thier shapes and porocity.

in most cases Fiji rock seemed to be the less dense.the lighter and larger the rock the better.

G~

[NWhoric]

ok. yea i got a good friend who is goin tear down a few of his tanks so ill be gettin some good rock from him. but i am goina try to cultivate some of my own. do i need to place a few pieces of already cured rock with the plane rock to get it start?

[Geoff]

you can, that is fine. you can even just add a bit of pure ammonia to the tank to get the cycle started. i used a small rock with some sponges i liked to get mine started along with a couple of doses of ammonia.

G~

[slamdorf]

I actually buy my live rock from GARF.com... this stuff is great and you can pick and choose what you like... it is actually way cheaper then in pet stores, and i think it is much better... the only problems with it is, some people like their rock cured, i dont. I think it is better uncured, but it runs a risk of bristle worms, which from this rock, i have never had a problem with it... check out GARF.com.. i think it will give you an idea of the different rock, even if you dont buy it there.
-samantha

[DarthOcellaris]

If you wanna save cash, find a reefer selling their LR. One bonus is that it's already cycled

[slamdorf]

OOPS!!! sorry about the last post, it is actually GARF.org...

if you cant find the live rock info, email the guy or call him... he is really nice and really helpful

[DarthOcellaris]

You're not talking about the aragocrete are you? I'm skeptical about that stuff. Concrete has tons of phosphate in it.

[slamdorf]

No, Im definately not talking about that stuff... I am skeptical of it too... I would not suggest it. This guy actually dives for the rock himself and has it right from the ocean... he cures some and some has all the living things from the ocean on them.. as I said... it is to the person's preference weather they want cured or uncured.

[slamdorf]

PS. good luck with that site andy!

[DarthOcellaris]

Originally Posted by slamdorf

PS. good luck with that site andy!

Hey, thanks! I work on it in my spare time I program all day at work and then try to have a normal life LOL It's fun though.