FO tank turning to FOWLR

[gswarri0rfan]

Hey everyone! I have decided to add Live rock to my currently cycling FO tank. I already bought a couple of pounds of LR. I will be adding more in the next few weeks or so. I have some questions about live rock. How do you differentiate live rock from regular rock?
Is it ok to put an ordinary aquarium rock with live rock?
Do you always get creatures with the live rock? Mine seems pretty clean. It looks like its been cured well enough because it does not have any stink to it at all. I do not see any worms or pods on it.
What is more important the size of the rock or the weight?

I know I was planning before to just have a FO tank, but I was told by many people including some from this forum that some live rock is better than having none. I am starting to get hooked with my new sw tank. Again thanks for helping out a newbie

 

[Niisan9178]

I'm not really confident enough in my own knowledge to answer most of those questions, but for
"What is more important the size of the rock or the weight?"
you're going to be looking for most surface area to be in contact with the water (i.e. not half buried in your substrate if you plan to have it).
Again this is just what I was taught, if I'm wrong some one please correct me.

 

[JGoslee]

Try to buy all your live rock at one time. Even if its cured your still most likely going to have a mini cycle. If you add a little at a time your tank could have a mini cycle every time you add more rock.

I have some questions about live rock. How do you differentiate live rock from regular rock?

Live rock is full of marine life and beneficial bacteria. Regular rock is just rock.

Is it ok to put an ordinary aquarium rock with live rock?

Sure you can put ordinary aquarium rock in but it may not work to well and it might look out of place. You could always buy some base rock. Base rock is basically live rock that is allowed to dry out. Its sold dry and is alot cheaper than live rock. I started my 90gal with 50lbs of live rock and 50lbs of base rock. Its been about 2 years and I can't tell the difference between the base and the live.

Do you always get creatures with the live rock? Mine seems pretty clean. It looks like its been cured well enough because it does not have any stink to it at all. I do not see any worms or pods on it.

Yes you will always get marine life with live rock unfortunately you will lose some of it during the curing process.

What is more important the size of the rock or the weight?

The size is more important. The more pores the rock is the more life it can hold. The more dense the rock is the more expensive it will be.
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