live rock

[ukpoduk]

hi all
im just starting on a nano reef and im looking for live rock

what makes good quality line rock?

i go to about 4 lfs regular and have differnt prices for the rock,

imo best quality live rock has lots of life on it ie mni inverts and algae

the trouble is the lr that the lfs are selling have nothing on them or just a little red/ bown algae


am i expecting too much or am i right, i dont want to waste my money on low quality

 

[BIGgourami]

most of the stuff that you can see is knocked off when shipped. i just bought some, when about a month passed i got some really coolred algea and grass algea and buble alge growing and this one thing that my crabs wont touch but looks cool, i like it. buy a little to start with (it's only for a ten gal anyway) and wait a while. if it doesn't work then take some of a friends lr that you like.

 

[chrisdef15]

Yeah its really hard to tell. Try looking for rocks with obvious good stuff on them but thats not always possible. If the rocks you can get are just covered with algae you probably wont get any free corals or anything as they would probably already of been smothered but it doesnt really mean its bad live rock.
The main "goodness" of live rock is just the microscopic bacteria which would happily still be living in and on the rock.
The next things would be pods and worms and stuff and with the dirty bird sh*t filled rockpools they can live in i would think they should be fine in just some algae covered rocks.
The worst thing with crappy dirty looking rocks is there may be alot of dead stuff in and on them which will make your cycle take longer.

 

[BIGgourami]

also aptastia anenomes. they are almost impossible to get rid of in a ten gal.
I HATE EM!!!!

 

[WeeNe858]

most rocks that are cured will lose the growth/algae. the best way is to smell the rock.. if it smells clean (you can tell ) then its good.. if you cant hold it to your nose for 3 whiffs then its not ready. the more surface area the better but it really doesint matter.. rock is rock .. just go with what you like visually

 

[djmurray]

When buying Live Rock you may get great piece or not so great...I bought some and got inverts, Tube worms and even little anomie's so its really about the ''stuff'' growing on the rock my best LR is Malaysia or Kenya the Malaysia is better...But in order to create a good system there needs to be plenty of LR

 

[ziggy2]

What's a good price for LR?

 

[ziggy2]

Hey, I finally made 100 posts.