Best Live Rock?

[RAV-65]

Hi all...

how do I tell which live rock is better?

The more patched of pink/purple the better?

Thanxs!!

Vincent Ho

[hippo]

Is hard to differentiate which LR is better. As the basic foundation of LR is the micro-organism and bacteria living within it. Some good, some bad.

Heard that Fiji LR carries more beneficial bacteria than other LR. Dun know whether true or not.

Red, purple and green patch appear on the LR is corallin algae. They algae to prevent unwanted hair algae. As well as its nice colouring, provide the natural look for the aquarium. Yes, the more the better!

But it require calcium and lighting for its growth.

[hippo]

The beneficial bacteria are aerobic and anerobic bacteria - to remove toxic ammonia and nitrite and lesser toxic, nitrate.

Search the forum to find more info.

Cheers.

[RAV-65]

Thanxs Hippo,

so is it safe to say that the more LR in my tank the better? of course the rocks are of good quality hopefully...

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

no such thing as good, bad, best or whatever liverocks one lah. (=

a rock is a rock at the end of the day. the similarities end there however. now you got to factor in the shape ah, the live forms that come with or without it ah, the algae on it lah, the price lah. blah blah blah. (=

and yes the more liverock in your tank, the better. they are the best form of filtration at the end of the day! (=

[Matt06]

I guess it should be asked this way "Which live rock is the most beautiful" Answer is: "Fiji" (and most expensive!!!), worth buying!!!

[ah^siao]

yes.. get fuji liverock... u wun regret... goood quality

[terryansimon]

its fiji and not fuji.

[RAV-65]

Hmm...

didn't know the LR so impt, too late for my 2 feet tank now... coz dun wan to upset the water and sand too much, but when i upgrade to 3 feet or four feet I know I have better pick the more "colourful " rocks....

Thanxs everyone!!

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

normal rocks will also become more colourful over time. don't be surprise that the rocks you pick out now, the ones with colour, will bleach during the cycling process.

my rocks has a few white patches as I speak. oh well. not fretting now. I know it'll grow back over time. (=

[RAV-65]

Terryansimon,

alrite... really gotta thank you, u have answered quite a number of my queries in my other posts...

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

glad to be of any assistance.

beats being accused of trying to chalk up postings. *mutters*

[RAV-65]

Terryansimon

I understand wat u mean.... but i tink 2000+ posts is amazing by any means, not dat i'm trying to "por" anyone.... must say that whenever i post some query, u always try to give me some advice....

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

aiyah. I gained a lot of posts from my own thread regarding my own tank and also asking many ridiculous questions. and a lot of the talk ###### sing song threads in the kopitiam folder.

you think this is good? hohoho. I heard before the serve went down, there were people with much more posts to their names.

it does help when you are a student on holidays with nothing better to do than learn more about fishes and helping people along the way. (=

[RAV-65]

Btw,

dunno if i see wrongly, but my hermit crab seems to be attacking my clam?!

Does it happen?

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

now that I don't know how to help.

[RAV-65]

hmmm...

is dat something the hermit crab does? attacking clams? i took the guy out and threw him in another part of the tank... hopefully he doesn't come back and attack my clam again....

Vincent Ho

[terryansimon]

threw him into another part? as in within the same tank? whatever for?!

that bugger has legs too you know. unless you threw it into ANOTHER tank. (=

[Cookiemunster]

erhm actually I have to disagree that a rock is a rock. Some rocks are more rocky than other rocks and live rocks are a totally different ball.

Ok seriously. When you are buying dead rocks or base rocks you dun really need to care how they look like. As long as they are cured without dead patches of sponge or bad smell due to decaying matter.

However when it comes to live rocks, its true the organisms which make it live cannot be seen (aerobic and anerobic...meaning oxygen and non oxygen), but if you are spending money to buy a rock make sure you try to get as much pink/red/purple coralline as possible. The most expensive rocks are those that are fully encrusted with coralline algae. It is important because these prevent nuisance algae from having a chance to grow on the rocks. And its a safe indication that the rocks are quality rocks which really come from the sea or have been in a marine environment for at least 4months. And these coralline algae help to seed the tank to encourage the growth of more coralline algae.

Using rocks of low quality, ie plain greyish looking rocks with lots of green algae growth can be harmful to a new tank as these can help to introduce and spread nuisance algae. And they are of no use at all to a cycling tank as most likely they have not been in the water long enough (thats why they are grey) and hence do not have enough 'live' growing in it. In a live rock, every kind of organism counts. Not just the bacteria. You will find copepods, brittle stars, snails, crabs, and other unidentifiable slugs, worms etc. All these contribute to the start of a cycling process and aquarium as they each also play a part in multiplying and reproducing to stock other rocks and the sand bed with the life needed for a biological process to start.

If it were simply bacteria rocks you wanted, you can just use dead rocks and grow the aerobic and anerobic by starting a decaying process using a dead prawn. They would be no different from a tower of ceramic rings and bioballs.

That is how the cycling process can be speeded up if you know what to do. Seeding with quality live rocks and live sand is a good method.

[AquaRa]

no such thing as good, bad, best or whatever liverocks one lah. (=

a rock is a rock at the end of the day. the similarities end there however. now you got to factor in the shape ah, the live forms that come with or without it ah, the algae on it lah, the price lah. blah blah blah. (=

and yes the more liverock in your tank, the better. they are the best form of filtration at the end of the day! (=

u're wrong, they are good and bad live rocks. how about me giving you a piece of live rock with no coraline algae and 1 with coraline algae? which 1 will u choose. the natural human instinct will make u choose the latter 1, this supports my first statement. anyway, no matter which rock u chose, u have made a choice between 2 different rocks. therefore, there are good and bad ones, because u chose.

if u say there are no good or bad live rocks, then why would there be differing prices?

[AquaRa]

hmmm...

is dat something the hermit crab does? attacking clams? i took the guy out and threw him in another part of the tank... hopefully he doesn't come back and attack my clam again....

Vincent Ho

certain animals that tend to 'crawl' about,will tend to disturb your clams

[terryansimon]

u're wrong, they are good and bad live rocks. how about me giving you a piece of live rock with no coraline algae and 1 with coraline algae? which 1 will u choose. the natural human instinct will make u choose the latter 1, this supports my first statement. anyway, no matter which rock u chose, u have made a choice between 2 different rocks. therefore, there are good and bad ones, because u chose.

if u say there are no good or bad live rocks, then why would there be differing prices?

please read my statement properly.

I said a rock is a rock. the similarities end there.

isn't that the case? coraline encrusted or not? its still a rock at the end of the day. but the similarities end at the rock itself. from there, its a whole different ball game.

in case you are blind, let me make it highlighted to you.

a rock is a rock at the end of the day. the similarities end there however. now you got to factor in the shape ah, the live forms that come with or without it ah, the algae on it lah, the price lah. blah blah blah. (=

[nicholasloh]

Vincent, those rocks with small gaps and holes are better cos they usually carry shrimps and stuff.

once, i got a shrimp worth $10 in the rock.

but be careful of brittle stars

[darren]

you might want to get the more porous ones. sometimes its not really the cheaper the price per kg, the more you save. some of the pricier rocks are lighter. you actually save more if you buy the more expensive ones.

[IanJ]

Finally

The best live rock tends to be the most porous.

It can be Fiji, Indonesian or other. Look for light porous pieces, this allows maximum filtration capability. Whether its heavily covered in purple coralline is secondary, this grows over time.