Questions about live rock???

[Jonathan G.]

What exactly is the difference between cured, uncured, and pre-cured live rock? and what is the best selection? I hear gulf live rock has the most hitchhikers but i want something that will also grow with an assortment of colors. also one last question... do you need special lighting for the live rock to grow? Also can it spread onto base rock?

 

[Jonathan G.]

by the way thanks for the comments on my last post im getting a 75 gl tank this weekend and am gonna incorporate better lighting and add more live rock after doing so. I'll be sure to post some pictures as i progress through everything.

 

[revhtree]

What exactly is the difference between cured, uncured, and pre-cured live rock?

Cured and precured are the same. It just means that it has been cycled in the water, and has no die off. The uncured will have to go through a cycling process. Although you will still need to keep an eye on the cured LR, it is what you want to buy.

I hear gulf live rock has the most hitchhikers but i want something that will also grow with an assortment of colors.

gulf will have more hitchikers, but the keys rock has more colors. Get a mix of both.

do you need special lighting for the live rock to grow? Also can it spread onto base rock?

Although you can get by with minimal lighting to keep LR alive, I suggest you invest in some pc's for the future of the rock and corals. IMO.

 

[RMPD109]

The titles cured, precured and uncured are all relative to the rock. Just remember if there is any chance of die off you would want to cure the rock yourself(or use the ammonia spike to cycle a new tank). Gulf rock will definitely have the most hitchhikers but my rock from LR.com also had good color and it is spreading fairly quick. Just as the coralline will spread to base rock it will also spread on the gulf. I did a mix of all three(keys, gulf & base). HTH

 

[Jonathan G.]

yeah that helps a lot guys but i have one more questions before i make my purchase... You stated that you would want to get the cured kind rather un-cured. What is the benefits of cured rock and does the rocks need acclimated or do you just pick a spot and place it there?

 

[tmcpeek]

The benefits of cured rock are:

Limited die off/smell
Will not have an ammonia spike(depending on how long it was out of water after being cured)

Just have water at the SG and ph you want and put it in. I have my SG at 1.024 and ph at 8.2 . HTH