Live Rock Comparison

[ClamKnuckle]

I did a quick search, but did not find much, but forgive me if this has been answered 100 times already....
What are the major differences between say fiji and caribbean live rock? The fiji is less dense which would make it better? Just curious

 

[JoeMomma]

Generally fiji rock is purple-coralline coated and porous. It is generally considered the most common type. I dont really know about caribbean rock. I do know that there is gulf and tonga rock, which are both different from fiji. Gulf is often extremely heavily populated with organisms, including crabs and mantis shrimp, and requires a lot of curing (try http://tbsaltwater.com/). Tonga is either in branch or shelf (flat) form, and it, like gulf, is denser than fiji.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

Filtration wise, does anyone think that one works better then the other?

 

[Ira]

take a look at marshall rock - unique shapes - porous

 

[1neondottyback]

Different type of rock will of course come from different parts of the world, which often means different colors of coralline algae and sponges. Gulf of Mexico rock from what I have read has more red sponges...Florida rock is lighter than Mexican but Fiji seems to be the best in the fact that it is lighter so you get more rock for the price and the color is deeper purple and not the pink color that looks like Pepto. Tonga is some of the oldest coral heads that have broken off and died long ago and are found in very deep water. More expensive and has the most diversity in color when it comes to coralline. Any thing from yellow green and red to purple.

 

[GrndHog]

I just read an article that the more porus the rock is the more surface the water travels over the rock the more filtration you will get from that rock.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/feature/index.htm

 

[1neondottyback]

That is exactly what you should be looking for, it's like bio balls. The more surface area the more beneficial the rock. Some base rock is smooth but takes up alot of area, so you don't have to spend a fortune covering the bottom level. The more interesting the piece of rock the more expensive the cost usually.

 

[quarryshark]

I have both fiji and caribbean rock in my tank. I like the fiji for its filtering properties and I like the caribbean because it is shelf rock and had a lot of caves, places for fish and critters to reside in.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

The LR i got with the tank I just bought looks to be a mixture of Caribbean and Fiji. I also ordered some from LR.com too, which will arrive tomorrow. I wasn't sure if i was going to go with them or with more Fiji, but I figured they're a sponsor and I've read about a million good posts about them so I would give them a shot