Live rock has varely any life

[4127john]

I I bought live rock from petco about two months ago. But I was wondering when live rock starts to show more life. I had Copepods and that's it. Now the pods are gone.

 

[TheTodd]

The stuff I see at Petco usually looks pretty plain to me. Almost looks like the rounded up some lava rock, threw it in their tanks and upped the price. Im not sure that will ever have much going on. The stuff at my LFS usually looks totally different. Coralline growing all over and sometimes you can see other stuff (critters, sponges, anemones, etc).

Years ago, I had a reef and it seemed like new stuff was popping up all the time, even months later. I always bought pieces that looked like they had lots already on them.

 

[Mr. Crabs]

There's a lot of different kinds of live rock. Florida Maricultre usually has tons of growth all over it that is visible. Much of what makes rock "live" is not really seen.

Usually, the heavily grown rock with lots of macro algaes and even small corals come at a higher price. It might be easier on the wallet if you get a bunch of base rock like Marco rock, then throw in some choice pieces of the premium stuff to seed and spread the visible life. Otherwise, you might be disappointed in expecting something that will never come on Petco Live Rock- I think it might be Fiji that they sell.

 

[pairenoid]

i got cured fiji rock, although a lt of die off from 5 day shipping probably

after 3 months i notice a lot of anemones, sponges, weird colors on rock. All of it is white in color mainly, cept a red polyp and possibly a black polyp. I also had a bristle worm in my first week but havent seen it since, prob either dead or living under my rocks

 

[4127john]

I'm gonna try to buy three pounds of live rock from lfs. 10.00 per pound

 

[Tkh]

Ouch, that's pricey! Have you considered some of the online options? I was recommended bulkreefsupply.com in another thread (3-4 / lb) and i was looking at another online option that farmed their own off the coast of Florida (environmentally concious option which appealed to me) at a similar cost, but the bookmark is on my home computer.

At $10 / lb, I would just recommend looking at your other options before paying that much! Good luck eithier way!

 

[4127john]

Thing is is that I don't equipment to filter out the die off from rock if I order online

 

[nikki_kaiser]

Thing is is that I don't equipment to filter out the die off from rock if I order online

Buy a few pounds of live rock and add base rock (dry rock) as the remainder. Over a few months bacteria will grow and spread to the base rock as well and it all becomes "live rock". It's cheaper and you will have no die off.

 

[Tkh]

You can cure the rocks in a bucket with a heater essentially, from what I have read at least (new to this stuff, so others opinions much appreciated as well). At 1/3 the price - this would be a good motivator, for me at least, to find a way to re-cure the rock yourself. Niki is correct by the way, just use 40% live or so to seed, or if you are more patient, you could go with less even. Good luck!

 

[4127john]

I have base rock in my tank but i don't add additives to my tank so no purple rock

 

[Mrc8858]

For the most part petcos tanks are not established more like holding tanks.. their rock is also diffrent then most "lr" as like stated already I believe its just lava rock or other types that are similar sold as lr just for the bacteria and nothing else. You don't need any live rock to start a sw tank but imo the best way to do it is build your scape out of baserock and then add one or two nice pieces of live rock and in a few months it'll all look the same. Usually the more pourous the rock the more hitchhikers you'll fine too as they have more hiding spots but don't underestimate all those little critters lol.. some people will go years without adding anything and one day something just "pops up" haha.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I have base rock in my tank but i don't add additives to my tank so no purple rock

You will get coralline to spread from adding some pieces with it but holy cow it does take a while! LOL!

 

[nikki_kaiser]

You can cure the rocks in a bucket with a heater essentially, from what I have read at least (new to this stuff, so others opinions much appreciated as well). At 1/3 the price - this would be a good motivator, for me at least, to find a way to re-cure the rock yourself. Niki is correct by the way, just use 40% live or so to seed, or if you are more patient, you could go with less even. Good luck!

<----tried this as an "experiment" ONE TIME and will never do it again! LOL! It was a horrid experiment! It was a lot of work changing the water out and testing it and I used uncured live rock that smelled like DEATH and rott! Go with base rock! LOL!

 

[Tkh]

Lol, thank you for saving me the headache and embarrasment of that Nikki! Deathly smell, eh... Whew, not sure my tiny apartment would have enjoyed that at all... Or my neighbors for that matter...

 

[bonniewoodruff]

I got some from bulk reef supply and then a little live rock from my lfs. I hear the other(dry rock)will be live in no time and for a lot less money. You can check on here there is usually someone doing a group buy, can save you some money. You will need the saved money... this is an expensive hobby. Good luck!

 

[nikki_kaiser]

Lol, thank you for saving me the headache and embarrasment of that Nikki! Deathly smell, eh... Whew, not sure my tiny apartment would have enjoyed that at all... Or my neighbors for that matter...

Haha! You're welcome! Lot's of people do it but OMG...it's just NOT the best experience! My next experiment is to try and make my own base rock! Heard it was pretty easy and I've been reading up on "how to". I need another 40-50 lbs of rock and I think this can save me a ton of money.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

I got some from bulk reef supply and then a little live rock from my lfs. I hear the other(dry rock)will be live in no time and for a lot less money. You can check on here there is usually someone doing a group buy, can save you some money. You will need the saved money... this is an expensive hobby. Good luck!

+1...all your rock will become live rock after a few months. Also, (this is an opinion) don't waste money on "live sand". That will become "live" as well. Just stick to the dry aragonite and you should be money!