Does LR age like wine?

[RLG2182]

I called LFS for live sand quotes, and they said their "cured" fuji has been cycling for 3+ or so weeks. Made sure to pick it up, doesn't smell one bit, and looks good.

I have one particular LFS that has nice LR for $5.99/lb (local, so no need to ship) that was taken from a larger tank that was run for 4 years. Assuming both rocks were taken care of the same, is either of them "better"?

(other lfs has LR for $3.99/lb & $4.50/lb for the "younger" ones)

 

[tmcpeek]

Kind of depends on the diversity of the tank it was in. Rock from established reef tank would be nicer than something from a curing container. Once they are both in the tank for a while it would be hard to tell them apart. I added 150 lbs of live rock on my 180 lbs of base rock about a month ago and the base rock is already starting to get coralline and shrooms on it. I don't know if shroms move but there are some on all of my base rock now. Maybe it is my decorator crab??

 

[foma2000]

well. you defenatly cant go wrong with the one that has been in the tank for 4 years but it shouldn't take much more then 3 weeks to cure live rock, its almost defenatly gone through its cycle already. so i would just go with the cheeper stuff. although you should look at it closly and see which has more life on it. the 4 year rock might have more growth.
if the pictures above are the live rock you are talking about, i would go with the stuff in the third picture (reef 001.jpg), it just looks more colorfull

 

[lando]

Go with ever looks best to you. LR in a tank, over time, will develope great coraline color and growth as well as some different corals like sponges. It really depends on the lighting and water parameters the rock was subject to in the tank. I would agree that LR from an established reef would look better then something right out of the curing bin.

 

[RLG2182]

Good points

Was just concerned comparing rock to garden soil: after a while soil loses it's "potency" to grow life. Guess that's not the case with LR

What I'll probably just do is buy 10-20 lbs of the older stuff, and see if I can get some base rock or "newer" cured rock and see if it'll seed it. Just need to know what kind of lighting I need.

I know there are tons of forums out there for lighting... could anyone possibly direct me to any that might list the names of the anenomes & leathers and such and how much light they need? (rather than posting a brand new tired thread about lighting).


Thanks!

~Rob