is the rock i just bought live?

[curiouslil12000]

i bought 36 pounds of rock from an online seller who informed me it was tahiti white live rock.
i got the rock home and inspected it and its completely white with some sand stuck to it.
i dont see any coloring to it and the seller told me this rock was in an aquarium for over a year with fish.
is this rock live?
im not usre what to look for since im new to this stuff.
ive also put in some rock i had gathered from a beach in mexico that has red almost pink spots on it does that mean its live?

[Zer0]

Pictures of both the rocks will be help us to identify if it is or not.. but generally when something is completely white, then it's like being bleached/dead. But that does not mean it IS dead. It could just be that there's no coralline or algae growth on the rocks. Only.. i would think that if that rock was in an aquarium for a year maybe more, there would EASILY be algae and corraline growth, definitely algae.

Pictures would be best though.

[curiouslil12000]

first picture is of a piece of rock i brought back from mexico that has the red spotting on it and some pieces have alot of it on them.
he other picture is of the rock that i bought today

[thincat]

Was the rock completely dry when you got it. If so, then anything live on it, mostly bacteria is dead.

[curiouslil12000]

it was wet when i bought it.
as for the other rock i got from the beach in mexico what is the red spots?
i got it directly out of water and it stayed wet when i came back with it in a bag

[Mitchell0605]

The rock on the left looks like it has some life on it but the other looks dead.

[Zer0]

The red spots on the rock from mexico are most likely traces of corraline, if it's even still alive..

[curiouslil12000]

how will i know if its still alive?
sorry for all the questions but im new to this and want to make sure i do everything right since its an expensive hobby

[Zer0]

Well, you can't really tell.. not any ways that i know of. But i think if it's completely dead its color will start to fade. Not sure on this one.

[Aquarium1]

Even if it's dead, it will eventually become live.

[curiouslil12000]

what kind of corals can i put in my tank with an 18watt coral sun bulb?

[Mitchell0605]

Yeah. What you do is place it all in, get it how you like, in some nice aquascape then place a raw cocktail shrimp in the tank to begin the cycle.

As for lights, not my thing. lol Ask me about the critters.

[curiouslil12000]

cocktail shrimp?
i dont understand what you mean lol

[Aquarium1]

The shrimp that ppl eat that are in the deli and freezer aisle. Get some raw shrimp and you put them in your filter to create an ammonia source to cycle your tank. After about two weeks test at least daily with a liquid test kit until ammonia and nitrite are 0. I'm guessing that 18w is a normal fluorescent? You can't really grow anything coral wise with that. You'll need to get atleast pc or t5 lighting fixture to keep coral.

[Mitchell0605]

+1 Nice A1.

[melosu58]

What size tank are we talking here?

[cmor1701d]

What size tank?
What are you using to filter the tank?

[curiouslil12000]

im using a fluval filter for up to 100gal and the lighting is 18watt coral sun.
the tank size is 35

[Kristall-99]

for good coral growth you want anywhere from 2-3watts per gallon for softies and usually in the range of 5-6wpg for hard corals.

But of course i could be way off aswell

[Aquarium1]

how long is the tank, from one side to another?