Gotta wonder, whats with LR and LS?
- Thread starter jared
- Start date
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by Jared
What's so special about them? (remember, total newbie!)
Yes, I'm ready for the laughs.
they are the exact same rocks quarried for $s/ton for construction only put is saltwater (hopefully the ocean) and sold for $s/pound. they have the bacteria. they have pores. they have life on them, but that is the actual difference.
What is so special about that. Nothing that I can see.
overanalyzer
Active Member
Originally posted by Jared
What's so special about them? (remember, total newbie!)
Yes, I'm ready for the laughs.
First - WELCOME :jumping:
Second - lets start with LS - live sand is aragonite sand that has both critters and bacteria in it .... those critters help to keep the tank clean by eating waste. The bacteria helps in breaking down ammonia and turning it into nitrate gas that is export through the 02 exchange .... basically helps keep your tank water stable.
Third - you can use play sand and seed it with some Live Sand and Lr rocks.
Fourth - Live Rock does much the same - except as Bob noted it is porous. Oh and its rocks - and hopefully it has some encrusting purple algea on it - coralline algea. It is another biological piece of filtration.
Fifth - LR serves as a home for filter feeding critters as well as corals .... those filter feeding critters are yet another form of biological filtration
HTH
kzlen
Member
welcome to SWF.com. LS has bacteria and worms, pods, LR has that and other "hitchhikers" like feather dusters or maybe starfish, snails, maybe even a baby type of coral. As a newbie Do a search for "Cycle", if you havent already. this is the first step after adding water. Its important to understand the process of the cycle.
dbgt
Member
live rock carries small animals and plants and algaes . It also has biological and dentrifying bacteria on it and inside of it.These bacteria wiil remove ammonia,nitrite,and nitrate. live sand is about the same but not as effective as live rock.they should both be used.:yes: :yes: :yes: 
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by Jared
-kzlen
Whaddya mean by that? What cycle?
Man it stinks to not know a thing about something you're interested in!
Cycle is in reference (usually) to the nitrogen cycle which uses air loving (aerobic) bacteria to convert livestock waste products to ammonia, nitrItes and then nitrAtes. When a tank is first setup ammonia rises, as more bacteria is built up the ammonia is converted to nitrItes which rise and the ammonia falls. Bacteria then starts converting the nitrItes to nitrAtes which rise as the nitrItes fall. So you have a cycle of ammonia rising and falling, then nitrItes rising and falling, and nitrAtes rising.
This is important because ammonia is extremely toxic to life, NitrItes is toxic but less to. Nitrates can be relatively high and not affect fish, but is toxic to corals and inverts.
To process the nitrAtes at the end fo the nitrogen cycle, nitrAtes are basically plant food. So you add plant life do consume those nitrAtes or you get a whole lot of ugly algaes.
Hope that helps.
overanalyzer
Active Member
Originally posted by Jared
Whew, thanx a ton!
Jared - if you wantto be successful then I'd highly suggest getting The Conscientious Marine Aquarist either buy it or get it from the library .... excellent beginers book:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=6
I'd also offer this bit of advice - take all advice offered with a grain of salt. A lot of time you see someone ask for advice and get 10 answers that all agree but the person does not like then get one that they do like and go with that - example - "Can I keep three tangs in a 30 gallon tank?" 10 people tell the person no - but one person say - they have had success doing it .... the success might be for one week, one month or one year .... does it make all previous ten people wrong - NO - does it make that person right?? NO!!! Think of it like this - if you ask if you could survive a 20 story fall with no parachute .... because one person miraculously survived does not mean everyone can .... just a word of advice ...
HTH
