How can you tell if live Rock is really Live???

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Live rock in the truest sense of the word is fragmented pieces of old coral reefs that broke off during storms or by wave action. These pieces then washed into shallower water where they were naturally colonized by marine life such as invertebrates, corals, sponges, and millions of beneficial nitrifying bacteria. Live rock can be found anywhere in the world's oceans where natural reefs occur. Live rock from different regions have slightly different characteristics including form, density, porosity, as well as the type of organisms that colonize them. However, all live rock is beneficial in providing supplemental biological filtration, increased biological diversity, structure, and shelter.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Live rock with different stages of algae growth.
Note all the rock you see was taken from the shore of the gulf of Mexico here in Naples sterilized and placed in my tank and allowed to colonize via the spores of an existing piece of LR


 

spanko

Active Member
Folks, this is indeed a day to live in infamy. A glimpse into the little known tank of florida joe.
Oh be still my beating heart!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful and very colorful Joe!!
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2884759
Folks, this is indeed a day to live in infamy. A glimpse into the little known tank of florida joe.
Oh be still my beating heart!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful and very colorful Joe!!
Well Henry my good friend I learned a lot from your post. Seems you do in fact have a heart or so you say. It is a prerequisite that one has a tank to be a member of the boards in as much as you assumed I did. Ok Henry these pics are for you. As you can see my photographic skills are even less then my skill level in this hobby if one can believe that possible

 

spanko

Active Member
Why thank you Joe. Very nice. The frogspawn tentacles have such a deep green color to them. Is that color true to life or a trick of the camera? Also your ric is huge, but I bet you here that from all the girls don't you?
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Henry I will go take another pic of just the frog spawn (yes it is that green) and huge I am going to frag it after the holidays. As I have never sent any corals to anyone by mail you can be the first it will be my present to you if you want PM me for details
Pic to follow
Also your ric is huge, but I bet you here that from all the girls don't you?

More like that is the smallest toadstool I have ever seen
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Here’s your pic Henry my sixline is the largest that I have ever seen so you can get a perspective on how big the frogspawn is
 

spanko

Active Member
Pretty hard to tell you what to look for as you are ordering and won't see it until you get it. Nomally a good coralline coverage, a strong clean ocean smell.
Joe the frogspawn is beautiful. How many heads is that?
 

deete

New Member
Wolf, you can't really look at a piece of rock and tell whether or not it's truly "LR" unless it has things growing on it. The est thing for you to look for would e a respectable fish store that is eager to help answer all your questions and wants you to succeed. When you find a fish store you can trust, life gets a lot easier.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Don’t get all caught up on the LR thing if I were you I would google BASE ROCK FOR AQUARIUMS you will spend a lot lest money for a lot more rock. Pick out the pieces you like as is. Brake up the others to configurations you like configure your tank and then seed them with a few pieces of established live rock in time you will have the live rock, which is to your liking
 

spanko

Active Member
Doing what Joe has suggested will help you to end up with a lot less UNDESIREABLE hitch hikers also. A more "sterile" environment to begin with.
 
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