Live Rock & Sand- making it alive!!

[jedchuah]

How do I know what my LFS has is Live Rock
or Live Sand.
If I have rocks and sand in the tank. and
bacteria colonise it doesn't this makes the
rock & sand live?
Or is it not the same. If I collect it from the
sea (which is 60km away) how do i distinguish
or is any sand and rock that is submerged alive?
New Marine hobbyist.

 

[kris]

While it is true that anything you use as substrata, given time will infact colonize and become "live"--I don't think that is true really of the rock, I guess it depends on what type of rock your planning on putting in there. You can almost always tell good live rock by the amount of visible corraline algae and (a good deep purple color) and some of the other things (like sponges for example growing on it). even pale looking lr however will still be great at filtering and will still have alot of "creatures" in it that you just can't see. I guess I would not collect your own, because, although it may sound silly, it can pollute your tank.
Good Luck

 

[jedchuah]

so while the deep sand bed can come alive..not so
the rock?
If I'm using sand bed don't i have to use undergravel filter to push the dirt down the sand?
Anyone, thanks

 

[nss11110]

the sand and rock will be colonized by critters in your tank giving time and become live. you can also seed you tank with some sand from a established aquarium or you can buy a boost from <a href="http://www.ipsf.com" target="_blank">www.ipsf.com</a> they sell live sand booster, which is just some sand and critters from their tanks since they are in the business. so find a friend that has a older tank or a lfs store that sells live sand or so to the web site above. dont ever take anything out of the local ocean more than likely it will have pollutants in it that could wipe out your tank.

 

[kris]

you definately don't want an undergravel with a deep sand bed. Inverts are used to "clean" your sand, and the bottom should be left undisturbed for the most part.
Good Luck