RR i think we agree to disagree on some topics. the blue legs, scarlets, sally lightfoots, emeralds, red legs, peppermints, scarlet cleaner shrimp, and the snails are all great at cleaning up any waste in a tank. that is true, but a starfish is a bad idea. most of the stars will eat everything you want to keep on your live rock. they will munch away all day long and deplete your live rock. only the blue stars are the common stars that should be kept in a reef tank. as for the rock. uncured is rock taken directly from the ocean and still has sponges, corals, bristle worms, mantis shrimp, pistol shrimp, other worms, clams, etc on it, along with extremely beneficial bacteria. when the rock is transferred most of the sponges and corals die and will produce an ammmonia spike when you place it in your tank. again, if you have the proper inverts they will likely go to town on these dying items. also the uncured stuff has a lot of algae growth, not only coralline, but micro and macro algae. the cured rock is cured to clean it of all these "pests" and dying items. the death is cleaned off and the "pests" can be removed by placing the rock in very saline water. the rock is then kept in a vat where it is allowed to "cure" over a short period of time where the death leaves the rock and the coralline even begins to fade. the good cured rock that we all like has coralline that will spread like wild fire once it is placed back under the proper lighting. live rock itself can provide enough filtration to keep your tank self sufficient without evenusing a wet/dry. it is a natural filtering process that is tremendously beneficial to the saltwater aquarium. if you want high quality water conditions and the ability to add almost any kind of fish or amount of fish to your tank you should definately go the live rock route. uncured is fine for a new tank, cured is the route to go if you have an established tank with fish and corals already in it. sorry to be long winded there
