waterdogjenn
Member
Want to reuse my rock from last set up 1.5 yrs ago at that time it was live. My tank is going to be fish only for now. Will it eventualy become live or should I buy all new live rock?
rock ?
- Thread starter waterdogjenn
- Start date
V
vince-1961
Guest
The absence of hitchhikers, which I think are SUPER-COOL, is the only drawback to using D.I.Y. rock.
waterdogjenn
Member
Thank you for the reply! that realy saves me some money 
V
vince-1961
Guest
Not to belabor the obvious, but.....
Rock is useful in the tank only because it houses bacteria. The bacteria so housed cleans the water.
Rock also provides a home for myriad critters in the ocean, what we here call "hitchhikers." Some hitchhikers are good for our tanks, some are bad; but, IMHO, they are all fascinating.
Lastly, rock also provides a home for algae, coraline or otherwise, which adds color (one way or another) to our tanks.
The more porous the rock, the more bacteria it can house. The more holes, nooks and crannies it has, the more hitchhikers it might, or might not, house (if it came out of the ocean recently enough and under such circumstances as will allow the hitchhikers to survive long enough to make it to our tanks still alive - as opposed to WaterDogJen's rock which has been dry for so long.) The more surface area exposed to light, the more algae.
... and lastly and most obviously, the more it weighs, the more expensive it is to purchase. A dense rock of a given size weighs more than a more porous rock of the same size.
Rock is useful in the tank only because it houses bacteria. The bacteria so housed cleans the water.
Rock also provides a home for myriad critters in the ocean, what we here call "hitchhikers." Some hitchhikers are good for our tanks, some are bad; but, IMHO, they are all fascinating.
Lastly, rock also provides a home for algae, coraline or otherwise, which adds color (one way or another) to our tanks.
The more porous the rock, the more bacteria it can house. The more holes, nooks and crannies it has, the more hitchhikers it might, or might not, house (if it came out of the ocean recently enough and under such circumstances as will allow the hitchhikers to survive long enough to make it to our tanks still alive - as opposed to WaterDogJen's rock which has been dry for so long.) The more surface area exposed to light, the more algae.
... and lastly and most obviously, the more it weighs, the more expensive it is to purchase. A dense rock of a given size weighs more than a more porous rock of the same size.