Live Rocks? Fake Rocks?

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Hi all.. hmm never really have experience with LRs b4.. well bought b4 but I suppose they should be genuine LRs.. erhm but I heard theres fake rocks in the market made to look like LRs.. how can i tell the difference? (presuming that the LRs have not been in the tank for a while...)

[dreamzcape]

I guess there's no way to truly tell...some people classify liverocks as rocks housing bacteria while others like to think of live rocks as rocks that have coralline algae, sponges, polyps...all kinds of life on in.

Some bros cure the liverocks at home until all the algae has died off and sometimes the rock can look very whitish and dead instead of nice and purple, this may mean that they are live with bacteria.

But rocks from places like coralfarm have things like mushrooms or polyps etc (the rock also houses bacteria btw) growing on them and some people prefer to get those. Also i think coral farm has it's own cultivated liverock for scaping, meaning there's bacteria and coralline but few other forms of life on it.

So bottom line is what you want your liverock to be, bacteria only or bacteria + other things.

Also, even if it's fake and put into a system and the material is porous enough...it will eventually become live.

[Achilles Tang]

There's quality liverocks, 'dead' rocks and the rest are everything in between.

Basically, quality liverocks are full of purple or reddish coralline algae, lightweight, porous, have good shape, free of parasites and nuisance macroalgae.

Dead rocks are just that... devoid of any visible life on it. Usually they look yellowish brown in colour. Being free of coralline algae, which resists diatoms, slime algae etc, means that nuisance algae usually takes stubborn hold on dead rock.

Left in saltwater for some time, they will house beneficial bacteria and can be thus defined as live rock, although... not quality grade.

Calcareous rocks are what to look out for... not granite, not sandstone or even lavarocks.

Cement rocks can probably be defined as fake rocks as these are man-made. These can be very cheap to make in quantity but add stress to cheap tanks because of their weight.

[hammy]

the term live rock refers to coral rubble colonized by marine oragnisms and cleaned for reef tank use.

its important characteristics are porosity, origin , cleaniness and what grow on it .

live rocks from around the world differ in porosity , weight and colours. florida east coast rock is lighter while highly porous Fiji rock is very light and encrusted with purple coralline .

fake rock ... hmmm.... any artificial man make rock ??

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Thanks to you guys for shedding some light on this.. so basically.. "live rocks" can be dead rocks that are porous enuff to be able to house bacteria in them after being placed in your tank..

Hmm because Im getting a huge amounts of LRs soon (80kg) .. and my current tank isnt enuff to house them... mine is a small one.. inside only 20kg and almost maxed... im not kiasu.. preparing for my new tank.. i dun wan to last min cry... erhm but my frd was asking mi to check if they are live or fake aka man-made cos i got them at fairly cheap price.. and he saez its way below market rate... and i realise its true.. i dunno how to tell the difference i think!

Another issue.. with the huge amt of rocks.. how do i store them until my tank comes? Can i leave them in the pails in the open? Was taught to fill a containment with saltwater and dump them in... eh? no need air/filtration?

Thx

[Clownfish]

Thanks to you guys for shedding some light on this.. so basically.. "live rocks" can be dead rocks that are porous enuff to be able to house bacteria in them after being placed in your tank..

Hmm because Im getting a huge amounts of LRs soon (80kg) .. and my current tank isnt enuff to house them... mine is a small one.. inside only 20kg and almost maxed... im not kiasu.. preparing for my new tank.. i dun wan to last min cry... erhm but my frd was asking mi to check if they are live or fake aka man-made cos i got them at fairly cheap price.. and he saez its way below market rate... and i realise its true.. i dunno how to tell the difference i think!

Another issue.. with the huge amt of rocks.. how do i store them until my tank comes? Can i leave them in the pails in the open? Was taught to fill a containment with saltwater and dump them in... eh? no need air/filtration?

Thx

u can try to use the large blue tubs.... with air pump to aerate the water n woould be gd to oso employ a protein skimmer to prevent too much waste build up...

if not, get ur tank first, since u need to cycle ur tank, use the liverocks to cycle ur tank lor... ur tank shld not have any livestocks within this cycling period (which could take ard 3 weeks) so u can still add liverocks within this period...

[blueheaven]

No you cannot just leave them in the open as they'll be dead in no time

Prepare some saltwater and you can place them in it

Aeration is advised and can be achieved with a small airpump

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Hmm i think i got spare airpump and containment.. but no spare protein skimmer

Erhm.. thats the prob.. the person super eager to get rid of all the LRs... and i thought it was a bargain so i grabbed them cos im a budget reefer...

[blueheaven]

You can do water changes instead but if it's just for a few days (not more than 3) then I think a protein skimmer is not really necessary

[Clownfish]

Hmm i think i got spare airpump and containment.. but no spare protein skimmer

Erhm.. thats the prob.. the person super eager to get rid of all the LRs... and i thought it was a bargain so i grabbed them    cos im a budget reefer...

i got a spare air pump driven protein skimmer, can lend u for the time being if u dun mind self collecting n self returning... PM me if u interested... alternatively, go to a neighbourhood LFS, u shld be able to see simple air pump driven protein skimmer for sale at $5 to $10... those shld suffice

[dreamzcape]

There's quality liverocks, 'dead' rocks and the rest are everything in between.

Basically, quality liverocks are full of purple or reddish coralline algae, lightweight, porous, have good shape, free of parasites and nuisance macroalgae.

Dead rocks are just that... devoid of any visible life on it. Usually they look yellowish brown in colour. Being free of coralline algae, which resists diatoms, slime algae etc, means that nuisance algae usually takes stubborn hold on dead rock.

Left in saltwater for some time, they will house beneficial bacteria and can be thus defined as live rock, although... not quality grade.

Calcareous rocks are what to look out for... not granite, not sandstone or even lavarocks.

Cement rocks can probably be defined as fake rocks as these are man-made. These can be very cheap to make in quantity but add stress to cheap tanks because of their weight.

whoah boss, thanks for sharing that bit of information...didn't know coralline resists nuisance algae...looks like it's time to seriously start dosing in my tank then.