Why is live rock so preferred for filtration?

[betta splendens]

Another reason live rock is used are all the tiny organisms you recive on the live rock. For me at least, I would have bought live rock even if there were no filter benifits just to get all the cool algea, sponges, and invertibrate life quality live rock will hold.

 

[Jstdv8]

liverock also looks natural in the tank. It has all the benifits of a sponge and still able to hold corals and stack and look pretty.
It's all about surface area, the more porus the LR the better it is at doing its job.

 

[venarius]

Think of it this way...

The more nooks and crannies your water system has, the better. In Freshwater and Saltwater, all nice filter systems use 'bio-whatever'... which is a fancy word for pourous material for bacteria to grow in.

Live Rock fulfills that same criteria.

Add to that... it helps decorate the tank. And Gives your fish valued Hiding places so they feel safe...

And its a win win.

 

[garyfla]

Hi
Setup my first SW in 1971 and used UG filters lol Boy was it tough to get stock and info!! Of course the greatest advance in SW was the frameless tank no more putty and rusting frames!!! And they were MUCH cheaper also.
I feel that with LR is the preferred method just from looking at others tanks as well as my own Would certainly recommend them to a newbie!!
Not perfect for sure but generally work better than other methods!! gary