Hey....short answer is yes it will get coraline algae growing all over it, but, it will not be effective to provide the mechanical filtration that live rock provides you with.
Niko
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Is Live Rock a Must Have?
- Thread starter neofish1906
- Start date
Hey....short answer is yes it will get coraline algae growing all over it, but, it will not be effective to provide the mechanical filtration that live rock provides you with.
Niko
That is what I don't understand. If the live rock were shipped to me, wouldn't it be dead by the time it arrives? Most likely. So what makes it different than texas holey rock besides looks? Thanks.
A couple of things to note, about using texas holey rock in the marine aquarium instead of normal live rock, is the ammount of time it will take for bio-diversity to become apparent on the rock. Through trials on WebWetMedia, it took well over a year from this type of rock to be seeded with life, and it was also assesd that that it could not hold the same ammount of life as for a example, the same sized lump of indo or fiji live rock.
Another issue that was noticed when using holey rock in the marine aquarium is that it was shown to be a high source of alk being released into the marine system...which, am sure you can appreciate, is not good. It does however, act as a good pH buffer..
when live rock is shipped from when you purchased it, you are still going to be getting life on the rock, it will not be totally dead, as in base rock types like texas holey rock or specific dead rock as being refered to in this thread.
This is of course, just my opinion..
Niko
Another issue that was noticed when using holey rock in the marine aquarium is that it was shown to be a high source of alk being released into the marine system...which, am sure you can appreciate, is not good. It does however, act as a good pH buffer..
when live rock is shipped from when you purchased it, you are still going to be getting life on the rock, it will not be totally dead, as in base rock types like texas holey rock or specific dead rock as being refered to in this thread.
This is of course, just my opinion..
Niko
i also am very happy I got Live Rock. I also find myself staring at my live rock and not my fish or shrimp. lol. I notice something new everyday. A little worm here, a little copepod here, a snail over there, a star fish there, its awesome and interesting. Never in my wildest dreams did I think live rock would be so cool. Not only that, its my main filtration system. you can't beat that!
Yeah, my fish are cool too I guess.
Yeah, my fish are cool too I guess.
I respect your opinion, as I am new to SW. I am just trying to understand. In a freshwater tank, dead rock can completely achieve biological filtration within a month or so. I understand that with live rock, you get the critters and hh that come with it. Is this what accomplishes the mechanical filtration?
Basically what I am asking, is the main difference between live rock and other dead rock, that live rock comes with the live critters? The rock itself only has different properties and isn't that much different?
hey, its good mate, will do all i can to help you understand better if i can mate....one of the stark differences between FW and marine, is that the live rock in a marine system can be the only form of mechanical filtration that is required and this will provide a good source of life to the system such as micro and macro organisms, which you dont get from the holey rock.
Live rock is much more porous than holey rock, and as such has a much larger surface area for biological filtration than a piece of holey rock that is the same size. Hope that makes sense.
Ok, thats what I was getting at. Perfect.
It hurts, because I bought the holey rock only around 5 months ago. It cost me around $400 too. I'd just feel stupid spending close to $1000 on rock. lol
Good, am really glad i have been able to satisfy your curiosity....good stuff...
I know it hurts mate, we have all made purchases in life, only to find out they are not really made for the purpose, untill afterwards...However, mistakes we make can be passed onto other people as great knowledge in the hope that someone else does not do the same as us...
Any other questions or issues, just let me know...
Niko
Oh no, I bought the texas holey for my cichlids. I am not new to fw at all, just sw. I didn't intend for it to be used for sw, I'm just trying to be a cheapskate lol.
