Lighting w/ live rock???

[cleopatraa88]

OK, so can someone please help me out on this live rock thing? I am getting some shipped overnight and it is called base coraline aquacultured live rock. From what I have gathered it is very high quality rock. It has plenty of critters in it, including coral growing on it. But, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be doing a fish only with live rock tank??? But the live rock has coral on it??? So, won't that just die if I don't have the right lighting?? I wasn't planning to upgrade my lighting until I did a fish-only for a while and went to coral maybe later after more experience. If this coral dies, is it going to mess anything up in my tank? And even though I got a good deal on this, am I paying for something that I don't even need or is this rock worth it even if I can't keep the coral alive b/c of all the other beneficial critters in it? Man, this stuff is confusing and I don't even have the tank in my house, yet, LOL!!!

 

[ChicoRaton]

Do you mean you already ordered the rock? It is going to all die off if you don't get it into a tank with saltwater... you said you don't have the tank in your house yet... so if you don't have a tank, fill some container with saltwater and a powerhead for circulation to put your LR in until you get your tank set up. You can also cure the rock in that container... kill two birds with one (live) stone, hehe :dance

 

[cleopatraa88]

Well, technically, I did already order the rock, but they are not going to ship it until I am ready for it, so I'm going to just wait until my tank is cycled. So what about my questions, anyone have feedback on those? Thanks!

 

[Aquarius0015]

Is there a link to the vendor? Like you, I'm starting a new tank.
One of the things that confused me at first is that coralline algae and actual coral are two entirely different things. While it's entirely possible to have live rock come with coral hitchhikers, it's more probable that they're referring just to coralline algae.

I hope I'm not too far off base, but in any event, a quick email to the vendor will clear up any questions you might have.

 

[mogurnda]

I wouldn't worry. As Aquarius pointed out, it says coralline, which means coralline algae. That will do fine in low light.
Depending on the source, you can also get some corals on the rock, especially aquacultured rock. Much of it requires no light at all (but some food), and much of the rest does well with low light.

 

[Peekaboo]

You can cycle your tank using the live rock. There will be die-off no matter what (even if the rock has been cured before shipping) so the "curing" process will be the "cycling" process for your tank. So get the rock as soon as your tank is up.