Lr ?

[method0075]

I was wondering about LR. If it drys up will it become just a rock and never have a chance to become live rock again?

I asking because I managed to bring backabout 75lbs of LR from hawaii. I did not pick this out of the ocean or remove it from a reef or anything like that. Because of extremely rough waters it had washed up on the shores. This stuff had anenomes and everything on it. I cycled it when I got home. I put it in my tank and haven`t had any problems but am wondering if what I have is just rock or did cycling it return it back to live rock?

 

[justin42279]

If i'm not mistaking, letting the rock dry out kills all of the benifical bacteria that was on it along with any little critters using it for a home, making it just plain old rock. If you stick it in your tank with other live rock, it should seed your hawiian rock and turn it into live rock.

 

[method0075]

Awesome and thanx for the response.

So LR which in essence is dead coral and such, is what the bacterias feed off of and that is why I couldn`t turn you typical backyard rock into LR? Is this correct?

 

[Gealcath]

You could turn typical backyard rock into LR but alot of those rocks are not aquarium safe due to metals contained in them.



LR is a porous rock that has bacteria on it to process ammonia to nitriogen, and often has critters living on the rock, which is why its "live"

 

[edikpok]

The way I undestand it is that LR has a huge surface area and therefore many bacteria's can live in one rock. this surface area is due to its pores. as justin42279 mentioned, putting it in a running aquarium should make it a LR again fairly quickly.

 

[reefrash]

There are also bacteria inside the rock. For example granite is very dense, it does not allow water to penetrate in the way "live rock" does which isn't as dense. In fact, much live rock is relatively porous allowing water to pass through it VERY slowly. This is where the power of live rock as a denitrator is seen. I've often wondered how denitrification would vary depending on density of rock. Take Tonga rock it's pretty dense stuff, and put it next to the old school Gulf of Mexico rock or Indo and see what happens with your nitrates. I think it would be interesting...

 

[mysis]

If the rock has dried up, it is still perfectly fine to use while you are cycling your aquarium, all the living organisms will be dead, but most likely will have left a trace on the live rock. it is not uncommon, to see bits of sponges come up of rock, that has been dried out and everything has died, or so you think! Just make sure the tank is in the cycling process, or there is nothing in the tank. then to know that it is cured you smell the live rock, if it smell rotten, hit that spot with a turkey blaster, and try to remove any dead animals like crabs etc.