Live Rock serves many beneficial functions to the aquarium hobbyist, the most significant of which is its role as the biological filtration for your tank. First, you’re stressing out all life on the rock, including good bacteria, coralline algae, and all the good worms and inverts. Using dry rock means it will take a while to look as good as true live rock in the tank. Harvested from the most sustainable and well managed fishery in the world! "use strict"; Lot of good info. Keep doing what ya doing. When we set up a reef aquarium, we are not just keeping fishes or corals, we are actually creating a tiny ecosystem in our tanks. For more information on curing, visit our Live Rock Curing Guide. Live Rock Curing is the removal of dead and decaying matter from on and within the rocks. Below are a brief description of the most commonly found types. It has nice shapes and is usually shipped in slightly larger pieces. The amazing diversity of life in a marine tank and the factor of "not knowing" what it is that is living in there is something that can't be replicated by your standard tropical freshwaters. Nice purple colors, more coloring then I’ve seen on any other live rocks before. The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and portland cement. If you’re having the blizzard of the century your Live Rock could get delayed or stressed out from being in a cold warehouse or truck for too long. Live Rock will actively facilitate the conversion of these toxic chemicals into less harmful products such as nitrate. Live rock is the most popular material used for natural biological filtration in saltwater aquariums. Excellent customer service also. Just wanted to share some pictures of my live rock that I just received from KPA. Lastly, there’s dead base rock, which we know as dry live rocks. Live Rock and the various creatures on it was the single biggest pull for me to try out a reef aquarium after owning several freshwater setups. Introduction of a natural Predator – You can also go the natural method and introduce that pests natural predator into your tank. The majority of the life you will find on the florida aquaculture live rock is tube worms, feather dusters, various plant life, many different species of calurepa, many different colors of sponges, coco worms, lightbulb anemone, robust ivory coral, variety of polyps,sea urchins and a variety of live crabs and snails,. There is no better method of increasing the biodiversity and life of any aquarium than to introduce Live Rock into your closed system. There are a few others.....but other than them most "live rock" now is just man made aged stuff. If you are looking for aquarium supplies, high quality live rock, or a beautiful aquarium live rock decoration, then you can find it at Live Rock n Reef! The florida aquaculture live rock is so full of life that you never know what you will find next. The first is the rather unscientific method. Live Rock is the broad taxonomic classification given to rock and reef structure which acts as a host to the many marine organisms that live on and within it. CaribSea's Reef Trees are perfect for the environmentally friendly aquarist. The most common type available. This may take several months to a year, depending on the tank and system. Wonderful customer service and excellent articles. Here are our most popular types: ARC Reef Premium Live Rock for Sale –  Several years of growth and packed with life. If this is a brand new tank with no inhabitants in it yet, the rocks can be cured in your main display tank. Scuba Diving Equipment A few pieces of rocks will have some sort of live coral growing on them, usually some sort of Porites, Siderastrea, or Millipora but it has been rather uncommon. This guide helps to answer the many questions about what it is, why we need it, how to care for it, and how to select the best type for you. It looks attractive and gives coloring to your aquarium. Destructive practices such as using dynamite and crowbars to break up these rocks into smaller pieces have decimated reef systems all around the globe. The most experienced producers will choose only the highest quality source rocks that are low in density, interestingly shaped, and very porous. On first pass, the small filter feeders and cleanup crews such as emerald crabs, spaghetti worms and other invertebrates living on and within the Live Rock consume the uneaten food portions and fish waste. Coralline Algae will not appear in a tank or closed system on its own like other nuisance algae. Many times the culprit of how something got out of control in your tank is due to overfeeding or poor husbandry. If you have more waste in your tank than your Live Rock can keep up with, you may need to do periodic water changes or acquire more Live Rock. LOVE my live rocks by the way. If the ammonia level is high your rocks will need to be cured. It pays to do your research first, and avoid the hassle of curing entirely. Miami Beach, FL 33139. If it smells like the ocean or a jetty at low tide your good to go, if it smells strongly like rotten fish it will need to be cured. The old school of thought is that all hitchhikers were bad, but hobbyists have come to realize that there is a great benefit to nearly all the extras that come with live rock and the hobby has now shifted its focus on trying to replicate the diversity that one would find on a coral reef in the wild. There are many types of Live Rock available for the saltwater aquarium hobbyist some are wild collected and other types are farm raised or aqua-cultured. This usually lasts just a few days. It’s typically found in darker areas of a reef system. When you first place Live Rock into a new aquarium, the Coralline Algae may darken a bit due to the stress of being transported and the shock of new water chemistry. If it’s black it almost always means that it’s dead and sponges rarely survive this process. Click here to read more about  Heart Reef, Miami. Live Rock increases the surface area allowing more of the good biological marine organisms to form. It’s a good idea to keep carbon on hand, which will reduce the odor if needed. It is found in every ocean in the world and from inter-tidal zones that are exposed at low tide, all the way as deep as 1,000 ft.   Coralline Algae is a slow and steady type grower, but its growth rate is approximately 10x’s more rapid in tropical waters than in the Arctic. Live rock in your saltwater aquarium serves an important purpose. Just tell us the setup that you are looking for and we will cherry pick the rock to fit what you are looking for, and the reef you build will be more satisfying! Can make a nice addition to other rock but not recommended as the only type of Live Rock in the tank. We provide an awesome variety of Saltwater Live Rock for saltwater reef aquarium tanks or fish only tanks. By comparison artificial reef rock is "dead”. Curing Pukani Live and Dry Rock can take over 6 months. For every 1 lb of Live Rock purchased we deposit 10 lbs of new reef material into the ocean. We can also ship ups or air cardo whichever will be the cheapest to your zipcode. If you are trying to seed a new tank, Coralline Algae will seed faster with higher flow, higher temps, and by scraping some of the rocks with a butter knife or flat head screwdriver. How does someone ‘harvest’ rock from a reef? THIS LIVE ROCK DOES NOT NEED TO BE CURED!! Forums. Using lanthanum chloride may help shorten curing times but is not recommended as the rock has been reported to absorb the chemical and leach it back later in time. Menu. The live rock arrives alive and so it is no longer our responsibility to keep it alive. We can ship air cargo to the nearest airport which will be the cheapest shipping in most cases. Find Live Rock Reef in Canada | Visit Kijiji Classifieds to buy, sell, or trade almost anything! Find Live Rock Reef in Pets | Find or rehome a dog, cat, bird, horse and more on Kijiji: pets offered by humane societies and shelters, owners and breeders locally in Ontario. As you can imagine, this rock is void of marine life. }(document, "script")); Primo Deco Live Rock Just look at the encrusted coralline on this rock. If your Live Rocks failed both the smell test and the ammonia test than they will need to be cured. If the level is at 0 ppm or barely detectable than no curing is required. You also may start the tank to cycle again from all the die off as a result of this method. Theres still gulf live rock and kp aquatics also not fiji rock. As the waste particles have now gotten smaller they will convert to ammonia, nitrite, and phosphate. Remember not all Live Rock needs to be cured, if you purchased aquacultured Live Rock harvested in the U.S. you can skip this entire process 90% of the time. This negotiation process (and sometimes battle) for tank real estate leads to why your live rocks will change colors over time. You may also notice some white patches,  this is all normal and the vibrant colors will return again. Then rock is boxed up and shipped to your front door or aircargo to the closest major airport. Depending on the company and version, they can look fake and artificial. This process can take anywhere from 1 week to 3 months, with the exception of pukani dry rock and Fiji boat rock which can take more than 6 months to fully cure. So it’s always a good idea to be mindful of your current weather conditions when ordering Live Rock and pick a shipping method that you are comfortable with. Live rock is highly valued in the aquarium trade.