Cycled LFS Live Rock?

[petrea92]

I recently jumped back into the reef world and have started a 7 gallon nano reef tank. I bought Carib Sea Aragalive Pink Fiji sand, and 10 lbs of cured rock from my LFS. My parameters have been very steady, and I’ve only seen a slight rise in ammonia (no more than .5 ppm) and have seen somewhere between 5-10 ppm nitrates within the last day or two. All API testing.

I’m a bit concerned that my live rock isn’t showing much life… I’m not sure if I believe the coloring is actual coralline algae or just paint. No pods, no dusters, hitchhikers, nada. I’m also seeing some brown algae (maybe diatoms)? Can I be sure that this rock has been fully cured? What kind of cycling process can I expect?

So much has changed in the 10 years since I stopped. Live rock seems to be harder to come by, and there’s a lot of dry, painted stuff out there (not bad, just different than what I remember).

 

[Chrisv.]

If it's authentic cycled love rock, you should be able to see that ammonia zero out. You will encounter quite the debate about API test kits.

It won't hurt anything to dump some bottled bacteria in there just to amp things up. One of the things that's changed in the last 10 years is that it's no longer snake oil.

 

[aggrofish]

Thats ”life” rock not live. The purple is paint, not coralline. There is no life on it.

 

[Chrisv.]

Thats ”life” rock not live. The purple is paint, not coralline. There is no life on it.

Not doubting you, but how can you tell?

 

[aggrofish]

I’ve used caribsea life rock several times. Including their arches. i Have a reefer 170 filled with it and another tank with rock that started dry a couple tanks ago. They look much different. Would i bet my life on yours being liferock? No. But to me the thick varying shades of purple looks like paint

 

[petrea92]

I’ve used caribsea life rock several times. Including their arches. i Have a reefer 170 filled with it and another tank with rock that started dry a couple tanks ago. They look much different. Would i bet my life on yours being liferock? No. But to me the thick varying shades of purple looks like paint

I don’t doubt this, as my last tank I had fiji live rock (years ago) and it did have to go through some cycling to get rid of a bit of the decay, but the coralline algae was velvety and the rock was very much “alive”. That being said, I’m curious how my LFS considered it Live and cycled. Are they cycling dry rock and calling it “live”? I did buy it wet, and they also sold dry rock for less.

 

[Jeffcb]

I don’t doubt this, as my last tank I had fiji live rock (years ago) and it did have to go through some cycling to get rid of a bit of the decay, but the coralline algae was velvety and the rock was very much “alive”. That being said, I’m curious how my LFS considered it Live and cycled. Are they cycling dry rock and calling it “live”? I did buy it wet, and they also sold dry rock for less.

You or I or LFS can cycle any kind of rock. Was it wet ? Cycled Life rock?

I have Life Rock in my reef tank for a year and a half now. Its very cycled.

 

[petrea92]

You or I or LFS can cycle any kind of rock. Was it wet ? Cycled Life rock?

I have Life Rock in my reef tank for a year and a half now. Its very cycled.

Definitely not doubting that life rock and dry rock can be cycled, and also become live rock. You also said, “That is life rock, not live rock… there is no life on it.” I’m just wondering how it can be sold as “live” rock if that’s the case.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

It's purple die or paint. Those are man made rocks. Yes they were probably cycled and are now "live" with beneficial bacteria but not all the critters and corals and pods and micro fauna.
D

 

[aggrofish]

If you bought it wet, out of a tank or the big tubs LFS sometimes use, it’s entirely possible that it has nitrifying bacteria and is the fish store version of live rock. You could do the same with a bottle of bacteria, ammonium chloride and 2 weeks. The LFS store live rock is pretty much rock that’s had bottled bacteria added and will speed up your cycle, but it’s probably much different than you remember.

it’s not like the old days where you got live rock in 45lb boxes from Fiji. If you didn’t know that’s all been banned. There’s some live rock from the ocean coming out of Florida. Either way you’ve got the rock and it’ll be crawling with pods, bristle worms, brittle stars, sponges and everything else in time.

 

[Dolphis]

Yeah, looks to be caribsea rock. Nothing special about it, other than it’s dry rock that now has nitrifying bacteria, so its “cycled” and would help establish a new tank.
The purple coloring is to give it the appearance of coralline.
But you can easily achieve the same thing with dosing nitrifying bacteria in a bottle, like Dr Tim’s One and Only.

I have never asked the price for “live rock” at my LFS, but might be cheaper than a bottle of nitrifying bacteria, plus you’d get piece of rock to start out with lol

 

[petrea92]

If you bought it wet, out of a tank or the big tubs LFS sometimes use, it’s entirely possible that it has nitrifying bacteria and is the fish store version of live rock. You could do the same with a bottle of bacteria, ammonium chloride and 2 weeks. The LFS store live rock is pretty much rock that’s had bottled bacteria added and will speed up your cycle, but it’s probably much different than you remember.

it’s not like the old days where you got live rock in 45lb boxes from Fiji. If you didn’t know that’s all been banned. There’s some live rock from the ocean coming out of Florida. Either way you’ve got the rock and it’ll be crawling with pods, bristle worms, brittle stars, sponges and everything else in time.

This is very helpful, thank you! I figured and had a bit of info on the ban, but looking at posts from around that time, it is interesting to see the changes that have happened since I first started in ‘09. I went to three separate (all fantastic) LFS in San Diego looking for what I remembered as “live rock” and couldn’t find what I was looking for. That explains why…

I have no doubt my rock will be teeming with life soon enough. I found this interesting thread on the topic for those that want to read more:

Thread 'BANNED! But Is There Still Hope?'

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/banned-but-is-there-still-hope.403782/

 

[LiverockRocks]

If you are looking for real living rock, complete with microorganisms and critters, check out the various Florida live rock farmers.

 

[Chrisv.]

If you are looking for real living rock, complete with microorganisms and critters, check out the various Florida live rock farmers.

I do feel sad for the entire generation of reefers who don't know the joy of putting a big rock in the middle of their tank and then watching the rock intensely over two months to see what fauna and flora emerge.