5 year old rock sounds like it should be pretty live to me!
Agreed the older it is the more diverse it seems to be.it wont be exact but will function almost the same after 2 years and the longer the better
Those are some massive barnacles! Pretty neat!Although this rock is not a great "reef" rock, I collected it only because those barnacle shells were full of amphipods so I just shook it on a bucket of sea water to collect them.
But this is the tide pool I collect rock and amphipods in. This is in New York and at high tide the water here is 8' deep.
You are also welcome!You are very welcome and thank you.
Great point! And thank you for your thoughts! This has been a really interesting thread to me and I think all of the information has been so valuable.Very good post!
This adds to the notion of biological filtration and porosity for bacteria homing. Artificial rock simply cannot replicate this. I would contend that these pores took ages to create, and for nature to replicate that in our aquarium, maybe never. Pumice, to me, seems like it would do really well, especially if seeded in the ocean. I am a huge fan of fiji rock, have about 10lbs in my tank, air freighted from Walt. This was a few years back, I got the leftovers from another project for someone else. This rock was crazy live, the stink of cycling is only learned through experience, lol. Great thread, and great post from up above