Live Rock Types

From ReefPedia

What exactly is live rock? Generally live rock is any sort of rock that comes from the ocean. More recently, aquarists have been creating artificial live rock and then aquaculturing it in the ocean. Live rock is called live rock because of the living organisms and bacteria growing on it.

How do I get live rock? A number of fish stores and online stores carry live rock. Typically live rock can range between $3.00 and $10.00 per pound! The generally aquarium uses between 1 and 2 pounds of live rock per gallon. For example, a 75 gallon aquarium would need between 75 and 150 pounds of live rock. This can add up quickly! An alternative method to purchasing live rock is base rock, or essentially dry live rock. The idea is to make the majority of your rock structure with the base rock and then seed the tank with a few pounds of live rock to add life to the dead base rock.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to buying live rock online and at your local fish store. The clear advantage of buying live rock online is you save money. The biggest disadvantage is you do not get to hand select each individual piece for your aquarium. Also be careful when buying online and note how much shipping per pound is. A disadvantage to buying the live rock at your local fish store is the price. At a fish store live rock will typically run between $6 to $10 per pound. A big advantage is most of the live rock is almost or fully cured. This means there will be little die off when you add this rock to your tank.

What types of live rock are there? Just to live a few: Fiji, Kaelini, Marshall Island, Tonga Branch, and Florida.

I recommend about 1lbs to 1.25lbs of Fiji, Kaelini, Marshall, or Tonga live rock per gallon. I recommend 1.75lbs to 2lbs of Florida live rock because it is very dense!

Fiji live rock is the aquarium standard. In my opinion, the fiji live rock has declined over the years to become less porus than it originally was.

Kaelini: Similar to fiji, but it is more dense and often comes in larger piece. Known for having good coraline growth.

Marshall Island: More dense and less porus than fiji, but excellent to stack and easy to work with.

Tonga Branch: This live rock looks like dead pieces of staghorn acropora. It can be very thick or thin branching and is dense. It is often used to create archways between rocks. Not a good base rock.

Florida: Florida rock is very heavy and is often filled with pests like gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp. In my experience it is very difficult to work with and most of the cool creatures eventually die in captivity.

Jakarta: Brown?

   Article originally contributed by RazerCorals

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