Aquarium Live Rock
A beautiful reef aquarium from Monaco using live rock. The corals are on placed on live rock to create a natural looking reef system.
Live rock is used by many marine fish keepers to create stunning reef displays, and to act as biological filters. A berlin style aquarium for example uses live rock as a main filtration method alongside a protein skimmer to remove organic waste.
Live rock is fragments of stony reef material, often coral rubble which has broken off in storms. Taken from oceans across the world different live rock will come with different organisms living on it. Sometimes when you buy live rock it will have a hitch hiker attached to it like a anthropod or mollusc.
Live rock contains many living organism that help to clean the water and some suggest they may contain antbiotic substances with beneficial effects.
Live rock comes in all shapes and sizes and is quite expensive to buy. It will or should be cured in the shop before you buy it otherwise it can have detrimental effects on the home aquarium.
When live rock is shipped across countries some of the organisms die off in the process. Sponges for example to not do well in the transportation and will die off. This results in decaying matter accumulating at the bottom of the storage vessel which produces a foul smell. Curing live rock simply involves allowing the die off and decay process to occur under controlled conditions. This means that when you buy the live rock from a shop it will be healthy and full of microscopic life and be ready to be placed in your home aquarium.
Live rock contains many living organism that help to clean the water and some suggest they may contain antbiotic substances with beneficial effects.
Live rock comes in all shapes and sizes and is quite expensive to buy. It will or should be cured in the shop before you buy it otherwise it can have detrimental effects on the home aquarium.
When live rock is shipped across countries some of the organisms die off in the process. Sponges for example to not do well in the transportation and will die off. This results in decaying matter accumulating at the bottom of the storage vessel which produces a foul smell. Curing live rock simply involves allowing the die off and decay process to occur under controlled conditions. This means that when you buy the live rock from a shop it will be healthy and full of microscopic life and be ready to be placed in your home aquarium.
Live rock is used to construct the support structure in a marine tank forming a reef for the corals and other invertebrates that will later be added. This helps to give the aquarium a natural reef look.
Types of live rock:
Plant rock:
This is live rock which has one or more species of macro algae present. These rocks are generally found behind a coral reef where they are free from grazing fish.
This is live rock which has one or more species of macro algae present. These rocks are generally found behind a coral reef where they are free from grazing fish.
Zoanthid rock:
This live rock comes from the Atlantic and pacific and is mostly collected in shallow waters. It is dominated by one or more species of zoanthid or 'sea mat'
This live rock comes from the Atlantic and pacific and is mostly collected in shallow waters. It is dominated by one or more species of zoanthid or 'sea mat'
Base rock:
This is a term used to describe rock that is devoid of living organisms. This is quite a heavy rock often difficult to stack in a reef system. It is becoming less available because people are not that interested in using it.
This is a term used to describe rock that is devoid of living organisms. This is quite a heavy rock often difficult to stack in a reef system. It is becoming less available because people are not that interested in using it.
