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View Full Version : A couple live rock questions

Duff Man
04/04/2007, 07:13 PM
Just put live rock in a few days ago and waiting for my cycle to start. Have a couple of questions.

I bought the rock from a LFS and it was cured. There was stuff hanging off of it, but was still green and stuck pretty good. I wasn't sure that anything needed to be removed. While putting the rock in and rearranging it, a bunch of stuff has come off. Do I need to get this stuff off, or will this help my cycle?

Question 2. How does light affect the effectiveness of the LR? There's lots of colorful stuff that I'm trying to keep under the lights. Are the areas of rock that aren't under direct light going to be as effective in filtering as those in the light? While aquascaping, should I go for maximum light exposure of the rock to the light?

Just wondering.
six.line
04/04/2007, 07:24 PM
is the 'green' stuff algae? if it is, i'd remove it. you don't want it reattaching and overtaking the tank. or maybe you do, who knows? :)

as far as light goes, light doesn't help live rock do it's thizzle. rock is there to provide biological filtration. the colorful stuff is either coral or algae, both of which will be affected by the light in various ways.

hth

:D
drummereef
04/04/2007, 08:24 PM
I would remove anything that has fallen off the rock or any macro algae that's growing on it. Lighting isn't necessary for the biological function of live rock, but will affect coralline and the like. What lighting do you have?
SaltyDr
04/04/2007, 08:42 PM
Arrange the aquascaping the way that you like and in time things (ie coralline) will grow. Light has no effect on the biological (bacterial) filtration. I wouldn't arrange a rock just because it had some corraline in a certain spot but I didn't like the way the aquascaping looked.
Duff Man
04/04/2007, 08:56 PM
I have compact flourescent lighting. There is lighting at many areas of the tank, but I made caves and other crevices for the future inhabitants and had no choice but to put some rock with colors and growth in the shade.
Bambalam
04/04/2007, 09:39 PM
With proper water parameters the coralline will grow onto all your live rock - no worries.