things to look for when selecting live rock?

[Netofficer3710]

can you guys tell me what to look for when selecting live rock? what should I avoid?

I already learned my lesson once with bubble algea and would live to know what else to avoid.
I have 20 LBS and still need to pick up another 40

[kingfisher62]

If you are selecting it in person at a LFS look for a lot of biodiversity and if you lift it out of the water it should not smell like lowtide!

[fcmatt]

if you lift up a large piece and it is so light you could throw it out the door and across the
street it is a keeper!

you want very porous rock that has many many small holes in it.

[Dadekster]

It should smell like the ocean water and not be covered in anything that you consider something you don't want in your tank such as majanos, gorilla crab etc. That said you can spend 8 hours staring and staring at a piece of live rock the size of softball and give it enough time in a setup be both amazed and at same time be utterly PO'd by what can come out/or grow from it. Sometimes it's nice stuff like zoa's or some hard core sps and other times you've introduced one of the biblical reef plagues. One reason some swear by dry rock only. ;)

[kingfisher62]

if you lift up a large piece and it is so light you could throw it out the door and across the
street it is a keeper!

you want very porous rock that has many many small holes in it.

Good point!
I have some tonga branch . It looks cool but is wicked dense and does not help the tank as much as fuji and such.

[Netofficer3710]

how can I spot and differentiate good algae and bad algae?

[kingfisher62]

When getting LR chances are it will have problem algaes on it even if it looks clean. The main thing is to keep your water quality as good as possible so it does not grow. Even good macro algae can get out of control in a display tank if there are to much nutrients.

[Reefnut2010]

Buy dry rock such as Marco Rocks and save headaches. Then all you need is one good piece that is live to seed the dead rock. You can usually pick a clean piece, free of pests from a good Reefer, but you already have some so you're good.When adding anything to the tank inspect it thoroughly. I recently bought a large mushroom rock that had Bubble Algae and scraped it clean prior to introduction to the DT. So far it looks great. No regrowth whatsoever anywhere.

[campos]

hitchhikers. I had a mantis shrimp that i must have raise since it was a baby cuz 5-7 years later i have a full grown mantis eating my entire CUC. Watch out for hitchhikers they can be a nightmare. Yes I did finally catch the mantis and donated him to my LFS