To Live Rock or not to Live Rock, what are the benefits? Shakespeare meets reefing! I joke, but rock whether that be 'Live' or artificial is a really important foundation of both reef tanks and fish only tanks. The coral need a structure to be placed on and grow whilst fish need a rock scape to feel safe and display natural behaviour. Live Rock does more than just that though, it also acts as a stabilising factor for your setup. So, what is Live Rock, what are the benefits and why should you be using it in your setup?
What is Live Rock?
When you break it down the name 'Live Rock' is a bit of a misnomer because it's neither 'alive' nor is it really 'rock' as we might commonly think of it. What makes it 'Live' is the mass of bacteria, algae, micro fauna and general micro organisms that live in and on it due to it being so porous. Rather than being 'rock' its also mostly dead coral skeleton from the ocean. This is why you get branching and plating rock, the branches were once branching type corals whilst the plates were once plating corals. This is exactly what happens in nature and why some corals are dubbed 'reef builders'. Corals grow upwards and outwards soaking up nutrients and light but eventually they will shadow themselves out and die off at the base. This then forms a base for coral to grow out from and so on and so on. This is why you find reef crests around islands or atolls, coral growing on coral growing on coral. But anyway, back to our reef tanks, essentially we're replicating nature as best we can.
What is the difference between cured and un-cured Live Rock?
When Live Rock is pulled from the water some of the algae, bacteria, micro fauna etc will die back. This die back will progress gradually over time from the point it is lifted from the water. When this 'stuff' is dying back it will break down into the likes of ammonia. So, if you then put this rock which is the middle of dying back, into your aquarium, the die back will be releasing ammonia etc into your reef tank causing a spike in nutrients that would be harmful to fish and coral. That is un-cured live rock. Rock that has been through the die back process and is no longer releasing ammonia is considered to be cured Live Rock.
Different shapes of Live Rock?
There are a few different defined shapes of Live Rock on offer which are;
Regular - This is your standard, irregular rock shaped pieces of Live Rock. When it comes to creating a rock-scape these are great foundation pieces to create a base for the rest of the structure.
Rubble - Rubble shapes are small pieces of broken off Live Rock. They can be used as part of a rock-scape to support other pieces or scattered on the sand bed to give a rubble like display or even used as frag plugs.
Branching - These pieces of rock look like tree branches often with branches off shooting from the main branch. These branches can be intertwined, stacked and linked to create and open rock-scape with plenty of space for water flow and fish swimming space. To get the best effect you can use the regular rock as a foundation and branching rock on top.
Plating - As the name suggests, these pieces look like flat plates that can be used as shelves on a rock scape. They offer a large flat surface on which to place coral, the drawback to that though is the area of shading underneath the plate. If you take the time to carefully design your rock scape though you can incorporate these plates to create caves for fish whilst making the most of the surface are available for corals to grow.
The big question though, why should you use Live Rock?
A rock scape serves two main purposes in a saltwater aquarium. It provides a natural environment for the livestock which encourages them to display their natural behaviours such as shrimp setting up cleaning stations, coral placement or fish finding places to sleep and hide from threats. The second purpose is really to make something pleasing to the eye for us. Having a rock scape gives us that natural looking reef setup, a piece of the ocean. Using Live Rock however gives us an added benefit; it is the foundation of biological filtration in the tank. The bacteria, algae and micro organisms all help to process nutrients to create a stable enclosed system providing a natural balance. We ultimately augment this with protein skimmers, mechanical filtration and reactors but the Live Rock is what gives the system its core stability. The Live Rock also houses small organisms like Copepods and Amphipods which are a component of the food web in a natural reef whilst providing the occasional opportune snack for fish. The downside is the unwanted organisms that occasionally come on the rock as well, commonly referred to as 'hitchhikers' or 'pests'. These are often the likes of Aiptasia, Asterina starfish or in extreme cases, predators. Whilst these can be annoying pests they can be controlled with natural remedies. The likes of Crabs are rare and Bobbit worms are even rarer. Catching a hitchiker like this whilst annoying is definitely possible, it just takes a bit of time and patience. The potential for having a hitchiker and then dealing with it is massively outweighed, in my opinion, by the benefits of filtration and stability that Live Rock provides.
So, that is Live Rock, the types, shapes and benefits to using it. There are artificial options out there and bacteria in a bottle additives to kickstart the natural process however you don't get the diversity of organisms in a bottle that you get from Live Rock. Live Rock is still, in my opinion, the best option for rock scape in a saltwater tank.
Rock N Critters have cured Live Rock available both in store and online. The main picture of this blog shows the system where all the rock is housed. If you're looking for Live Rock and you can pay the shop a visit I would highly recommend it. You can browse through the rock in the holding tanks, find the pieces you want and experiment creating your ideal rock scape there and then before you take it home and put it in your tank. Easy!