# Live Rock-What's the difference?



## hamdogg08 (Feb 18, 2007)

I was wondering if there was a difference between the various types of live rock out there. I've seen fiji, tonga, carribian, and base rock. What are the differences between these types, and are some better than others?


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

Well to be honest I don;t know much about it but will give this a shot. My "guess" would be that the different types have different chemical properties and will affect the tank in different ways. Some of them could be the pH and the GH but there could beother thngs that will be effected. the other could be the "critters" that will come with the live rock as I would assume that each one may come from a different place and therefore might have different "critters" attached to it.


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## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

i dont think that some are better than others. its just what people prefer. some like the tonga branch, because its branches it lets more water movement through your tank. base rock is bacically the rocks you would use at the bottom of your tank to start your rocks out. fiji are just rocks. i prefer the fiji because of the round rock look and the easyness to stack. but everyone likes different thing.


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## Rue (Jan 28, 2007)

Live rock has bacteria and other 'life' on it. The different names of LR indicate where it originated from. The 'rock' isn't nec. rock, it's old coral skeletons for the most part...and it varies greatly in density. As a rule you want the lighter, less dense rock since it provide more area for bacteria to grow and therefore for filtration.

Base rock is rock that has no life on it. Because of that it's generally much cheaper. Since you need 1-1 .5 lbs of LR per gallon...and because it's so expensive, many people use base rock as their foundation, and add as much LR as they can afford. Eventually the base rock will also come 'alive'.

You can also buy or culture 'man-made' rock...often a concrete formulation...some people have experimented and cultured cinder blocks as well...although shape-wise it's not very appealing.


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