Dead Live Rock

[kraziekris]

Hi i have a tank full of about 30kg of live rock which looks dead to me and i have been told by someone who knows about this that its dead!

If i add 10kg of new live rock to this will it make the dead stuff live again?

this is it, the pics are quite big so you can see!

http/img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0512jt9.jpg
http/img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0513sn6.jpg

Thanks

 

[kj23502]

As far as I know the only way that dead lr become live again is being "seeded" by live rock. And bacteria will start growing in it and some organisms from the new lr may migrate over...

So are there visibly dead organisms on it or what?

 

[kraziekris]

As far as I know the only way that dead lr become live again is being "seeded" by live rock. And bacteria will start growing in it and some organisms from the new lr may migrate over...

So are there visibly dead organisms on it or what?

What is Seeded?

The live rock just looks like concrete, no colour or anything really!

 

[ox5477]

dead or never live rock can become liverock through being seeded by live rock. Live rock contains bacteria and microorganisms that will thrive and propagate using what we see as waste from the fish and other organisms of the tank. As these small creatures and bacteria grow, they will spread to other areas of the rock where there is ample flow (to bring food to them). This usually will take quite some time for a completely inert piece of rock to become live (assuming it becomes live at all, a rock without a very porous structure is pointless as there is not ample surface area for the bacteria) so time wise and sanity wise, it is usually just easier to go buy lr (which is usually semi-cured) from an lfs.

 

[littleme1969]

Well I would say that some of that rock is live without a doubt. There is evidence of coraline sponges etc on the rock. There is alo alot of white base rock but its nice and porous so should become live in time. I personally would just leave it alone. Give it 2 months and I bet you see a big change in colour and life on it

 

[Sea Turtle]

Yeh. It looks like the rock all the way to the right is completely covered with coralline algae. I would imaging that will grow across all the other rocks just fine.