Is It Live Rock?

[stargirly1208]

hi i'm really new to the saltwater world and my roommate just got a saltwater tank established and she bought what a local fish shop said was live rock. how can we be sure that he wasn't just pulling our leg and told us that it was live when it could be a plain old rock. is there a way you can tell?

 

[gigmeyer]

Just keep watching it and you should know pretty quickly. Hitchhikers should start appearing almost immediately. Try looking at it after lights out using a flashlight covered in red cellophane as some of these guys are shy. I spotted bristle worms and a feather dusters within one day of setting up my tank.

 

[eschaton]

If it was dry when it went in the tank, it's safe to say it wasn't "live."

 

[ikon]

best way to tell is smell it!

if it LOOKS like it could be live rock but it has NO smell it is just base rock

if it smells like dead fish its ex-live rock that has not been stored properly and began to die

if it is live rock, it will smell like the ocean. you'll know what i mean when you smell it

 

[AliRichardson]

Lol I can just imagine sniffing too hard and snorting a bristleworm. Brings tears to my eyes XD

 

[stargirly1208]

thanks for the input guys! well it was definitely not dry it was in a saltwater tank setup in the petstore. we don't really see anything on the rock except for some reddish stuff on one and some brownish stuff on the other. as for critters, i haven't seen anything like that yet at all. so maybe we got scammed?

 

[ikon]

pull a small piece out of the water and smell it...tell us what it smells like

 

[wflash3]

if you dont see nothing on the rock that doesint mean its not live rock, i think the best way to know is smell it like he said^^

 

[stargirly1208]

hmmm i will tell my roommate to do that... i wouldn't wanna do it myself! lol yucky. we're just paranoid because this family owned store can rip you off if you'll let them because he creates his own prices in his head.