Quick Corral Question

[victor1]

Will dead skeletal Corrals you find at a fish store will go back to life? how about rocks? rocks that arent alive. will they be alive?

 

[SkiFletch]

If by alive you mean become covered in various beneficial algaes and bacterium, then yes. If by alive you mean that the corals will re-grow into living specemins then no.

 

[victor1]

If by alive you mean become covered in various beneficial algaes and bacterium, then yes. If by alive you mean that the corals will re-grow into living specemins then no.

how about rocks. aint live rocks the samething as dead rocks, if a bacteria and algae grow on the rock, it would be called live rock right?

 

[SkiFletch]

Correct. Given enough time and some Live rock to seed it, dead rock will become "live" just like store-bought live rock. It takes a LONG time, trust me, I'm trying it myself. Dead coral will not become live coral. It will however become live rock See the difference?

 

[Great Lakes]

TO take it a step further, much of the high quality live rock is harvested from the reef. It was at one time, a coral colony. For various reasons, the living part of the coral died and "donated" its skeletal structure to promote the growth in volume of the reef.

This type of rock, be it live rock or the devoid of life dry reef bones stuff, is, by nature of where it is harvested from, the best rock to get. It is lighter and the most porous, giving bacteria more room to grow.

As reefs become more protected from harvesting, there are companies springing up that deposit dead rock in th ocean to colonize, then harvest it later.

GL

 

[victor1]

thanks guys! Very good explanations. How many months will it take the dead rocks to come to life. and what do i have to add on the water? Calcium? etc??

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, my baserock seeded with bacteria very quickly. Within a month or so. But getting it to seed with beneficial algaes has taken a LOT longer. I'm at 4 months and there's some calcerous algae growth on the base rock, but it doesnt ook truly like LR yet. Judging from the way things have gone in my tank, 6 months to a year before the base rocks will become similar to harvested live rock.

As far as additives go, you wont really need to dose until your coral level in the tank gets really high. Water changes will keep calc and alk up when you have a low-moderate load. Only when the tank is jam packed with coral will they start depleating calc and alk enough that you'll have to come up with a dosing method.

 

[Great Lakes]

IME, I seemed to have more coraline algae growth on my liverock with moderate lighting.
By moderate I mean an average VHO or PC setup. MH lighting seemed inferior in this application.


I also continually had my calcium in the mid 600 range. But that was from a natural source. I wouldn't recommend dosing to get to that level.

GL