buying live rock yes or no?

What would you say about buying live rock thats been sitting in a tank with only powerheads for water movement and no filter or anything. Its $3 a pound and from the picture looks to be fairly nice. I just want to increase the biodiversity in my tank so im tryying to buy a few pounds of liverock from multiple different places. He says it was in his old very healtyh saltwater tank with corals but he sold all his livestock and has been trying to get rid of this now. I only want to buy like 8 pounds. what would you guys say about this?

 

As long as the rocks are not out of water, there should be a good amount of live stuff on the rock. I'd be more worried about pest. Did you ask why he took his tank down?

 

As long as there has been water movement then it is good to go.

 

I would do a couple things. First smell it. if it foul then leave it alone. it its not do it and look is it covered in color? good stuff.

 

goood idea, never thought about smelling rocks.. make scents..

 

Well its been in water with movement. I am not sure how long the tank has been taken down. I dont want to ask too many questions and bother the guy (it is only 3 dollars a pound and i would likely pickup only like 8 pounds max). I will definately smell it if i do meet with him. Other than that, based off the pictures in my opinion there does seem to be some coralline algae and different colors (so hopefully its healthy rock). I am not too worried about pests in my tank at the moment since i only have 1 chromis and I am just trying to have more biodiversity through adding rock from different peoples tanks (I only have a TON of bristleworms......... gross). Anyone know which piece i should pickup? Is that a sand dollar on one of the rocks?

 

i think it is a dead plate coral if we are talking about the same one.

 

Ask questions....your buying the rock after all...if he doesnt like it then thats just bad business.

You could also grab what you need and more if you want, then take it home and soak it in a rubbermaid with powerheads and heaters for a couple of weeks to let it cycle again if needed.

Monitor the water when everything is 0 you can add some pieces to your tank slowly.

Depending on the size of your tank, 1-2 lbs for smaller...10 lbs a week for larger.....if you want to be really safe!!!

 

Im just gonna hold off and try to find a more legitimate source on craigslist. Preferably one with pictures of it actually int he tank so i can see if its healthy or not. I am happy though, my live rock is starting to produce a slight tint of green (no coraline yet tho). I think its taking so long since i only have about 6 pounds of live rock and about 15 pounds of baserock. I just want a few more pounds of live rock from someone else tank to establish a nice diversity of creatures in the tank.

 

You keep on mentioning diversity in life, but you will care about pests when you have a a major issue. Your rolling the dice each time you buy live rock and put it in your tank w/o knowing what could be on it. You would be really surprised at what will eventually show itself in your tank if given the right conditions. I started out with basically no hitchikers, then as time went on I got stomatella, asterina stars, lots of isopods and amphiopods, brittle stars etc. I've also just had a tiny outbreak of bubble algae on my frogspawn skeleton. That coral has been in my tank for about a year and I've never had an issue with bubble algae, but it just popped up one day. So, IMO, and take it for what's it's worth, I would not add new live rock to an existing tank. I would bleach it and cycle it by it's self, then add it.