Live Rock v.s. Base Rock

What is the difference between live rock and base rock?

 

ones dry and one is wet and have living stuff on it.

 

live rock costs a lot more...lol....best to buy just base rock and seed with a little bit of live...

 

Live rock has living bacterial colonies and other animals. Base rock is dry and dead. It may contain dead material or it may not.

 

Will the Base Rock ever turn into Live Rock?

 

Live rock is rock that has been taken out of salt water, either the ocean or some large inland salt water reservoirs and is thus populated with bacteria and other life forms that are welcome in a reef set up, but also possibly many things that would not be welcome

examples , Aiptasia and Majano nems, Crabs, Pistol shrimp, all manner of algaes etc

Base rock is rock that has been cleaned and stored dry and as such there are no life forms on it when you get it, although bacteria will colonise it onces its been in your tank for a while

Steve

 

Yes over time it does

 

just to be clear - "over time" = about 6 weeks in the tank.

 

Can i have fish in the tank when I put new base rock in

 

If it's an already established tank and your adding the rock yes. Don't make any other changes to the tank for 4 to 6 weeks after adding the base rock to let it start building a sustainable bacteria colony.
If it's a new tank your just setting up then I would say no, add the rock and a peice of raw shrimp to start the cycle and leave it be for several weeks until your test kits show the end of the initial cycle has completed.