Lets talk about rock!

[MizTanks]

No body talks about their rock! One of the most important parts of our tanks and we don't discuss it. Why is this? Is it something we just take for granted? Is it something so common that we don't feel the need to discuss it?

When I first started my tank I got more advise on what, lights, salt, substrate, water and types of filtration to use. Not once did anyone tell me what to look for when it came to rock. Nor did I find anything giving the true definition of the types of rock there are out there for me to use. (I'm not speaking solely about CR. I started my tank 4 months before I found CR)

So it's taken me over a year to learn what rock is, and how big a part it plays in the health and welfare of my tank.

Here's a *little* of what I've learned about the rock we keep in out tanks. There's live rock, cured/cycled rock, dry dead rock, dry clean rock, eco rock, pukani rock, fiji rock and the other rock. I've learned a lot from buying (what I've termed to be yucky rock) from an LFS. This rock is a LR kept in a tank with very little flow, wrong kind of lighting and no filtration at all. What did I get? 6 months of HA and the loss of many corals from HA. I also got an abundance of bristle worms and even an Xanthid crab which eats corals. As a newb I had no idea what to or not to look for when buying LR. This was my experience with buying LR, not a very good one either, and as a newb I can truly attest to the meaning of, *wishing I knew then what I know now*
With CR being they one and only salt water forum that I go to for everything related to starting and keeping a healthy, thriving and successful salt water tank. I no longer feel that anyone has to go through what all I went through when it comes to buying one of the most important items to go into out tanks.

So lets hear it peoples! What do you know about the rock you have in your tank? How much did you know about it before you put it into your tank? Did you know what to look for when you bought it? Did it matter to you (if live) how the rock was being kept at your LFS? Did you buy it online?

I will always support my local LFS and do so often. But there are just some things that they (here) cannot supply me. Good rock is one of them. Not their fault, it's all they too can get U.P. here

I bought my new Pukani dry from BRS. I paid $93.00 for 30# shipped. I knew what I was getting. What was in and on it. Not bad at all when it came to $10 a pound for live at the LFS.
I love the color, the many different shapes and how easy it is to aquascape with. It's also very easy for me to break up if I want a little piece here, there or just for adding new polyps onto it. I like knowing how to cure my rock. I especially like knowing that by throwing in a nice size bag of carbon into the mix, the smell is greatly minimized, thank God cause it's in my living room.

My dry Pukain

I'm sure I could find more to say on the subject of ROCK but I'll give everyone else a chance to chime in. So lets here it my fellow reefers, what about your rock!!!