Live Rock last indefinitely?

[trondsbr]

I have been reading up on the life of live rock. From what I gather it is a filter in our systems. One thing I have noticed is that different sources claim that LR lasts different amounts of time. Apparently, to some sources, LR can fill up with junk and no longer be able to filter the way it should and their needs to be removed and cleaned or tossed and replaced with new. I am not going into the details of the "filtering" because I am assuming that we all know how it filters. A few times I came across claims that LR that has been in an aquarium can be full of phosphates. I am asking this because I purchased some live rock that was beautifully encrusted in coralline and had some yellow sponges growing on it. I got this from a local reef shop. I later found out that this rock I got was from a system that had been up for 10+ years and was recently taken down.

What do you think? Can LR be kept in our systems indefinitely and be efficient or does it turn to a leach.

 

[campos]

following along

 

[jeff@zina.com]

Everything can be true. It isn't necessarily though. Just keep testing and let your parameters tell you.

Jeff

 

[jim.l]

That's correct. It all depends on how the previous tank was maintained. If it was a successful long term SPS tank, odds are the rock is still excellent. If it was a poorly maintained FO tank, you probably have phosphates in it. The sponge and coraline would make me think it's in good shape, but only testing will tell you.

 

[Digitalelectric]

I posted a thread on here a few weeks ago about this. I had purchased live from from my LFS and assumed, just as anyone else, that it was new. Who actually thinks about where the live rock came from? Anyways After battling algae for months I had enough. I took the rock out and put it in a bucket and scrubbed it down with a toothbrush and gave it a vigorous bath. By the end of it all the water in the bucket looked like diarrhea. Sorry thats litterally what it looked like :fun2: Anyways after I put the rock back in the tank it had nice purple hue to it like a new paint job. Ever since my tank has been pristine.
My fiancée almost killed me however when she came home and saw the bucket full of poo.

Anyways I think like you pointed out live rock is a filter. And filters always need to be cleaned. The amount of detritus accumulation in the rock is Im sure directly correlated with the quality of the system that it came from.

 

[JoeRonda]

I posted a thread on here a few weeks ago about this. I had purchased live from from my LFS and assumed, just as anyone else, that it was new. Who actually thinks about where the live rock came from? Anyways After battling algae for months I had enough. I took the rock out and put it in a bucket and scrubbed it down with a toothbrush and gave it a vigorous bath. By the end of it all the water in the bucket looked like diarrhea. Sorry thats litterally what it looked like :fun2: Anyways after I put the rock back in the tank it had nice purple hue to it like a new paint job. Ever since my tank has been pristine.
My fiancée almost killed me however when she came home and saw the bucket full of poo.

Anyways I think like you pointed out live rock is a filter. And filters always need to be cleaned. The amount of detritus accumulation in the rock is Im sure directly correlated with the quality of the system that it came from.

Good point, about all filters need to be cleaned. About the life of L.R., I believe that it will last until it slowly dissolves. Since L.R. is broken pieces of living reefs it is made up of almost entirely calcium, so it is constantly being dissolved, right?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I doubt if anyone has every usefully compared the biological filtering capacity of new vs old rock of the exact same type and surface area/etc.. It wouldn't be an easy experiment to do, IMO.

FWIW, my system still has all of the original rock I used 15 years ago, plus more rock. Much of it is in my refugia, and when I look at it, it seems fine to me, but that says nothing about its actual utility.

 

[JoeRonda]

I doubt if anyone has every usefully compared the biological filtering capacity of new vs old rock of the exact same type and surface area/etc.. It wouldn't be an easy experiment to do, IMO.

FWIW, my system still has all of the original rock I used 15 years ago, plus more rock. Much of it is in my refugia, and when I look at it, it seems fine to me, but that says nothing about its actual utility.

Let me ask you this, when a system is as old as yours, how often and what kind of tests do you still perform? Also what are your P04 and N03's in a system where there is 15 or more year old LR? Thanks

 

[NYCBOB]

As long as you keep the rocks clean by blowing detritus off of it from time to time, the rocks should last forever.

 

[JoeRonda]

As long as you keep the rocks clean by blowing detritus off of it from time to time, the rocks should last forever.

You don't think they will dissolve like crushed coral, or driftwood in our freshwater tanks?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Let me ask you this, when a system is as old as yours, how often and what kind of tests do you still perform? Also what are your P04 and N03's in a system where there is 15 or more year old LR? Thanks

I rarely measure anything except salinity, temperature, and pH since it is very easy. I haven't measured phosphate or nitrate for years. I have lots of export methods (vinegar dosing, skimming, macroalgae, GAC, phosphate binders, etc). I don't think either is a problem at the moment, but I'm not sure if the rock contributes to that export. I think it does provide a place for lots of living creatures, from sponges to bacteria.

 

[jbonez]

why do you guys add vinegar to your tanks????

 

[Bigcefa]

vinegar is an organic carbon source, like vodka and sugar also biofuel it binds to bacteria that have consumed p04 and n03 and makes it easier for your skimmer to skim out and for filter feeders to feed on. People basically use it to keep nitrates and phosphates low

 

[ccalabro]

You don't think they will dissolve like crushed coral, or driftwood in our freshwater tanks?

Possibly, but we'll be long dead.