How can I tell if the LFS sold me DEAD Live Rock?

Where did you put the photos? I don't have alt.binaries.pictures.nature in my
list of newsgroups.

let me know one you do have and I'll post them there. Heck I could put them in a.b.test if you want.

Wally I'm sorry to say that around here I've seen nice rock going for about $15lb and on avrage of
$8-10 for base

Thanks for your continuing replies guys/gals. I am very grateful for your
input. Last night while looking over the rock I noticed and then posted a
comment that I had found "Aptasia" or "Glass Anemone" on the side of my tank
on the glass, and later found another one on the live rock, and this
morning I have discovered green "Bubble Algae" on the live rock. I'm glad
to have found something that's actually alive untill I read up on it on the
net and discover that these are both PEST's. lol Both should be removed
as quickly as possible or well ... you know.
Just before reading my posts here I found some sort of critter in the
rock. I can't see much yet but it looks like a baby starfish with long
tentacles and red and white banding on the legs/arms. Just to make sure it's
an animal and not some plant, I used a stainless steel TIG rod to touch it
and it pulled it's arms/legs back in quickly. ( I'm a TIG welder, so I
assume that stainless steel in the salt water will not leech anything into
it). So at least the rock has something to offer along the lines of living
things.
I didn't mention this but I am "sort of" color blind ... when I was
talking to my 11 year old son about what good live rock should look like, he
said ... " you mean blue algae like that Dad?" .. and he pointed out blue
and green and pink algae on the rock .. go figure. . . it's there .. I just
can't see it ... not alot of it .. but it's there.
One more question... the LFS guy told me to NOT add any snails, crabs,
cleaner shrimp to the tank yet. I didn't get a chance to ask him why, but he
didn't hear my whole story on the tank... maybe he thought I had a virgin
tank that's just set up, which it is not. The tank has cycled for three
months with just two fish in it, with crushed coral only. No water changes
all that time. Before introducing the live rock a week ago, my PH was 8.3,
nitrates were 0, so I'm assuming that I could add just one or two cleaners
in there to keep the rock free of crab and to break down the "detris" on the
bottom. From what I have read on nano tanks ... my next move would be to
purchase some Astrea snails to clean up ... would this be a good move?

Again .. thank you all for your replies, this is very helpful...and
also, when I mention that I have learned something from the 'net' to my LFS
guy ... he tells me that the net is full of crap ... OMG. Maybe one site
might be a little left of center .. but if you read up on 10 fish sites and
9 of them say "don't put this in your nano tank" .. then I'm not going to
put it in my tank.

Caper
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

* wrote, On 8/16/2006 9:03 AM:
Where did you put the photos? I don't have alt.binaries.pictures.nature in my
list of newsgroups.

let me know one you do have and I'll post them there. Heck I could put them in a.b.test if you want.

Wally I'm sorry to say that around here I've seen nice rock going for about $15lb and on avrage of
$8-10 for base


How about alt.binaries.aquaria, closest I could find on-topic.
Thanks!
Cindy

Yep it's a brittle star.
One thing about the internet, is that some people will be
wrong, but there are plenty of people that can say, no
this is not correct.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Noah Body wrote on 8/16/2006 10:59 AM:
Thanks for your continuing replies guys/gals. I am very grateful for your
input. Last night while looking over the rock I noticed and then posted a
comment that I had found "Aptasia" or "Glass Anemone" on the side of my tank
on the glass, and later found another one on the live rock, and this
morning I have discovered green "Bubble Algae" on the live rock. I'm glad
to have found something that's actually alive untill I read up on it on the
net and discover that these are both PEST's. lol Both should be removed
as quickly as possible or well ... you know.
Just before reading my posts here I found some sort of critter in the
rock. I can't see much yet but it looks like a baby starfish with long
tentacles and red and white banding on the legs/arms. Just to make sure it's
an animal and not some plant, I used a stainless steel TIG rod to touch it
and it pulled it's arms/legs back in quickly. ( I'm a TIG welder, so I
assume that stainless steel in the salt water will not leech anything into
it). So at least the rock has something to offer along the lines of living
things.
I didn't mention this but I am "sort of" color blind ... when I was
talking to my 11 year old son about what good live rock should look like, he
said ... " you mean blue algae like that Dad?" .. and he pointed out blue
and green and pink algae on the rock .. go figure. . . it's there .. I just
can't see it ... not alot of it .. but it's there.
One more question... the LFS guy told me to NOT add any snails, crabs,
cleaner shrimp to the tank yet. I didn't get a chance to ask him why, but he
didn't hear my whole story on the tank... maybe he thought I had a virgin
tank that's just set up, which it is not. The tank has cycled for three
months with just two fish in it, with crushed coral only. No water changes
all that time. Before introducing the live rock a week ago, my PH was 8.3,
nitrates were 0, so I'm assuming that I could add just one or two cleaners
in there to keep the rock free of crab and to break down the "detris" on the
bottom. From what I have read on nano tanks ... my next move would be to
purchase some Astrea snails to clean up ... would this be a good move?

Again .. thank you all for your replies, this is very helpful...and
also, when I mention that I have learned something from the 'net' to my LFS
guy ... he tells me that the net is full of crap ... OMG. Maybe one site
might be a little left of center .. but if you read up on 10 fish sites and
9 of them say "don't put this in your nano tank" .. then I'm not going to
put it in my tank.

Caper
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia