Collecting live rock in bc
 

I'm assumin it's against the law but I really don't know has anyone collected live rock from anywhere in BC is this legal? And does the rock work as well as rock froma warmer waters

Hi,

Not really the same rock... Reef rock from the equator is built up of coral skeletons and is very porous, (lots of surface area for bacteria). Local rock would be made of other non-calcium materials and very dense. Is you were doing a coldwater tank you could use some to get the right "look".

So, unfortunately no. If you want to save money get some from a tank shut-down or use dry rock and make it "live" in your tank.

Reef Invertebrates by Anthony Calfo would be a great book for you. There is a whole chapter designated to what live rock is, what it does and how to handle it. I'll see if I can find a good online article for free...

Heres a collection of articles on Live Rock on this site http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22062

If you put cold water rock in a warm tank you're going to have a big die off and a huge spike. You also won't be getting any of the beneficial bacteria. As stated above, the rock here is very dense and not really suited to for use as Live Rock.

As for the legality, I don't recall the exat law I think it is OK to take a reasonable quantity as long as it is not from an "established habitat" (ie. the BC equivalent of a bustling reef) and it is not from a protected or Crown owned land. Collection of wildlife on the other hand is a lot sketchier. I've been tossing around the idea of a cold water tank for a while so I was looking into this some time back. I believe the Ministry of Fish and Wildlife has a site dedicated to answering these exact questions.

i may or may not have taken a few rocks back with me from cuba, a few real neat coral skeletons. I will post a couple pics, i am going to put them in my tank eventually but i need to boil them and make sure everything is dead before i destroy my tank with unwanted critters.

b

as mentioned before, not realy live rock in BC. what we have is normal rock which has weeds growing on it. any life attached to the rock would die in our tanks and you would get no bacteria benifit from local rock. so basicly could be a nice decoration but no functional value.

Steve