Live rock

[VFX]

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I go for nice looking, light weight (porous) rock with a nice covering of coralline.

I avoid boulder or brick shapes even as base rock.

I've never cooked live rock. I've always just hand picked fully cured (smell it when & you'll know when it's not cured) live rock from the LFS & have never really had any issues.

I had bubble algae once, I had aiptasia once, but nothing that required breaking down the tank or anything drastic to deal with.

Everybody has a different preference I guess...

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[kwirky]

i got for as porous rock as possible with as much stuff growing on it as possible. I look for unique macroalgae (stuff that ends up looking like broad leaves). I also look for encrusting corals because they often come back.