How to tell if its live rock?

[NU-2reef]

first off, if you base your judgement on the number of posts a person makes then you are unlikely to recieve ALL necessary info.

most shops here in the GVRD sell either cured live rock, uncured live rock or simply base rock. the best way to distinguish the cured vs uncured would be the smell. if it smells like the bay at low tide then there is plenty of die off and would mean the rock is uncured so expect a cycle.

cured rock still smells like the sea but it shouldnt make you gag.

my advice is to go with base rock. and get a few pieces of live rock to seed the bunch. plus the cost of base rock is nearly a third of the cost of live rock.