How to tell if its live rock?

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by 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.

Sure, but as a newbie he/she could pay top dollar for wet base rock and have no idea if it was liverock (cured or otherwise) or base rock if the decision is based solely on smell.

If the rock is being purchased from a member then you certainly are better off ensuring that member has a good reputation on this board. If the rock is coming from a LFS then you're less likely to be mislead (although it's not totally out of the question).