How to tell if its live rock?

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by untamed

Of course, you don't get any good, interesting life either.

That's how it is with live rock. People have very different expectations of what is considered live rock. For some, LR is just a place to grow bacteria. For me, LR should be full of all kinds of life and have gone as quickly as possible from the ocean to a tank where my best efforts will be to keep as much alive as possible. (including unfortunately, some things I would prefer not to have)

+1... i got into this hobby to see some weird, wacky outrageous stuff living in my tank, and with nuked rock, you'll never get that. you will get a very boring monoculture of life with just enough stuff to qualify as biofiltration. straight from the ocean into my tank.. ill deal with whatever pests i might get. there's fish or chemicals for just about everything.