Dry live rock?

[Buckeye Ken]

I’m setting up my first ever saltwater tank and decided to use dry rock for aquascaping. I know that nitrifying bacteria can be added to the tank from a bottle, but other kinds of beneficial bacteria are best seeded by purchasing live rock. Yesterday I went to my LFS to buy a pound or so of live rock and was surprised to see that their “live rock” was dry. I was expecting it to be wet. When I asked about it, the sales guy said the dry rock was in fact live rock, but the bacteria were dormant. He said when the rock is put into saltwater the bacteria would become active. Does this make sense?

 

[mdb_talon]

Lol a LFS calling it live rock is BS. I am not saying it is bad rock, but it is certainly not live rock. Heck i got some dry rock been in my basement for years. Loaded with dormant algae. I should sell it as live rock.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Its actually ruining the hobby for new ppl. My carpenter turned friend setup a reef tank and told me he added LR. I had to break it to him and let him know its just painted rock that they claim to have bacteria spores that activate when in water - which is biggest load of crap