live rock

[tyler1503]

From my experience you want pieces of rock that feel much lighter than they look. This means they are very porous and have a lot of surface area for all the good bacteria and stuff to grow on. It's also a bit cheaper as most places sell rock based on their weight, so the lighter pieces will cost less. Plus it makes it a lot easier to break into different sized pieces.
As for a variety of shapes and sizes, you could find the right pieces in dry rock and add a few pieces of live rock to the tank so coralline will spread that way. Also if you go to the LFS and ask them for some coralline scrapings they may let you have some for free. Just dump the scrapings in the tank and in time it will attach to the rocks and grow
Some people will say using dry rock will make your initial cycle take a lot longer to complete. This is not true at all (I understand experiences vary from tank to tank/person to person, so they may have experienced this, but taking months to cycle is not something that is probable if it's done properly). I've used 100% dry rock on 3 different tanks and the longest it ever took was 5 weeks.
You mentioned earlier about dipping live rock into cold water or high salinity water to get rid of any hitchhikers. My LFS does this, but he uses room temperature fresh water, soaks it for 5-10 minutes and puts it in his tanks. He gets rid of most hitchhikers, especially shrimp and crabs. I often see worms and such still in there though. The coralline and most other algaes will still survive, but quite a few of the hitchhikers will jump out

 

[Karen]

Tyler, thanks so much for chiming in. I was hoping that somebody with more answers than I would.

 

[TBAquaculture]

You can dip the rock in a hypo salinity solution to attempt to rid it off some unwanted hitchhikers. This will kill some of your bacteria and good hitchhikers also, but not all. There is a lot of the life deep within the rock.
Your best bet if you are starting out is to add the rock and sand to your tank for the initial cycle, during that time remove any unwanted hitchhikers then begin to add livestock to the tank.

 

[b-gin-86]

yeah thank you tyler for the info. sadly i do not have LFS that carry that type of live rock. basically all they have is regular white rock that has been kept in saltwater and i have to drive an hour just to reach that one store lol. i think i will try and order some off the internet but i would really like to look at what i am buying first. i looked up Bulk Reef Supply and they seem to have some rock with character. Ill try a little and see what it looks and feels like.

 

[b-gin-86]

if anyone has any other suggestions i appreciate all information. thanks