<h2>this depends on where you get your live rock, is it wild or farmed.</h2>
<p>Many live rock sources are &quot;farms&quot; Aquaculture sites, where some source rock is placed in the ocean or land sites with ocean water for a few months/years so stuff starts to grow on it. Its pretty low impact as far as aquaculture goes. Esspeically if they are using platforms, land sites, or anything that does not involve just piling the stuff on the ocean floor. Now of course any industrial practice is going to have a carbon footprint, but in general the practie is failrly sustainable.</p>
<p>Many places use <strong>limestone</strong> as the source rock which is pretty mid for both quality and impact. It generally needs ot be treated to be useful which raises the impact. Better organizations are switching to getting the starter rock from <strong>dryland fossil coral reefs</strong> which is far more enviromentally freindly AND works a lot better. Its not technically sustainable becasue the source of the rock is finite buuuut... there is a LOT of it and its getting ground up for roads instead so you are encouraging better use of the resource. this is a far better use of the rock AND has a very high benefit for the often poor communities involved. It gets some bad press because it is technically not sustainable but the fossil reefs are getting ground up regardless so the impact is the same regardless. But when ground up for live rock instead of road fill it employes more poeple (such as picking out bigger/prettier peices) and nets the community a LOT more money. All these different practices need a source rock so there mining no matter what.</p>
<p><strong>Live rock harvest directly from living reefs AKA wild harvest</strong> is incredibly distructive. In theory it could be the most sustainable if people were willing to not harvest too much but that almost never happens. The vast majority of the time it is pretty aweful. Just like harvesting natural timber stands it is all about how much is taken vs natural replacment rates, which would need ot be very small. Which is why several places have bans it is just never sustainable in practice.  It is very harmful and used the be the most common but is now becoming rare.</p>
<p><strong>Concrete/argocrete/handmade</strong> live rock on the other hand has a lot more variables, mostly due to the high carbon footprint from manufacture of the portland cement. Another big councern is where they get their starter rock &amp; sand. If harvested from oyster shells or other waste products it is by far the most sustainable in current practice, esspeically for bigger peices. If it is crushed limestone it takes a big hit but can still be on par with lower quality fossil coral.</p>
<p><strong>To sum up artifical concrete and fossil reef rock is more or less the same, one has the carbon footprint from mining the other from portland cement manufacture. Both are better than limestone and all are vastly better than live coral in practice.</strong></p>
<p>The second step of farming corals/microorganisms on the rock to make it &quot;live rock&quot; is very sustainable. Most current practice are very sustainable with little diffrence in overall impact.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/management_papers/fmp196.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source 1</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229995702_Aquacultured_Live_Rock_as_an_Alternative_to_Imported_Wild-Harvested_Live_Rock_An_Update" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source 2</a></p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119169147.ch20" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source 3</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229995702_Aquacultured_Live_Rock_as_an_Alternative_to_Imported_Wild-Harvested_Live_Rock_An_Update" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source 4</a></p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=pfpAJITWWr0C&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PA185&amp;dq=AQUACULTURE%20OF%20LIVE%20ROCKS%20environmental%20impact&amp;ots=WB00RwDzCY&amp;sig=TdfSkMcBCKh8sT1pTET3jDOHS3w#v=onepage&amp;q=AQUACULTURE%20OF%20LIVE%20ROCKS%20environmental%20impact&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source 5 with highlights</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-26T16:11:36.163Z
2024-12-26T16:41:05.753Z
2024-12-26T16:41:05.753Z
John
<p>Is extracting live rock for aquarium usage harmful to the environment/oceans?</p>
<p>I know that much of the Live Rock trade comes directly from the ocean. Should aquarium owners be worried about the environmental impact?</p>
<p>Or is this practice primarily harmless to the global marine ecosystems.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Preliminary Research</h2>
<p>A quote from <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121008122720/http://aquaristmagazine.com/What%20is%20live%20rock.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Aquarist Magazine</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where does it come from? Unlike in the freshwater trade, most of what you buy in the marine trade is likely to have been harvested from the sea and live rock is no exception. The majority of live rock sold has been collected from either the Caribbean or Indo-Pacific areas. It can be seeded using coralline rocks although this isn't the norm.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A Quote from <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110928092553/http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/liverockberlinsetups/a/aaliverockfaq.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">About.com</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Live rock is found in the reef areas of the oceans. Currently, most live rock used in the aquarium trade is harvested from the either the Caribbean or the Indo-Pacific areas. While it is illegal to harvest live rock in Hawaii, base rock is being quarried on the island of Oahu.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-24T23:37:22.827Z
Define "safe". However: of course not - despite whatever they say. It's non-essential harvest in sensitive ecosystems for the sake of putting stuff from there to whereever you live.
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-26T00:10:11.910Z
@trondhansen I have updated my post to include preliminary research.
user2231142
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-26T17:00:02.253Z
I was studying rock chemistry in aquariums recently through gpt and it's pretty good for getting broad ideas of aquarium chemistry. I would try and avoid stuff that is industrially mined from a live reef, some regions are fairly ruined by trawling, fishing, blasts. I put in seashells, basalt and limestone in mine. best to get some organism seeds for limestone.
bandybabboon
<environmental-protection>
Is it environmentally safe to buy live rock for my saltwater aquarium?
user2231142
# Is it environmentally safe to buy live rock for my saltwater aquarium?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-24)

Is extracting live rock for aquarium usage harmful to the environment/oceans?

I know that much of the Live Rock trade comes directly from the ocean. Should aquarium owners be worried about the environmental impact?

Or is this practice primarily harmless to the global marine ecosystems.

---

## Preliminary Research

A quote from [Aquarist Magazine](https://web.archive.org/web/20121008122720/http://aquaristmagazine.com/What%20is%20live%20rock.html):

> Where does it come from? Unlike in the freshwater trade, most of what you buy in the marine trade is likely to have been harvested from the sea and live rock is no exception. The majority of live rock sold has been collected from either the Caribbean or Indo-Pacific areas. It can be seeded using coralline rocks although this isn't the norm.

A Quote from [About.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110928092553/http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/liverockberlinsetups/a/aaliverockfaq.htm):

> Live rock is found in the reef areas of the oceans. Currently, most live rock used in the aquarium trade is harvested from the either the Caribbean or the Indo-Pacific areas. While it is illegal to harvest live rock in Hawaii, base rock is being quarried on the island of Oahu.

**Tags:** environmental-protection

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Define "safe". However: of course not - despite whatever they say. It's non-essential harvest in sensitive ecosystems for the sake of putting stuff from there to whereever you live.  
> **username_0**: @trondhansen I have updated my post to include preliminary research.  
> **username_2**: I was studying rock chemistry in aquariums recently through gpt and it's pretty good for getting broad ideas of aquarium chemistry. I would try and avoid stuff that is industrially mined from a live reef, some regions are fairly ruined by trawling, fishing, blasts. I put in seashells, basalt and limestone in mine. best to get some organism seeds for limestone.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-12-26. Score: 0

## this depends on where you get your live rock, is it wild or farmed.

Many live rock sources are "farms" Aquaculture sites, where some source rock is placed in the ocean or land sites with ocean water for a few months/years so stuff starts to grow on it. Its pretty low impact as far as aquaculture goes. Esspeically if they are using platforms, land sites, or anything that does not involve just piling the stuff on the ocean floor. Now of course any industrial practice is going to have a carbon footprint, but in general the practie is failrly sustainable.

Many places use **limestone** as the source rock which is pretty mid for both quality and impact. It generally needs ot be treated to be useful which raises the impact. Better organizations are switching to getting the starter rock from **dryland fossil coral reefs** which is far more enviromentally freindly AND works a lot better. Its not technically sustainable becasue the source of the rock is finite buuuut... there is a LOT of it and its getting ground up for roads instead so you are encouraging better use of the resource. this is a far better use of the rock AND has a very high benefit for the often poor communities involved. It gets some bad press because it is technically not sustainable but the fossil reefs are getting ground up regardless so the impact is the same regardless. But when ground up for live rock instead of road fill it employes more poeple (such as picking out bigger/prettier peices) and nets the community a LOT more money. All these different practices need a source rock so there mining no matter what.

**Live rock harvest directly from living reefs AKA wild harvest** is incredibly distructive. In theory it could be the most sustainable if people were willing to not harvest too much but that almost never happens. The vast majority of the time it is pretty aweful. Just like harvesting natural timber stands it is all about how much is taken vs natural replacment rates, which would need ot be very small. Which is why several places have bans it is just never sustainable in practice. It is very harmful and used the be the most common but is now becoming rare.

**Concrete/argocrete/handmade** live rock on the other hand has a lot more variables, mostly due to the high carbon footprint from manufacture of the portland cement. Another big councern is where they get their starter rock & sand. If harvested from oyster shells or other waste products it is by far the most sustainable in current practice, esspeically for bigger peices. If it is crushed limestone it takes a big hit but can still be on par with lower quality fossil coral.

**To sum up artifical concrete and fossil reef rock is more or less the same, one has the carbon footprint from mining the other from portland cement manufacture. Both are better than limestone and all are vastly better than live coral in practice.**

The second step of farming corals/microorganisms on the rock to make it "live rock" is very sustainable. Most current practice are very sustainable with little diffrence in overall impact.

[Source 1](https://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/management_papers/fmp196.pdf)

[Source 2](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229995702_Aquacultured_Live_Rock_as_an_Alternative_to_Imported_Wild-Harvested_Live_Rock_An_Update)

[Source 3](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119169147.ch20)

[Source 4](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229995702_Aquacultured_Live_Rock_as_an_Alternative_to_Imported_Wild-Harvested_Live_Rock_An_Update)

[Source 5 with highlights](https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pfpAJITWWr0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA185&dq=AQUACULTURE%20OF%20LIVE%20ROCKS%20environmental%20impact&ots=WB00RwDzCY&sig=TdfSkMcBCKh8sT1pTET3jDOHS3w#v=onepage&q=AQUACULTURE%20OF%20LIVE%20ROCKS%20environmental%20impact&f=false)


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