In my tank i have about 5/6kg of live rock in there, its been in there for about 2 weeks now, how do i know if its dead or not? It looks the same as when i bought it, and it have had no ammonia spikes or anything, but how would i know if it died?

Hello David and welcome I can't help you sorry as I am mainly coldwater, but hopefully one of the others will be able to soon ok

oh and i forgot to mention, the tank was set up previously for about 5 weeks before i added any livestock, my ammonia is 0, so is nitrite, and nitrate, and my ph is 8.5

Hum, kind of depends on what type of live rock i guess - is it an encrusting coral - i.e. just a coloured growth over the rock or something similar? In this case as long as it hasn't dramatically changed colour or anything its probably fine? Live rock is essentially just coraline colonies which often don't do anything exciting! What does your rock look like? Can you post a photo?

It seems ok, but since i'm new to marine, and i've been told soooo many different (and contrasting) pieces of informatation, and on live rock to, i thought its best just to check its still alive, since it is livestock at the end of the da

From what i can tell from your photo it look fine, you have encrusting corals so unless they start floating off the rock or changing colour rapidly you'll prob be ok. Keep an eye on your nitrate/trit/ammonia, phosphates etc levels as you have been. Don't expect them to growth too quickly either

thanks vry much, its good to know, rather than them floating off and me assuming its ok

My knowledge on this subject is very basic, but I will try.
The diffrence between live rock & dead rock is very little. live rock is colonated with plants & algae dead rock is mainly brown & not prolific. The colour is the important thing , but as it varies, some colour of any colour is preferable to brown dead algae.
First to keep an eye on the coloured patches, if they expand over a few days, that is the live algae.To recolonate dead patches of brown algae, remove the brown algae with water pressure(outlet from pump) and the live algae should re-colonate the patches. if this does not happen then use a toothbrush to remove the brown stuff and retry.
This process is known as curing, and it is advisable to do it in the tank with the same conditions that make it grow.
It does look as if your rock contains both dead & alive patches.
Dont forget to remove all dead algae from your tank with a syphon or simular as this is no good for your water or your fish.
When growing live rock or re-populating it check both calcium levels & alkaline levels. These are the most important factors to get right for re-colonisation.
I understand that turbo snails like the dying algae but not the dead algae and you might consider this as your next option.
One of the duties of a protein skimmer is to remove protein before it turns to ammonia.But you did say that levels were low or non-existant?. This is also a consideration when recolonating, though I doubt that some would agree with me.
Perhaps you can keep an eye on it over the next few days, measure & chart all the colour & let me know how you get on.
You can get me on the e.mail below or you can post on my inbox if I can help you any further
Regards
www.fishkeepingsupplies.com
Aquarium and Fish Supply Tropical

Thanks for that Mal

Thanks very much, i will try to sort it out, i will post another picture on here after i have done so, (ps, i'm goin out to get a new toothbrush to do it with)