Can base rock ever turn live???
- Thread starter peckhead
- Start date
chipmaker
Active Member
Originally Posted by Cannonman
yes, but you don't want to. You have to be careful on what kind of rock you put in there, some things, like concrete for example, can leach substances into the water that you don't want.
Sheeeeeeeesh it was a figure of speech...but what would be the difference in a chunk of concrete and home brew rocks........other than the sand used they still use lime based cement........bricks on the other hand are pretty darn inert once they are fired and should not leech anything.
yes, but you don't want to. You have to be careful on what kind of rock you put in there, some things, like concrete for example, can leach substances into the water that you don't want.
Sheeeeeeeesh it was a figure of speech...but what would be the difference in a chunk of concrete and home brew rocks........other than the sand used they still use lime based cement........bricks on the other hand are pretty darn inert once they are fired and should not leech anything.
fish-man-t
Member
Originally Posted by Cannonman
yes, but you don't want to. You have to be careful on what kind of rock you put in there, some things, like concrete for example, can leach substances into the water that you don't want.
true and false diy rock is comcrete and works just fine. you just have to cure it like it was live rock repeated water changes over a ffew months and it good. i got a 55 full of diy concrete rock and its fine+ will help ph lvl
yes, but you don't want to. You have to be careful on what kind of rock you put in there, some things, like concrete for example, can leach substances into the water that you don't want.
true and false diy rock is comcrete and works just fine. you just have to cure it like it was live rock repeated water changes over a ffew months and it good. i got a 55 full of diy concrete rock and its fine+ will help ph lvl
cannonman
Member
yeah, I know. I have some DIY in my tank, I just didn't want to go into all kinds of detail about it (Jeeeesh, just a figure of speech) the only point I was trying to make is you can't put just any old rock you find in your tank, you have to be careful what you put in there, some things can leach...that's all I was saying.
marineguys
Member
we've had base rock for 3.5 months now and nothing will touch it. not the bad algae. not the good algae. not the fish. not bugs. lol nada. thinking of taking it out. hope yours works out.
bellanavis
Active Member
When I make my DIY rock, I use the concret without lime in it. I thought that was what we were supposted to do.
aztec reef
Active Member
WHY dont you save the headakes and get high quality live rock. you can't compare live rock with base rock, it might become live but how will it look next to some nice fiji lr. different right? and you still have to make it live with fauna. and if you add a little lr to do so, you can't guaranty that fauna will trive in base rock like someone just said its been ignored. yeah it might save money but this is not a cheap hoby. MO
bellanavis
Active Member
Its fun to make your own, and you can make any shape you want.
ugluk
Member
I'm a beginner trying to start my own tank and trying to save a little $ so I've been looking into this topic and I have a few questions:
1) What base rock would you recomend thats would be both safe and asthetically pleasing. I awlays assumed my base rock would be the lava rock from my LFS but I would be more then happy to find a cheaper alternative.
2) If I put in the base & live rock in when just starting the tank would it have any effect on the cycling of the tank?
1) What base rock would you recomend thats would be both safe and asthetically pleasing. I awlays assumed my base rock would be the lava rock from my LFS but I would be more then happy to find a cheaper alternative.
2) If I put in the base & live rock in when just starting the tank would it have any effect on the cycling of the tank?
aztec reef
Active Member
Originally Posted by puffer32
Most of the rock you see in this pic is Tx holey rock. I have 125 lbs of LR and about 50 lbs of base rock. As you can se, its covered in algae, and it was 2 cents a lb.
in that case you could off gotten 125 lbs of base rock and 50lbs lr.
Most of the rock you see in this pic is Tx holey rock. I have 125 lbs of LR and about 50 lbs of base rock. As you can se, its covered in algae, and it was 2 cents a lb.
in that case you could off gotten 125 lbs of base rock and 50lbs lr.
puffer32
Active Member
Yeah, could have done that, but when I first set up the tank I went with 50 lbs of both, (LR came from SWF.com)the last 75 lbs was LR that i bought about 25 lbs at a time from a lfs who had LR with tons of life, shrooms, zoos etc, i was mostly buying the LR for the free stuff.
