The rock is very easy to make, yes it takes a few weeks to cure, but so does live rock freshly taken from the ocean. If you mix in macaroni or some other noodle into the mixture it will disolve leaving pores. I have a few pieces in my tank, and after about 2 weeks I couldnt tell the difference from my fiji rock. A buddy of my has his entire tank full. looks great, cost him about $40 to make over 100 pounds. Cant say I will ever purchase live rock again after spending about $700 on the 160 pounds I have now. Aquacultured rock is a good way to go also, although it dosnt look near as good as pacific rock and is very dense. HTH