seahorse06
New Member
we are getting a 90gl. tank soon and i'm thinking of curing cenderblocks for some base rock and placing live rock on and in front of it then lacing it with corals. is it possialbe to do this to save money to buy good corals
making base rock
- Thread starter seahorse06
- Start date
scsinet
Active Member
I went through this a short time ago while brainstorming moneysaving ideas for putting rock in a FO tank to provide hiding spots for the fish. One thing you might consider looking into is the Caribsea rocks. If you google "Caribsea Reef Rock" you should find it.
They have several types. Some come out to like $1/lb... pretty decent, plus you don't have to worry about your homemade rocks poisoning your tank. Shop around... prices seem to vary quite a bit on where you go.
They have several types. Some come out to like $1/lb... pretty decent, plus you don't have to worry about your homemade rocks poisoning your tank. Shop around... prices seem to vary quite a bit on where you go.
wieselspor
Member
I need some new live rock or base rock as i expand to a 75g tank. Will the carbisea turn into live rock (have all the same benifits). And thinking about makeing some agricrete from garf, how long does it take to cure and be ready for the tank after making it??
scsinet
Active Member
Any reef-safe rock that you put into your tank will become "live." Live rock isn't anything more than plain old calcerous rock that has become encrusted with life such as macro-algae, feather dusters, tiny animals like brittle starts, amphipiods, etc. If you throw any rock into a marine system that's safe for it, it will eventually become live.
The more LR you have to seed your BR with, the faster this process will take. Be advised that BR can't perform any biological filtration functions until this process is pretty much complete.
The more LR you have to seed your BR with, the faster this process will take. Be advised that BR can't perform any biological filtration functions until this process is pretty much complete.
seahorse06
New Member
thank you for the info. i bought a large amount of rock from LFS and has fought Brisstleworms for two years. that is why i thought of the blocks. thank you SCSnet for the site, saw it yesterday but without knowing i was scared to try them. i'm new on the net so don't trust many sites without referances. not many places to find good stuff 3 hours south of you.
seahorse06
New Member
i'm using there ARAG-ALIVE sand now, and plan to put 100 lbs. of there black sand in the 90 gal. tank anyway. never thought to see if they sold anything else, like i said i'm new on the net so everbody be kind it will take me awhile to learn to use this thing.
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by criminal
adding the caribsea reef rock won't send my tank into another cycle will it? or am i going to have to cure in a seperate tank and then add the rocks when they're fully cured?
Cycling a tank is the establishment of aerobic bacteria to break down wastes in the tank. Adding inanimate material, such as base rock, decorations, equipment, etc do not affect that process unless the materials have something in them to kill off that filtration. Any aquarium safe products that have been rinsed in RO or distilled water will not do that, including the Caribsea rocks.
Adding live rock to an established system won't even send the system into a cycle. When you add dead animal tissues to an aquarium, such as dead fish or inverts, uneaten food, or live rock that has not been fully cured, the rotting process releases ammonia. The biological colonies in the tank break that down. The biological colonies in a tank build themselves up to match the amount of waste being produced. That's why you can't add too many fish at once. Therefore, if you add a bunch of LR at once to a system that is not cured, the die off from the rock overwhelmes the biological colony of the tank and causes an ammonia spike. Nonetheless, this is NOT a cycle, but simply an ammonia excess caused by overwhelmed biological filtration.
Curing live rock is the process of adding it to a separate container that allows two things to happen. First, the container contains saltwater allowing what is alive on the rock to remain that way, alive. Secondly, it allows the dead matter on the rock that occured during handling and shipment to rot off. That way, when you transfer it to a new system, the LR has had it's dead matter removed so it doesn't load down the biological filtration. Since the Caribsea reef rock is not live by any means, it does not need to be cured.
Sorry if I am explaining things you already know, I just wanted to answer your question as completely as possible.
adding the caribsea reef rock won't send my tank into another cycle will it? or am i going to have to cure in a seperate tank and then add the rocks when they're fully cured?
Cycling a tank is the establishment of aerobic bacteria to break down wastes in the tank. Adding inanimate material, such as base rock, decorations, equipment, etc do not affect that process unless the materials have something in them to kill off that filtration. Any aquarium safe products that have been rinsed in RO or distilled water will not do that, including the Caribsea rocks.
Adding live rock to an established system won't even send the system into a cycle. When you add dead animal tissues to an aquarium, such as dead fish or inverts, uneaten food, or live rock that has not been fully cured, the rotting process releases ammonia. The biological colonies in the tank break that down. The biological colonies in a tank build themselves up to match the amount of waste being produced. That's why you can't add too many fish at once. Therefore, if you add a bunch of LR at once to a system that is not cured, the die off from the rock overwhelmes the biological colony of the tank and causes an ammonia spike. Nonetheless, this is NOT a cycle, but simply an ammonia excess caused by overwhelmed biological filtration.
Curing live rock is the process of adding it to a separate container that allows two things to happen. First, the container contains saltwater allowing what is alive on the rock to remain that way, alive. Secondly, it allows the dead matter on the rock that occured during handling and shipment to rot off. That way, when you transfer it to a new system, the LR has had it's dead matter removed so it doesn't load down the biological filtration. Since the Caribsea reef rock is not live by any means, it does not need to be cured.
Sorry if I am explaining things you already know, I just wanted to answer your question as completely as possible.
criminal
Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
Cycling a tank is the establishment of aerobic bacteria to break down wastes in the tank. Adding inanimate material, such as base rock, decorations, equipment, etc do not affect that process unless the materials have something in them to kill off that filtration. Any aquarium safe products that have been rinsed in RO or distilled water will not do that, including the Caribsea rocks.
Adding live rock to an established system won't even send the system into a cycle. When you add dead animal tissues to an aquarium, such as dead fish or inverts, uneaten food, or live rock that has not been fully cured, the rotting process releases ammonia. The biological colonies in the tank break that down. The biological colonies in a tank build themselves up to match the amount of waste being produced. That's why you can't add too many fish at once. Therefore, if you add a bunch of LR at once to a system that is not cured, the die off from the rock overwhelmes the biological colony of the tank and causes an ammonia spike. Nonetheless, this is NOT a cycle, but simply an ammonia excess caused by overwhelmed biological filtration.
Curing live rock is the process of adding it to a separate container that allows two things to happen. First, the container contains saltwater allowing what is alive on the rock to remain that way, alive. Secondly, it allows the dead matter on the rock that occured during handling and shipment to rot off. That way, when you transfer it to a new system, the LR has had it's dead matter removed so it doesn't load down the biological filtration. Since the Caribsea reef rock is not live by any means, it does not need to be cured.
Sorry if I am explaining things you already know, I just wanted to answer your question as completely as possible.
thats fine lol a long winded explaination but it answered my question thanks a lot!
Cycling a tank is the establishment of aerobic bacteria to break down wastes in the tank. Adding inanimate material, such as base rock, decorations, equipment, etc do not affect that process unless the materials have something in them to kill off that filtration. Any aquarium safe products that have been rinsed in RO or distilled water will not do that, including the Caribsea rocks.
Adding live rock to an established system won't even send the system into a cycle. When you add dead animal tissues to an aquarium, such as dead fish or inverts, uneaten food, or live rock that has not been fully cured, the rotting process releases ammonia. The biological colonies in the tank break that down. The biological colonies in a tank build themselves up to match the amount of waste being produced. That's why you can't add too many fish at once. Therefore, if you add a bunch of LR at once to a system that is not cured, the die off from the rock overwhelmes the biological colony of the tank and causes an ammonia spike. Nonetheless, this is NOT a cycle, but simply an ammonia excess caused by overwhelmed biological filtration.
Curing live rock is the process of adding it to a separate container that allows two things to happen. First, the container contains saltwater allowing what is alive on the rock to remain that way, alive. Secondly, it allows the dead matter on the rock that occured during handling and shipment to rot off. That way, when you transfer it to a new system, the LR has had it's dead matter removed so it doesn't load down the biological filtration. Since the Caribsea reef rock is not live by any means, it does not need to be cured.
Sorry if I am explaining things you already know, I just wanted to answer your question as completely as possible.
thats fine lol a long winded explaination but it answered my question thanks a lot!
criminal
Member
hey i'm a little upset with caribsea right now!
i ordered the reef bones. the 40lb box and it says 54 dollars or what not but after all the charges it's 104 dollars. and i do the tracking with UPS cause they gave me the tracking number thing and they say the box weighs in at 35 lbs not at least 40 like it should . . .
i ordered the reef bones. the 40lb box and it says 54 dollars or what not but after all the charges it's 104 dollars. and i do the tracking with UPS cause they gave me the tracking number thing and they say the box weighs in at 35 lbs not at least 40 like it should . . .
seahorse06
New Member
right now i'm new to this site, when i get alittle more comfortalbe i have been know to get long winded, ask wls4303 she will tell you, most of the time she just say yep ok. this is just a warning
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by criminal
hey i'm a little upset with caribsea right now!
i ordered the reef bones. the 40lb box and it says 54 dollars or what not but after all the charges it's 104 dollars. and i do the tracking with UPS cause they gave me the tracking number thing and they say the box weighs in at 35 lbs not at least 40 like it should . . .
Sounds to me like your beef is with the web site you ordered it from and not with Caribsea...
hey i'm a little upset with caribsea right now!
i ordered the reef bones. the 40lb box and it says 54 dollars or what not but after all the charges it's 104 dollars. and i do the tracking with UPS cause they gave me the tracking number thing and they say the box weighs in at 35 lbs not at least 40 like it should . . .
Sounds to me like your beef is with the web site you ordered it from and not with Caribsea...