making your own coraline rock

[sharkboy]

I got some rock from the beach at Jensen Beach FL. It is composed of shells and sand compressed together. Most of it seems very dense, but has a lot of pores and holes in it. I would like to know (1) what kind of rock this is? (2) would it be possible to cure this into some coraline rock to use in my reef tank?
I've been reading on how to make your oun coraline rock using cenent and different types of rock. I would like to try to make my own if possible. It gets very expensive to buy coraline rock for a 55-90 gal. tank. I also know that it will take months of work to make this happen.
I would like any imput you might have, since this will be my first time.
Size of tank to cure about 100lbs of rock. Circulation and filtration.etc.

 

[saltaddict]

Francis
Here is my take on making your own LR with cement. I tried it and when you take into account the amount of time I spent researching it, locating and purchasing all the material (white cement so that I could get white rock instead of grey). Then the time to make it. Then you have to cure so I bought large plastic buckets to store it in. Changing the water daily to help aid the curing wait 8 weeks and still not cured. I felt I would have been beter served buying it on line. The extra 1 or 2 dollars a pound you pay over buying on line is well worth it when you take into account that time is money.

 

[doodle1800]

"Cured rock" means that there is no more die-off occuring with that piece of rock. A rock with life on it, taken out of the ocean, becomes uncurred because some of the life on it has died. So unless there was life on it, don't worry about curing it. If you already have fish in your tank, then don't add a lot at a time, there might be some curing and that might take a few weeks.
Making it coraline - or growing coraline algae on it takes time in your aquarium, from the calcium in your tank. Supplementing your water with calcium will build coraline on everything in your tank, including your rock. So.. before you do this, get a calcium test kit and make sure your level is somewhere between 420 and 450 ppm...
the pores in your rock are good - just keep stacking if you have multiple pieces and I wouldn't worry about cementing.