rock????????

[ohioballer]

live rock here in ohio is outragiously priced and shipping will kill me otherwise what type of rock is safe to put into make saltwater tank? I heard that lava rock was ok but i dont see how with it containing so many heavy metals in it.
Thank You for your insite into this topic it is greatly apprieciated

 

[nm reef]

First...several current members here are from Ohio...maybe somebody can point you in the direction of a good local source. Other than that our host does provide a quality product and there are numerous on-line sources. I've always bought mine from a LFS about 100 miles away...I prefer to see what I'm getting...and I like to hand select my individual rocks.

 

[ohioballer]

is there a rock that is in nature that you can find anywhere that could be used in a tank

 

[byrself]

there's rock called tufa rock, that you can use. but it will never be live until it's seeded with live rock or all the organisms associated with it. there are also live rock kits, which provide you with the ingredients to make your own rock. they can be found online. there's no substitute for good quality live rock though for a reef tank imo. good luck.

 

[ohioballer]

i have a good amount of live sand in my tank that is thriving

 

[byrself]

it will just take a long time for artificial rock to become live, and also you still won't have a coralline seed. maybe you could use some tufa rock or alternative as base rock, and just get a few pounds of good rock for the top. that would be a better way to seed it imo. the live sand is great, but you still need the coralline seed.

 

[ohioballer]

right now theres only one five lb. rock in there but theres alot of coraline growing on it and some polops of some kind with dusters

 

[bradsmack]

OhioBaller.. i dont know what part of Ohio your from but, i live in Angola Indiana, it is right next to the ohio indiana border, I work at the LFS here called Sea Dwellers and Friends. We have been getting really awesome live rock from Marshall Islands that has just been great stuff, we also just resetup our 180 gal reef and removed about 30 lbs of 5 year old LR with coralline algae at least a .25 inch thick on it! Its all for sale at 6.00 per pound.. You can "handpick" whatever you want. good deal. hope that helps some..
Ive also had people use Lace Rock as rock for their saltwater aqurium..