anyone ever use tufa rock?

[TKByrnes]

I was looking at this stuff today at a lfs. it looks like lr and feels like lr. very porus and in really cool shapes. I was just wondering if anyone has ever used it before? I was thinking about setting up another tank and possibly trying it out. I just wanted to get on here and find out if anyone has used it before. I know it would take a while before it becomes "live" anyone????

 

[ambaratur]

I used 50 lbs of tufa rock as base rock for my 125. I then bought 90 more lbs from liveaquaria to seed it with.

I like it - it is very light and porous and I think it will be a good bacteria haven.

Only added it 1 week ago so I can not give you more information. The only downside was the shapes but for base rock it is not a problem and it would be very easy to reshape it with a hammer.

 

[MayoBoy]

I believe that tufa can potenially have phosphate issues but you'd be best off testing it yourself. It may be one of those "it happened to a friend of a friend" sort of things or it happened to one person and therefore got a bad reputation.

 

[ambaratur]

Here is a picture of it. None of it is aquascaped yet.

The live rock is on top of the tufa. The live rock is pretty nice - looks more boulderish in the picture than it really is because of how it is stacked. I actually have a few nice shelf pieces in there. Still curing the rock in the tank and scrubbing it. Boy it really smells bad! heh heh heh

 

[TKByrnes]

Ok so It would be ok in a tank that is going to get setup and basicly cure for about 2 months before anything at all goes in it! I would seed it with some fiji lr but I just wanted to make sure it would be ok.

 

[xDave]

Tufa is formed when water evaporates from lime-rich waters, leaving calcite (calcium carbonate) to crystallize, often with impurities of iron oxides (rust), which give tufa its yellow and red coloration.

 

[honeybee]

I have some in a mature reef and it is the only rock on which cyano seem to be a problem. I plan on replacing it with live rock.

Honeybee

 

[TKByrnes]

hummmm... well maybe just use it as base and cover it all with fiji lr... Im really asking for a friend that is setting up a tank and just gave her a possibility to use it. if it has good results them i will use it on my next tank.