base rock

[importfan878]

is base rock a bad thing, i wanna go cheap on my 40B, and im only home one day a week in the summer so i was wondering if my base rock will beocme live in a few months if i seed it with soem live rock, i read base rock causes algae prolbelms?

 

[starseed]

I don't know about algea problems.

But... I used a very large piece of dead coral skeleton with live rock and it didn't take to long to grow life - 3 years later the rock is filled with mini-brittles, coreline, worms, etc. Actually, it's been one of the best peice of live rock in my tank.

I would imagine it would take much longer to age your tank - 18 months to 2 years before coral, but don't know. I guess that depends on is your are starting with 50/50 base/live - that would seed much faster - or 75% base and 25% live, that would take much longer.

Anyone with direct expereince here?

 

[importfan878]

also anyone have some picks of base now live rock, i dont thnk 2 years, ive read 3-4 months

 

[starseed]

3-4 month - maybe, but mine took at least 6 and a year to look like the rest on my live rock.

Here are two (not the best) pics

 

[wetWolger]

IME it take about 9 months for the bace rock to not be a complete eye sore, and about 1 year for it to accually start blending in with the live rock. I use a lot of bace rock because I am cheap, and I like some of the shapes you can get with it. But even after 3 years it is not fully blending in with my live rock.