DIY Live Rock Recipes?

[TheVillageIdiot]

i think one of your best options is to ask the lfs for a cup or two of their sand, that should contain a lot of nice critters in it... i don't know if that will have everything you want though, i plan on adding a few very small pieces of live rock to my tank (5-10lbs at most) to help w/ the seeding process...

 

[leaffish75]

You could scrap some coraline off the glass of a friends tank then drop those scrapings into your tank infront of a power head. do this at the first of the month then at the end of the month then wait. you should have a healthy boost then. I recomend the first and end because i like to give time for any die off and to let some have time to settle out.

 

[paradoxblue]

i jsut made my first rock

was 8 parts portland. 1 part crushed coral and half a part play sand. looks really nice. cant wait to get it in cycling in the tanka nd get the colored stuff on it

 

[knight34]

bump

 

[perpetual98]

What about curing them in a lake or river? I can't imagine there would be any side effects to the body of water that they're in, and they may cure a little faster because of the constant supply of fresh water. Just a thought.

 

[ODOG]

paradox...sounds like you pretty much reversed the formula, I'm not sure if that would have any ph side effects of if your rock is just gonna be way to dense.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

just make sure there isn't anything bad in the water... you could risk some pollution getting into the rocks...

 

[hckycoz]

if you cure them in the river for a while then cured them in a bucket for a week i would think they would be fine. but i would put them in fresh bucket for a week just to be sure

 

[perpetual98]

Maybe I'll give it a whirl one of these days. I have access to a crystal clear, spring-fed lake where I could pop them in for a month and let them do their thing.

 

[rick17]

Insted of oyster shells can i us shells that the sell for decoration the got small bags at the dollard store and would they be easyer to cure than the oyser ones

 

[Bene']

"Another question, who has used entirely dead/base rock for their reef and then seeded? How did you seed? How did you light until established? Did you run your protein skimmer while seeding? That kind of stuff."

Sambo-
I have used only seeds and if I ever started from scratch again I would do the same. A fair number of things I'd do different now, but that part would remain the same.
I started the seed tank when I began making the rock, by the time the rock was cured the seeds were about as "clean" as they were likely to get.
Upon verification that all was functioning in the tank the seeds went in. Skimmer running, all pumps going, lights at regular intensity and interval, etc.

 

[scuglass]

i read on garf.org that they crush a piece of lr covered in coraline with a hammer then spread it all over the tank and run without skimmer

 

[scuglass]

also i picked up some strealized play sand from rona and made rocks 1part portland 6 parts sand 2 parts plastic

is this play sand alright cause i dont really feel like paying 50 bucks for aragonite

 

[Bene']

scuglass-
Crushing rock is a good way to spread things around, though I would either "cook" it before crushing or possibly rinse it in fresh saltwater before just tossing the crumbs in a tank. I couldn't crush any of my seeds as they had livestock attached.

The playsand shouldn't be a problem if clean but I personally cough up the cash for aragonite. The advantages are worth the cost in my opinion.

 

[scuglass]

what are tha main advatages of aragonite?

buffers or somthin?? please clarify this

 

[Bene']

In my opinion a few Advantages are:
- More micro pourosity. Surface area "up to 10,000 sq inches per cubic inch".
- Disolves over time so has at least some buffering ability.
- Looks better than brown or tan play sand. White playsand excluded.

 

[The Shrimp X]

i would like to use play sand because of the cheepness, but what are some things that i have to make sure it doesnt have? Silica? ???

 

[leaffish75]

yep, most playsand will have silica which will cause alage problems

 

[sales weasel]

I used swimming pool filter sand but only as my sand bed for molding. Bought it at HD. I used AragAlive substrate for my actual rock. I found a supply that had expired and bought it for $5/bag. Since AragAlive is supposed to have living bacteria, it has an exp date.

 

[sambo]

Thanks for the replies. I hope to seed with a small amount of live rock and sand. Also thought of using some Aragalive and maybe a little "grunge", crushed live rock as near as I can figure.