DIY Live Rock?

[BrianOKC]

Ok my rock is finally cured I've put it into my tank. My question is how can i speed up the bacteria and all the good things from my live rock to the dead rock?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

You can't. It will do it all on it's own. Patience my friend.

 

[BrianOKC]

Travis how long did yours take?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Well, I have no way of telling how long it took bacteria to colonize because I don't have a microscope (yet). But it took about 6 months for the rock to look like the real thing. At about 3 months you start to notice a large change on the outside. I would say about a month or two and you will have a very sufficient amount of bacteria colonizing the rock.

 

[papagimp]

Brian, I purchased some "dead" reef rock from thatpetplace.com, came completely dry, and stark white. Whithin a month I had various algea starting to cover, a little coralline here and there, now two months later and it's darkened up, some nice coloration coming in, sponges everywhere, little wormy thingies pokin' out. Overall, I'd say my dead rock came along quite nicely and didn't seem to take too long to seed, although I'm sure several more months from now it'll be even better, some pieces look just like the live rock that's been in the tank for over a year now. I'd imagine that DIY rock would act similarly to Dead rock.

 

[captbunzo]

I'd be willing to bet that the microscopic life (bacteria) is in place within a month of being in a tank with live rock.

 

[herpchat]

Capt Bunzo;

What are you planning for a predator tank?