Quote:
Originally posted by siwelk
i dont think anyone can really tell exactly how long it takes for dead rock to become fully seeded. it is fine to use after it cures, which can take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks or more. it may not be filled with as much anaerobic bacteria on the inside as its live rock counterpart, but it should continually colonize as you will have introduced sources for this to occur.
i dont think it takes a whole lot of live rock for seeding purposes. ive seen a few ratios mentioned before...20%, 25%, 50%. ill be seeding 25lbs of marco rock with roughly 10lbs or so of fully cured hand-picked Kaelini rock from Premium Aquatics. once its all cured an in my tank, ill be adding livestock very slowly to give my seeded rock time to "catch up" with the new bio-load.
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Exactly what I was getting at. As long as you don't have misconceptions about the rock acting as a biological filter before being seeded, dry rock is great. The rock itself, does nothing but provide surface area. It is not until the bacteria colonize these areas that the rock becomes an effective filter media, and it may take months to fully mature.