Greatest idea ever, or not so much?

[AquaKnight407]

Well, I've thought up a new way around the high costs of rock for my tank. What about just walking down the street and grabbing some? Would these rocks work? I think they're mostly dead coral/limestone, with shells and sand. The best part is there's everywhere in Florida. I would prep the rocks with a bleach bath for 3 days, then a dechlorinate bath for at least 5 days. I think they're pretty poroious, which was one of my concern about them being pretty solid, but they're not too bad. They look like your typical live rock Florida rock, just millions of years older lol. Any thoughts or opinions?

Here are couple I grabbed today...

[USC-fan]

i would be really worried about leaching stuff into my tank from the rock.

[Engine 7]

Looks good (and cheap). I would skip the 3 day bleach bath. I would be too concerned that it would absorb the bleach and then leech it days after being in your tank. I dont know if dechlorinating it would be enough.

Jeff

[virginiadiver69]

That looks like base rock to me! I would definitely explore this further.

[darkcirca]

Maybe even baking the rock could be an option..could help kill anything in it, might even be a decent first step, that way you kill it, then it clears out. If you put it in water put a few powerheads in to create some flow.

[avp]

If that's the same stuff I could find all over the Carolina coast, it's called marl. It's a type of fossilized limestone that is,other than the high density, worked fine. In fact, there were local mines in the area that would let you cherry pick pieces and charge you by weight. If I remember correctly, I was paying .40 a pound. Much better than live rock, eh?

-avp

ps: The mines were more like open pits/ gravel pits. Pieces were laying around all over, so within 10 -15 minutes, you could fill the back of a small pick up.

[AquaKnight407]

Hmmmmm..... Now you guys really are spiking my interest lol.

Avp, yea, it does look like you're typical coastal rock. This stuff is kinda dense, but I was actually surprised by all the nooks and crannies it has.

What about pressure washing these clean, and then cooking 'em?

[ricks]

I would not risk it... If it looks to good to be true, well you know the rest.. Think about down the road, fully stocked tank. lots of money and time involved, something starts to go wrong. can't figure it out. get the point???

If you want to save money get base rock from a good source and seed it yourself.

[King-Kong]

I'd more concerned with the fact that it could leach phosphates. Also, it's probably pretty dense.

[agoutihead]

What is bad about rock being dense?

[AquaKnight407]

Originally posted by agoutihead
What is bad about rock being dense?

I believe it being dense prevents it from filtering like typical live rock would. None of those little holes and pits for the break down of waste to occur. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


Kong, where/what would the phosphates come from? This stuff has been buried and only recently unearthed. Maybe from the ground soaking in water, and then harboring growth/decay that way? I think we just went above my head on this one and really would like you to explain a bit farther.

[xtm]

Where exactly was it buried? I'd be more concerned about pollutants like oil, copper, etc. You know, runoffs from residential areas.

[stevenw56]

I think ricks has it right. I wanted to do the same thing but then decided against it for the same reason ricks stated.

I've always went by the rule, if it isn't in the ocean don't put it in your reef.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by AquaKnight407
Kong, where/what would the phosphates come from? This stuff has been buried and only recently unearthed. Maybe from the ground soaking in water, and then harboring growth/decay that way? I think we just went above my head on this one and really would like you to explain a bit farther.

Something doesnt have to be a live or fresh in order to leech.

Phosphates can be both organic and inorganic, and this rock probably has plenty of inorganic in it that could dissolve.

..and, with this being Florida and all;

The Bone Valley is a region of central Florida, encompassing portions of present-day Hardee, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties, in which phosphate is mined for use in the production of agricultural fertilizer. Florida currently contains the largest known deposits of phosphate in the United States.

[rustybucket145]

Soak it in water for a couple weeks. Then SW for a couple then you should be fine. GREAT FIND!! I'm gonna have to keep my eye out!


And to everybody who is saying: "Know your source"

All you know is that you get it from a pet store...??? You don't have a clue where it comes from before then. Could be from the side of the road in Florida! So really you don't know the source of your rock.

[smithcreek]

Where do you guys think they get the rock that they aquaculture down in Florida? They dig it up on land and put it out on the ocean bottom. Same stuff. I would cure it just like the dry rock you can buy then test it for phosphates after a month or so of soaking.

[OnoIgotICH]

You must fixtate the PH of the rock, if its not the correct PH of your tank it could bring your PH down or up.

Test the PH of the rock, put it in freshwater , then test the ph a day later. if its not around that 8.3 area you have to bathe the rock for awhile.

to do this

just put it in a bin and use tap water pour a cap of vineger in there. a day later test the ph. and again and again until its fine.

[4fishman]

Yeah. it's called base rock, it can be seeded by live rock, over time. I would seriously reconsider the bleach route. I would try fresh water soaks for a day or two followed by direct sun to dry and kill any bad critters. You may also consider baking the rock in a high temp oven, say 300 to 400 deg F for several hours.

[AquaKnight407]

Kong, I should have tossed this in, but the rock is from back home, South Florida, costal Broward County specifically.

Where it actually comes from is when they develop a piece of property, they bulldoze everything level and unearth these rock pieces. Basically they dig for me. The property has always been undeveloped on before and would have only been exposed to surrounding development for a max of 20 years.

I'm still looking for more input, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to run the tests as mentioned. Testing for phophates is obvious and then PH, but any others? What about if I just stick in the rock in a bin of freshwater, totally undisturbed and unwashed, and then test phosphates, would that give a more accurate reading of phosphates then, or would it still be more of leaching thing and take months/years to realize?

[rustybucket145]

I would at least rinse it off first. Also there will probably be some critters living inside the rock. rinsing will give them a chance to escape and keep them from dying inside the rock.

I don't think you're going to have to worry too much about phosphates. The post above describing the amount of phosphate in florida was a little misleading. Yes there is an *** ton of phosphate in Florida.... it's just buried underground..... 10' deep is the shallowest I've ever heard of the layer being but most is 20'-50' deep. So there's literally no way that your rock (only a few feet deep) would have been exposed to this very defined layer of phosphate.

[Savas]

All the rock in my tanks is found rock from St. Thomas - around 80 pounds of it. I shipped it all home in luggage over 4 trips. I let it dry completely in the sun for two weeks, then soaked in it saltwater with a powerhead and Cycle for two weeks - did weekly water changes. I did all this in my garage with a constant temp of about 80. The rock looked great at the end of the two weeks - had some very minor algae on it, had no smell, and had turned to a creamier color from the bleached white color. Stuff is great and has not unwanted critters on it and the cycle time is greatly reduced.

I also added a cup of substrate from my oldest tank during the cure of my last tank.

If you want more holes in the rock - use a drill and make some.

[AquaKnight407]

Originally posted by rustybucket145
I would at least rinse it off first. Also there will probably be some critters living inside the rock. rinsing will give them a chance to escape and keep them from dying inside the rock.

I don't think you're going to have to worry too much about phosphates. The post above describing the amount of phosphate in florida was a little misleading. Yes there is an *** ton of phosphate in Florida.... it's just buried underground..... 10' deep is the shallowest I've ever heard of the layer being but most is 20'-50' deep. So there's literally no way that your rock (only a few feet deep) would have been exposed to this very defined layer of phosphate.

Down here, you can't go more then a couple feet without hitting water anyway. This stuff is coming from nice white sandy areas with tons of sea shells and stuff all around.


Also that rock in the oven idea, hehe, that would explode. Put a torch to contrete and see what happens...

[DSKinchen]

go for it. It's limestone aka a former reef... Just clean it off well.

The Miami Limestone (formerly the Miami Oolite) is a Pleistocene (see time scale) marine limestone. It occurs at or near the surface in southeastern peninsular Florida from Palm Beach County to Dade and Monroe Counties and in the keys from Big Pine Key to the Marquesas Keys. The Miami Limestone consists of two facies: an oolitic facies and a bryozoan facies. The oolitic facies consists of white to orangish gray, oolitic limestone with scattered concentrations of fossils. Ooliths are small rounded grains so named because they look like fish eggs. Ooliths are formed by the deposition of layers of calcite around tiny particles, such as sand grains or shell fragments. The bryozoan facies consists of white to orangish gray, sandy, fossiliferous limestone. Beds of quartz sand and limey sandstones may also be present. Fossils present include mollusks, bryozoans, and corals.

[somethingphishy]

sound like a good find...soak it and test the water to be sure

[andbigdaddy2]

Yo its base rock its everywhere in florida belive it or not people use it for lawn decoration. They even use it for lawn deco at Burger Kings in Jacksonville, FL. Dont think i havent been thinking of going out there with a chisel and a hammer