Looking for opinions/advice on Live Rock

[sambo]

Hey all,

I'm new to this hobby and I had a couple of questions I wanted some input on. I have a 225 gal tank and will be using live rock/sand with protein skimming as a filter system. I have also made about 180 pounds of base rock from equal parts oyster shell, crushed coral and aragonite sand per the recipes floating around on the web. I would like to add another 75 - 100 pounds of "natural" rock for a more natural look.

My first question is this (finally): Should I add "live rock" purchased from my LFS/internet to seed my system, or should I use natural rock which has been "cleaned" and an "activator" such as Grunge or whatever. The reason i ask is I've read in posts that many recommend that you leave newly purchased live rock in a sepearte container in order to pick out the "bad things" before adding to your system. Is this for established systems, or also for new systems? Would using an activator eliminate this risk?

Next, should I buy live rock to seed my system, any recommendations for where I should get it. I've heard Florida aquacultured rock is good as well as TBS??? rock.
Also Marshall Island and Fiji. Didn't they just stop the import of some live rock?

Lastly, should I use an "activator", any recommendations? I've heard many had good results with GARF Grunge, but it's pretty ugly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. There's a lot to learn in this hobby, but it been interesting so far.

Thanks

[MalHavoc]

First,

[welcome]

If the tank is newly set up, with no existing life (ie, you haven't added fish or anything yet), then I'd probably just shop around for the best deal on rock and place it into your system, as is. TBS rock is apparently quite nice, although I have heard reports that it seems to contain a fair number of hitchhikers, both wanted and unwanted. The rock from harboraquatics.com is excellent. I have also heard good things about the rock from premiumaquatics.com but have not seen it in person.

I wouldn't worry about adding an activator. The idea behind "live rock" is that it's "live".

As far as I know, the import of rock is still allowed. TBS rock is aquacultured, whereas the rock from Fiji is taken from areas in the ocean where collection is allowed (rock that has been knocked loose in a storm, for example).

[sambo]

Thanks

By an activator, I meant something like Garf Grunge instead of live rock. I believe this is nothing more than crushed live rock used to seed base rock. I thought that this might decrease the chances of unwanted "hitchikers since it came from an established, closed system."

Currently, the tank is still at the dealer. I'm just trying to gather some info in order to avoid as many mistakes as I can. Thanks.

[Hopeful Reefer]

You said that you made your base rock...I am assuming you used the recipes that include concrete??

If so, make sure you follow the curing directions exactly prior to introducing this "rock" into your tank...if you don't cure that type of rock for quite some time to reduce all of the nasties that result from the curing process you will have disatrous results after introduction into your tank...it is definitely cheaper to go this route if you have the time and patience to cure the stuff right...if not, you will spend more money in the long run replacing your livestock, etc...

As for the activator, the live rock you buy will do well for that...just aquascape things and let nature take it's course...in a few months your base rock will have colonies of bacteria and coralline and stuff all over it...for unwanted hitchhikers, just put your rock in some large containers and observe for a few days...any questions about the hitchhikers just post some pics and descriptions here for someone to help you ID them and determine if you need to keep them or get rid of them...

Just my $0.02...HTH

[sambo]

I did use Portland cement. Currently it is curing in two large ice chests with Maxijets for circ/aeration. I will cure for 6 weeks and then check pH after 24 hours of no circulation. Looking for around 8.5 pH of lower, I believe, before using in an aquarium.

If it seeds well, I will have saved a bundle. It only cost around 50 cents/lb. If not, it was still fun trying.

[sambo]

Also doing water changes every three days or so in the curing tanks.

[Hopeful Reefer]

deleted and added to post above

[David P]

Ive heard that alot of the aquacultured rock (although quite nice and full of life) is incredibaly dense and heavy. I have in one of my tanks 1/2 fiji 1/2 Marshall Island. I think Fiji is a little lighter and porus, however Marshall Isl rock is much nicer looking. Ive heard (and then thought about it and agreed) that you seem to get more coraline growth on Marshall Isl than on Fiji rock for some reason.

If your very patient, you can buy(or even borrow) just a couple of nice pieces of LR and let it seed your entire tank. If your not quite so patient buy more LR to speed things up.

[sambo]

Cool thanks..........

Anybody tried Grunge? I only know one person and they loved it except that it was ugly. Any other experiences?

[Hopeful Reefer]

Only have read or spoke to a few people that have tried grunge...too ugly for main tank but people say it works as a substrate in a refugium...

[sambo]

Thanks for the info! I think I'll try a combo of different live rock (TBS, Marshall, Fiji, etc..) to seed my base rock. I hope to get a wide variety of ecology this way. I'll probably try the Grunge and seed some rock in my sump/fuge and then move to the main tank to increase diversity.

I'll let you know how it went in about 6 months or so. Still a lot of preliminary work to do before I can set up the tank.

[Hopeful Reefer]

By the way, for 180 pounds of home-made base rock...how much did you spend?

I have a 120g RR that I am in the planning stages of and I was thinking of going this route to save some money...maybe do a 35lbs box of TBS and then about 135-150lbs of made up rock...or maybe 2 boxes of TBS and about 90-100lbs of made up rock...just looking at the cost involved

[CedarReefer]

I would think with home-made rock, you’ll have the same problems as with real base rock. You know, rock that was once live, but now is all bleached out and void of anything.

I started my tank with about 40 lbs of base rock. Most of it was buried though ‘cuz I laid this down first, then added my sand around it. I still bought live rock to stack on top but I battled all types of algae that grew on the new base rock since there wasn’t anything like coralline to stop it from spreading like wild fire.

It got so bad that I ended up using AZ-NO3. It worked but I don’t think I would go this route again.

Sean