The usual newbie Live Rock questions

Tank up 2 months, have about 30# LR in there now. "pre-cured" and cured during cycle, i.e. not at all.

I'm thinking I'd like to add more rock, so we'll rehash the same old questions (and yes, I've read the sticky posts and Live Rock - Curing Guidelines - Marine and Saltwater Aquarium )

1) Base rock- LFS sells "base rock" that looks rather like petrified wood or (for a higher price) chunks of concrete. Not so exciting. Ideas on "base" rock? I like the idea of slate/shale type of stuff so i can make a shelf or two, but don't want to screw with my stable 8.2 pH etc (like the "tufa seemed to).

2) More Live rock- All my LR came from LFS, and honestly I'm not too impressed. I have some lovely green and cyano , and hopefully that slightly darker purple I can't scrape off is coralline. At $5/lb I don't want buy from the same place unless I come across one REALLY nice piece.

3) And of course, curing. We have many schools of thought here:
- Reef_Guru likes to nuke it in bleach. Why pay for LR? Does coralline survive bleach?

- JohnO drops it right in. Ok, that's easy enough, but I've already had the aiptasia issue once (love my peppermint shrimp).

- The "rules" say to let it sit in a separate tank for two weeks in salt water. What's the point of that? This stuff has been sitting in the LFS's sump since forever.

- And then there's what I did- scrub with a tooth brush under cold fresh water (bathtub) and toss in tank.

Bottom line, I would like to add more rock and don't want to screw up the baby tank any more than I already have!

 

IMO use base rock. Find someone who is selling some rock cheap and nuke it, then drop it in. Some say it will prolong the cycle but if it does it is worth it. I started with 40 lbs. LR from the LFS and wish I wouldn't have. I had a snail hitchhiker which I think was good and a worm that popped up the other day that I have no clue what it was. Take guesswork out of it and buy base rock. You can even cure it yourself if you like, but I'd dump it in at this point. I got lucky and bought some cured base rock off Otty for 70 cents a pound and it started growing coralling on it within weeks with no lights on!!

And yes, I'm sure you'll start a fued again!

 

Thx Hoosier, but where to get base? LFS's base looks like crap. East Bay Vivarium has some nice rock but it's land-rock with lichens etc and certainly needs a nuking.

 

i would say if you are going for a reef tank then buy more base rock, and put them at the bottom and stack everything else on top of them so that they are not seen, the base rock will eventually turn into live rock, because they will be seeded, and then you have all the benefits still and not as much expence, but you would have to wait a while before it is all live rock, and i stacked mint w/o any base rock, and it turned out nicely

 

Make your own!

Lots of "how to" sites out there.

Many here have done, and created some beautiful rock.

 

Thx. I just saw a posting from another forum (courtesy Tangster I think?) with a fantastic eggcrate/LR/spray foam frame. I'm thinking of rejiggerring into a box to hide the hootie factory going on in the back of the tank.

Link: My 220 build - Vivid Aquariums Forums
About 2/3 down. Since I don't have a sump I'd have to adjust and leave room for a heater. I'd also probably use less foam and leave holes in the top and backing for flow, etc.

 

use the nitromax stuff i posted in my thread. i'll never add live rock, with out it. i still have about 50lbs of rock to add, and that stuff will be added along with it. i speak from experience

 

I added a couple of kilo's ocean rock to my tank, will cure in time and looks good & much cheaper, but get pieces with loads of holes as its not as porous as normal L/R...