On the creation of live rock.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure that I know what cement live rock is, but I suspect this refers to some sort of amalgam of aquarium-friendly substances cemented together, in which case I think you can find more information on the GARF web page, which I am afraid is painful to navagate ( http://www.garf.org ). They use it to make little plugs for their coral cuttings.

In essence, any rock will work that is rather porous. What you want is a lot of surface area for the aerobic bacteria to grow on, and a lot of slowly-exchanging rather deep channels in which the anerobic bacteria that turn nitrates or nitrites into nitrogen gas can grow. Any material that satisfies those criteria and does not leach toxins into the aquarium should work, although some materials I suspect are better than others. For example, pacific live rock is more porous (a better material) that florida aquicultured live rock, which is limestone from quaries. The limestone still works, but is only about half as efficient by mass. (I use it anyway because it is more ecologically sound.)

 

[Anonymous]

Matt,
A good mix that I use on my reef plugs as well as artificial LR.

7 parts Aragonite
2 parts Portland #3 Cement
2 parts crushed Oyster Shell
Add water till moist.. mix and pour.

Curing time is the real trouble.
It takes 6 weeks to 6 months to cure properly so it won't affect your PH.
You can speed up the curing with white vinigar.

Good Luck

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brian
atlantisaquatic.com

 

[Anonymous]

Yes The stuff like at garf is what I am talking about. Tom miller has something about it on his ezreef page. I just want to know what people thought of it in their systems.

On another note Ihave heard alot of bad stuff about Garfs practices. If anyone has anything to say about their experiences with garf I'd like to hear about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi guys (and gals),

I am about to set up a reef for the first time. I have read and read and read on the topic and have a very good background in biology. The problem that I have is this- many of the sources I have found are rather neutal in their stances on many topics. What I mean is that a lot of people tend to leave personal opinion out of their data (except on message boards like this). I think this is really a fundamental necessity to learn about what works well and what doesn't. I need to know these types of things bevore I dive headlong into this hobby (obsession

).

My question is this- What are your feelings on homemade cement live rock? What are its pluses, minuses etc.? Have any of you used it or had any experience with it? I am thinking about using it in about a 50/50 ratio with wild live rock. I want to know the low-down, nitty gritty, no-holds-barred firsthand stories about this stuff. I want to do this before I find out the hard way.

Thanks in advance


Matt Fisher

[This message has been edited by MFisher (edited 08 November 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

If you can get ahold of the reef aquarium vol 1 it talks about how to use cement blocks for base rock. In my opinion you shouldn't use it because it'll take years before its at the same quality the real mccoy is at. Remain there are no short cuts in a reef tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt
I have been in this hobby for about 6 years. I have experimented with various types of live rock set ups. IMHO I have never had the patience to wait the extended time that it takes to colonize the dead base or cement rock. In a new system you are not talking about at least 6-12 months,it is a long and in my opinion a frustrating experience especially for a newcomer to the hobby. It is not as expensive as using live rock but only you know how much patience you have. My suggestion would be (if you can swing it) is to order NON-CURED transhipped live rock. I have ordered from FLYING FISH EXPRESS and the rock needed some curing (2 weeks) but had plenty of coraline and other life.
IMHO you get the best of both worlds, rock that has a good base plus the enjoyment of watching things develop
Sorry for the long post, but we make so many mistakes in this hobby I had to share my experience
Good Luck
Andy
[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

I made several hundred pounds of rock with "high early cement" mixed in aragonite, aragonite and crushed oyster, and in just crushed oyster shell. It took around 5 months (memory) to cure to the point the pH remainded at 8.0 or so and since then I've had it in one of my nineties, trying to fully cure in salt water. The initial problem was high pH and the present problem is loss of alkalinity which if not treated with Seachems reefbuilder to maintain the alk, the pH will drop. I have no animals in the tank, but added a few live rock pieces to colonise the cement rock. Also, I've added some halimedia, and another unknown macro but the halimedia is the only surviver of the macro. The live rock addition has little dusters and macro sprigs that are still there but I see no sign of isopods, copods etc. Although I seeded the tank with coraline scrapings off the glass of my other ninety several months ago, there's no sign of the coraline on any of the cement rock at this time. I won't put fish or inverts into this tank untill I'm absolutely sure that there will be no problem.

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