Creating Live Rock?

[Rv5]

If you were to take an aquarium rock that hasnt spent any time in a saltwater environment and dropped it in a fully functioning reef, how long would it take before it is "live rock"

 

[Reef Guy11]

It took one piece of my base rock 1 - 2 yrs. That was from the start not a tank that has been establish for quit some time. So it might become live fast than that.

 

[Juck]

When I was in the Florida Keys in August, I 'liberated' about 30lbs of old fossilized coral limestone from the roadside,,, I figured I could use it in my refugiums,, it was highly porous and looked really cool with all the coral skeletons,, and being limestone it would help keep the PH high (it's kinda heavy though).

It was pure white when I first immersed it but after 4 months it's got great coralline growth,,, maybe 25-30% coverage (I keep my calcium @ 440 minimum) and the pods seem to prefer it to the Fiji LR that's in there.

I reckon in another 6 months the coralline will cover the rocks completely and will look like nice live rock. If by 'live' you mean inhabited with denitrifying bacteria,, I think that would happen in a matter of weeks.

Next time I visit the keys I'll be bringing back a sh1tload of the stuff as I'm planning a large FOWLR tank,,,, when I find a suitable house!

 

[ghofmann]

Be careful what kind of rock you add. Some rocks may leach unwanted stuff into your tank. I used tufa rock for my tank seeded with some live rock and after about a month there was all kinds of stuff living on it.