Base rock ???

[Jumpincactus]

Hi all Chuck and new to the group. How long will it take good base rock to become encrusted and looking like premium live rock? After mortgaging our home to get the tank and all the equipment, we find ourselves penniless and cannot afford to fire the tank up cause we got no money honey.. Will work for live rock and coral frags

No all BS aside,,,, yes I am broke now but I am considering using base rock to build a foundation and then seed the top layer with Tonga. I know that a lot of my question will depend on me and my water parameters. But give me a ballpark figure from those of you who have experience with base rock seeding.

 

[NaH2O]

You can speed up the process by scraping a current spot of coralline to help it spore out. Just like trying to get the coralline to grow on the sides of the tank. Urchins also help speed up the process....provided your water parameters are all fine, and your tank is maturing.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! I used almost 50% base rock and seeded the rest of it with LR. The tank is about 9 month old (including a swap of tanks that took about 3 hours last month) and all of my rocks have coraline growing on it (some more than others) but and all seem to be "live". Best of luck and I hope you get everything sorted out and together.

 

[Jumpincactus]

thank you both........ hope to get to know you all better as I progress. Sure is a lot to learn. then too there seem to be so many opinions concerning everything. It appears to be difficult at times knowing who to listen to.

 

[Krish]

thank you both........ hope to get to know you all better as I progress. Sure is a lot to learn. then too there seem to be so many opinions concerning everything. It appears to be difficult at times knowing who to listen to.

Yeah...That's the beauty of the hobby. No one way is right. Everyone can do something totally different from the other within reason and all have success. You have to go with what works best for you. I'd read read read as much as you can and ask away until your heart is content. The members here are always eager and willing to help when they can where they can. So don't be afraid to ask. If you've asked and still don't understand, then ask again I'm sure you will get to know us all pretty well really soon. Definately a great place with a lot of educated people like Nikki...You can have peace of mind listening to her Best of luck man...

 

[tennismurph]

9 months sounds good. For whatever its worth, my 50 gallon took about a year with mostly actinic and my 180 about 4 months with only vho's

 

[Paul B]

I was going to say 8 months 3 weeks and about 5 hours. :lol:

Or it will gradually look better the longer it is in there but in a couple of months it should look fine. If you are penniless the look of your rock may not be your major concern but you can save a lot of cash with it. Of course, you can save a lot more if you build some of it.
As an example this piece is cement and I think it was in the tank 6 months before it looked like this.
Good luck.
Paul