Poll: What Type of Rock???

[Krish]

Time to fire this section up a bit. Been inactive for too long!


The question is...What do you prefer to use as your source of "rock" for your tank? If you would like to expand on your reason for your choice, it is welcomed. Nothing better than giving a reason for your preference. Where I put the option of base rock (explain) it would be good to know if you get the liverock and boil it yourself making it base rock to start fresh or you just buy base rock from the store etc. Also, what's the reason behind using your choice over the others? Price maybe?.

 

[Krish]

I chose Liverock. Usually ordered as "cured" but who knows what you get . I choose "live" over the others because I like to get rock teaming with all sorts of cool stuff. Sometimes it's a risk as you can get nuicance algaes, pests etc, but it makes things interesting a bit and also, I feel it jump starts things a bit biologically being teaming with benficial bacteria already in it. I did however get lobophora (sp) on my rock I though was a cool sponge so I watched it grow until it took over quite a bit of my rock. It wasn't until I found out it wasn't what I thought it was (Curt pointed it out) and had to boil the rock to get rid of it, so it is a gamble.

 

[07FocusST]

I like live rock but I also like to seed base rock. That way later on i can have all live rock.

 

[akunochi]

I prefer base rock, because I normally get my rock from people tearing down their tanks and don't want their bugs. I will seed the rock after I boil and sun dry it with small pieces of LR usually what is found on a frag or a couple pieces the size of a golf ball and then introduce cheato and a cup of sand from as many tanks as I can get in to. This starts me off with a pest free tank and usually colors up within 3 months anyway.

 

[Krish]

I prefer base rock, because I normally get my rock from people tearing down their tanks and don't want their bugs. I will seed the rock after I boil and sun dry it with small pieces of LR usually what is found on a frag or a couple pieces the size of a golf ball and then introduce cheato and a cup of sand from as many tanks as I can get in to. This starts me off with a pest free tank and usually colors up within 3 months anyway.

How do you boil your rock Seth? I boiled mine outside over an open burner because I've heard the fumes inside a closed up house could be toxic/poisonous and I boiled it for about 4 hours or so. Changed the water and boiled it again then let it dry out for a few days. You?

 

[akunochi]

Pretty much the same. I use a turkey fryer to boil it and boil first for a few hours until it is clean....if there is crud hanging on then back into the boiler. The I lay it out into the driveway for a bit in sunlight and rinse with RO...

 

[user 2204]

I prefer LR as it usually comes with a lot of beneficial stuff. When putting a new system online, I let the LR sit in the tank without anything for at least 6-8 weeks. Always seems to work for me.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[07FocusST]

I am sun drying all of my rock right now. I just took it out of the tank and used a garden hose to blow out all the little holes and crevices. Then let it sit for 2 weeks in the sun, usually flipping them over after about a week. You should see the size of the dead bristtle worm i found under the rock! Its the size of a full grown earth worm!

 

[mojoreef]

Yea its a tough one, For a new tank I would go with dry rock (if it looked good) and then add a small amount of LR to seed it. If it was an established tank I would only use dried and treated rock.

For cooking rocks I usually let them sit in straight bleach for about a week and then biol the crap out of them until I can no longer smell the bleach, then into a water tub for a couple weeks while changing the water every other day (PH in their to). That extra time allows the rock to shed. That is kind of the way to cook the rock and be able to use it quick, I havelet rock sit in the dark for months when I am not in a rush.

Mike

 

[Krish]

I am sun drying all of my rock right now. I just took it out of the tank and used a garden hose to blow out all the little holes and crevices. Then let it sit for 2 weeks in the sun, usually flipping them over after about a week. You should see the size of the dead bristtle worm i found under the rock! Its the size of a full grown earth worm!

Here's a tip for you to Derrick...My buddy here uses club soda and pours it on his liverock when he first gets it out of the wild. Anything moving and alive in there comes running out. I witnessed a small octopus come out of one of his rocks when he did this. Didn't even know the little bugger was in there!!

 

[07FocusST]

Here's a tip for you to Derrick...My buddy here uses club soda and pours it on his liverock when he first gets it out of the wild. Anything moving and alive in there comes running out. I witnessed a small octopus come out of one of his rocks when he did this. Didn't even know the little bugger was in there!!

Uhh.... Yikes!!!! My rock is all dried up now. I am just afraid that once I or someone else wants to cure this rock again that some of the GHA or Byprosis may come back. although I doubt it can live through 90F temps for 2 weeks straight in the direct sun. I did have a bunch of tiny starfish (not brittle starfish) come out of the rocks. Maybe about a 1/4"-1/2" across. They are very small. Found a ton of snails that were the size of a pencil tip all over the rocks. They aren't pyramid snails... almost look like baby turbos or nasarrius snails.

 

[Krish]

Uhh.... Yikes!!!! My rock is all dried up now. I am just afraid that once I or someone else wants to cure this rock again that some of the GHA or Byprosis may come back. although I doubt it can live through 90F temps for 2 weeks straight in the direct sun. I did have a bunch of tiny starfish (not brittle starfish) come out of the rocks. Maybe about a 1/4"-1/2" across. They are very small. Found a ton of snails that were the size of a pencil tip all over the rocks. They aren't pyramid snails... almost look like baby turbos or nasarrius snails.

Well I'd imagine anything needing water to survive that is neglected of it, should die over time, but you never know with some things. Deserts dry up all the time from lack of rain for about a year leaving nothing but a vast open space with no plant life. Rain comes a year later, and these plants start to sprout back up from out of the ground. You'd probably have to take mojo's advice and bleach the heck out of it to be sure there is no coming back.

 

[07FocusST]

I will do that before I reuse it again.

 

[eww]

We have a bunch of LR we collected (bought/traded for) from many people. Some was live some had been dry for a couple of years. We did a 24 hour soak in tap water with a lot of bleach and a large pump for lots of movement. Then it was into a 24 hour bath in tap water with a lot of vinegar and a another large pump. Then it was one more 24 hour soak in straight tap water with a pH. Now it's been bathing in the sun/weather for the last 2 months. Hopefully it should be all base rock now ready to be seeded and clean. We also have a bunch that has been curing in a 55 gal drum of SW with a couple of PH's and a heater for 4-5 months now. We do a water change in this barrel every couple of weeks with some of the cleaner tank water from water changes in our main systems.

 

[Krish]

We have a bunch of LR we collected (bought/traded for) from many people. Some was live some had been dry for a couple of years. We did a 24 hour soak in tap water with a lot of bleach and a large pump for lots of movement. Then it was into a 24 hour bath in tap water with a lot of vinegar and a another large pump. Then it was one more 24 hour soak in straight tap water with a pH. Now it's been bathing in the sun/weather for the last 2 months. Hopefully it should be all base rock now ready to be seeded and clean. We also have a bunch that has been curing in a 55 gal drum of SW with a couple of PH's and a heater for 4-5 months now. We do a water change in this barrel every couple of weeks with some of the cleaner tank water from water changes in our main systems.

"Muddos" (bahamian slang for holy cow)


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[akunochi]

Wow Eric....that is quite a lot of rock.....lol

 

[Krish]

Wow Eric....that is quite a lot of rock.....lol

That's what she said! I mean yea...That's a lot of rock dude!!

 

[eww]

Yeah there's probably 200-300 pounds there in all. A better word is hoarding really rather than collecting. Since the 180 has been planned we just started buying stuff up. Since we can't/don't want to use any of the rock from the current system because of the pests and clove polyps that have been allowed to run wild we wanted to make sure we had enough to completely set up the new tank with no exposure to these issues. I forgot there is a 50 pound box of new dry Marco rock out on the garage as well.

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[Krish]

Looks like liverock is leading the pack so far. Any more votes out there?

 

[rainydave]

I've started all my new tanks with LR (bought online and locally).

If I were to start a new tank I would use dry rock along with LR from my current tank.