Dead Live Rock

[crypt]

can i just ask a quick question what do people think of this stuff as use for my base rock?
click here

just woundering if anyone else has used this stuff and that it would be ok thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

Most of that is good. Try to stick to the light colored porous rocks and stay away from the thick ones and the red ones.

 

[crypt]

thanks for quick reply would you say that i should stay away from the marine reef plate? and stick to marine reef rock and reef branches

 

[SkiFletch]

Wierd, my translator stopped working... Anyways, something like this or this, or even this would be fine.

Stay away from rocks like this, or this, or this... Those types are way too thick and not porous enough.

The reef plate looks OK, but I wouldnt concentrate on that variety...

 

[pleder]

IME the dead LR will never grow the anaerobic bacteria needed to complete the nitrogen cycle. You just as well using cement or ceramic rocks.

 

[andywg]

Dead live rock will be seeded over time, but the anoxic requiring bacteria have a tremendously slow reproduction rate, meaning it will take a while to come online for reducing nitrates.

Cement rocks work because you are effectively creating dead live rock (rock that is porous but with no bacteria on it). Ceramic rocks tend not to be porous, but made up of small channels, so very little (if any) anoxic conditions occur.

 

[SkiFletch]

Indeed, cement rocks made with aragonite base (sometimes shells, sometimes sand) seem to work really well. For anyone interested, look up aragocrete on google or garf.org. Please do remember that any cement put in a tank should first be cured to make sure its not leeching excessive alkalinity and raising your pH way above 8.5. I've seen fresh cement turn water to a pH of 11, so some care needs to be taken with this method. Toilet cisterns are great places to cure cement

 

[sukie]

I use mostly Aragonite Rock/Lake Bonneville Tufa Rock & Dead rocks and only a couple actual cured LR. I'm patient enough to wait for the rock to reseed.