First Step Taken On The Long Road

[dayzofspeed]

well i have just taken the first step following the decision to go marine, just accquired the first thing, about 15 to 20 kg of ocean rock in exchange for my f/w bogwood, but my plec is looking really confused as his large piece of bogwood just vanished. anyway that's it the process has now started, but it's gonna be a long haul i think. now i just need to find out what i do with this rock, for now it's going into storage and in time will be the base for my at the moment non existant reef......

 

[woody88]

well i have just taken the first step following the decision to go marine, just accquired the first thing, about 15 to 20 kg of ocean rock in exchange for my f/w bogwood, but my plec is looking really confused as his large piece of bogwood just vanished. anyway that's it the process has now started, but it's gonna be a long haul i think. now i just need to find out what i do with this rock, for now it's going into storage and in time will be the base for my at the moment non existant reef......

Is it actually ocean rock [malawi looking] or actual live rock mate as I've never heard of putting anything else but actual live rock in a marine tank before. Can't see it being a prob tho as long as its just for the base with genuine live rock on top.

I've currently got around 30kg of malawi/ocean rock sitting in a box in my shed which has never been used. Waste of £60 that was. Must be good for coral though as this rock is calcium based i think.

Anyway Good luck with your project mate! Make sure you get a journel going so we can all be nosy You'll have salt running through ya veins in no time!............just make sure its at 1.025sg

 

[ozzie2011]

If its the white base rock then the problem is it wont filter the water like fiji. I bought it with the recomendation of my lfs for my first tank, after 2 months it was in the bin.
Dont know if anyway else has had any success with it though.

Good luck

 

[spadge]

I think the point of ocean rock, is not for filtration but rather aqua scaping, its a cheaper alternative to scapin completely out of LR, in time it will lose its white colour and blend in, it will even hold coraline algae if it grows well in your tank, im considering purchasing cheaper alternative rock at the moment to help with my scaping, my plan then is to infill with LR reducin the amount needed and the cost.

 

[dayzofspeed]

the plan is to use the ocean rock purely as a base to build my reef on, it would be far too expensive just using live rock in the tank i'm going to be using, apart from anything else it was a deal i just couldn't resist, i exchanged the bogwood from my tropical tank for the rock and at least it has now given me the impetus to start doing something instead of just thinking about it, the next step will be the re homing of my tropicals and plants. and its also very attractive looking rock with lots of little nooks and crannies and tunnels. i dont think i'm in a position to start a journal just yet as there is still a long way to go, it would be pretty boring to say "look at my rocks" lol

well i have just taken the first step following the decision to go marine, just accquired the first thing, about 15 to 20 kg of ocean rock in exchange for my f/w bogwood, but my plec is looking really confused as his large piece of bogwood just vanished. anyway that's it the process has now started, but it's gonna be a long haul i think. now i just need to find out what i do with this rock, for now it's going into storage and in time will be the base for my at the moment non existant reef......

Is it actually ocean rock [malawi looking] or actual live rock mate as I've never heard of putting anything else but actual live rock in a marine tank before. Can't see it being a prob tho as long as its just for the base with genuine live rock on top.

I've currently got around 30kg of malawi/ocean rock sitting in a box in my shed which has never been used. Waste of £60 that was. Must be good for coral though as this rock is calcium based i think.

Anyway Good luck with your project mate! Make sure you get a journel going so we can all be nosy You'll have salt running through ya veins in no time!............just make sure its at 1.025sg

woody why not sell it,i would, even if you sell for half what you paid you can use the cash for something you want, plenty people want ocean rock, it could be sold to someone like myself who wants a base, someone setting up a malawi tank, even for scaping a tropical f/w

 

[woody88]

Didn't plan on selling it but if someone wants to come and collect it and bring either £30 or an api reefmaster kit (new) then by all means.
Actually I might try a small piece in my tank just to see what happens! I'm intrigued now!

You can still start a journel mate. Just update it when you have.......er..........something to update.
Some people go weeks/months in between updates on their journals. Plus you will get feed back from experienced keepers advising you on things. It certainly helped me maintain mine.

 

[spadge]

hey woody, where abouts are you? maybe worth the drive, im currently looking at getting ocean rock to build a scape.

 

[ozzie2011]

I think the point of ocean rock, is not for filtration but rather aqua scaping,

Not being a tit here but the point of rock in marines is for filtration in my eyes... I would rather build it up a bit at a time with LR than use base rock again. But thats just me

 

[spadge]

I think the point of ocean rock, is not for filtration but rather aqua scaping,

Not being a tit here but the point of rock in marines is for filtration in my eyes... I would rather build it up a bit at a time with LR than use base rock again. But thats just me

No i agree, like i said OCEAN ROCK is for scaping, and actually(and this is an assumption) all rock will become live after a period in your tank, it will hold bacteria in the creavices, develop algae and various forms of life will live within it, assuming its fairly porous and lightweight.

My argument is not that its better, just that its cheaper and will eventually hold life (bacteria) as live rock would, just an alternative. i only have LR at present and my filtration and parameters are great (imo). its more the aesthetics tbh, i want to scape a rock face on the entire back of my tank, now this would cost me load if it was purely LR, the plan is fill it with base rock and infil with LR.

 

[dayzofspeed]

the way i see it is if you can afford to go totally with live rock then thats the way to go, if on the other hand like me you can't then use ocean rock for bulk and top off with your "filtration" LR and over time the ocean rock will become colonised and therefore become live, maybe not as live as real live rock but it will house nitrifying bacteria and if it happens to be on the porous side you get the denitrifying action, but whichever type of ocean rock you have if there is some LR in the setup the ocean rock will not remain "dead" indefinately.

 

[woody88]

hey woody, where abouts are you? maybe worth the drive, im currently looking at getting ocean rock to build a scape.

I'm in sunny birmingham...............that's always overcast! Lol

 

[HappyGeorge]

I had a couple of very small bits of Ocean rock in my nano tank just propping up some live rock, I was going to rip it out until the emerald crab decided to make his home in one of the big holes. The hermits seem to like hiding in it at night and the turbos have been all over it. So it can't be all bad, bit stark in colour though and isn't porous at all although it does have huge holes so must hold some good stuff (increased surface area).

As Ozzie says I think it would be pretty disasterous to use too much in your tank but I am going to keep a couple of bits just to see what it does over time appearance wise.

As for a journal dayz I have been resisting the urge to start a journal as my tank is 5 weeks away, but I do have my light unit now and I have 2 huge pieces of Reef Bones that I couldn't resist at Coventry Aquatics. Ones a huge plate coral about 15 inches diameter and another is a piece of branching coral that looks like the crown of a tree and will be used upside down to support tunnel through my live rock pile. I also confess to scaping them on the conservatory table with a black backing and taking a photo. So if you post your pile of rocks, I will post mine.

 

[woody88]

I had a couple of very small bits of Ocean rock in my nano tank just propping up some live rock, I was going to rip it out until the emerald crab decided to make his home in one of the big holes. The hermits seem to like hiding in it at night and the turbos have been all over it. So it can't be all bad, bit stark in colour though and isn't porous at all although it does have huge holes so must hold some good stuff (increased surface area).

As Ozzie says I think it would be pretty disasterous to use too much in your tank but I am going to keep a couple of bits just to see what it does over time appearance wise.

As for a journal dayz I have been resisting the urge to start a journal as my tank is 5 weeks away, but I do have my light unit now and I have 2 huge pieces of Reef Bones that I couldn't resist at Coventry Aquatics. Ones a huge plate coral about 15 inches diameter and another is a piece of branching coral that looks like the crown of a tree and will be used upside down to support tunnel through my live rock pile. I also confess to scaping them on the conservatory table with a black backing and taking a photo. So if you post your pile of rocks, I will post mine.

Go on mate. Let's have a look...........please!

 

[HappyGeorge]

Now I'm not sure if that's sarcasm or you like aquascaping as much as I do.

I nearly took the ATI unit out for a pic as well but thought that was probably just being daft, knowing my luck someone will damage it the minute it comes out the box.

 

[ozzie2011]

I think the stuff George seems to be describing sounds a lot better than the rock I bought. If the rock has lots of holes in I would say it would allow the water to atleast flow through it. The stuff I bought was like big lumps of rock and very smooth which was another problem as the fiji wouldnt grip to it well.

Dont be shy, bang up the pics