You could also greatly reduce the cost by using dead base rock and then building atop that with live rock. The cost would probably be half the original total.
Base rock would then easily be colonized by the critters in a few short months. Not to mention the differing kinds of coralline that you will be sure to get from the LR where ever you choose to buy.
It also allows you the option of buying the more pricey LFS rock if you are looking to add that perfect piece or simpley just wanting to add some bio diversity...
Check out EBAY too. Sometimes you can find people desparate to get rid of if when they have to mo ve or something and its dirt cheap. I just got 20 lbs of LR there for 35 bucks and thats with shipping included. Is wasnt much but I didnt need a whole lot more and this rock has more life on it than I have ever seen! It had been in an established tank for 6 years so you can imagine the growth.
All great advice, thanks a lot. Steve-s, do you mean just having dead rock with one piece of seeded live rock in the middle? Do you know more about this? Would I still get as much an array of tiny animals and plants and corals that would start to spring up if it all just came from one little piece of rock? FishFreek, if one were to do this, would they have to cure the dead rock, or just the little piece of live rock?
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My fish will kick your fishes butt
you would not want just "one little piece" of liverock. You do not have to cure base rock as there is nothing alive on it to die and cause ammonia to spike again.
Use the dead rock on the bottom and then place the LR on top of that. You could easily use half the total amount as dead base, 50/50 mix. Then you could purchase one type of base rock on-line or get several different types from the LFS which would increase the bio-diversity.
On-line rock is usually the best if you are looking for "extra's", critters, corals and such. The LFS rock will still have many organisms but not the same amount or types that "raw" LR would.
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