Base Rock

[ellisz]

I am going to be setting up a 72G tank and was planning on getting some base rock from Hirocks but there price seems a bit high. It would be $85 for 60lbs of rock. $1.41 aint bad but cheaper would be better.

I found a guy selling 50lbs for $45 shipped. He said it is dead rock from the ocean and is similar to FL rock. Would there be any concerns with this?

Thanks

 

[malkore]

from what I understand, base rock is dead rock, so it's not gonna be able to filter anything. YOu'd need to mix some LR in with it to 'seed' the base rock.

 

[ellisz]

I have 110 lbs of LR in my 75 that I will seed the new rock with, that is not a problem. I just worry if there are any issues I should watch out for using dead rock that I don't know the origin. I remember reading awhile back that old LR can leach hard metals into the water.

I guess it is not a big deal. I have bought dead rock at the LFS with no worries. This is for a second tank that will be FOWLR. I have enough money in the reef so cheaper the better here

 

[TwtyBrd]

I added a bunch of dead base rock to our tank and cycled it first in another container, it had been in someone elses tank previously so there was dry dead stuff in them. Might be something to consider doing just to be safe

 

[Gauge]

I would cycle it in a separate container. If you're worried about metals in the water, you can test the cycle container for copper at least and find out if there's an issue there. I'm not aware of anything else that would be a real problem.