Base rock? Wet or Dry? Types?

[Florida8]

Hubby and I went today looking at tanks, we have our eyes on an 80 and 120 and then got to thinking about LR and the cost will be double what we used with our 55g. I used a couple large pieces of Live Base rock, it wasn't covered in much but had life and was kept with the other LR at our old trusted LPS which is no longer here. I have never seen it anywhere else, unsure others sell wet base rock. If I can;t find it what type of Dry Base rock would I use? Anything I should know about dry rock? Special rinsing etc...?

TIA,
Kimberly

 

[jaiden]

hirocks.com, when they're not sold out anymore. mine looks great and it was cheap to ship.. I think it was $80 delivered for 60lb

 

[dralarms]

Ditto, hirocks.com has some great stuff, and if you get a piece that's too big or not shaped just right, a hammer works great.

 

[elise]

i am also curious about types of "dry" rock.. what to look for, and what NOT to look for =)

 

[jaiden]

you need nice deep holes for bio filtering. all good lr and base rock contains calcium which regulates ph

 

[nodoubt471]

i have used plain old lava rock with no ill affects, it becomes covered in coralline quite nicely after a while... some argue against it saying that it can be a sink for detritus, but ive never had problems.

 

[srgetz]

I got some dry base rock (calcium carbonate), my lfs calls it coral rock and sells it for $1.19 lb. It takes a few months to get covered, but it saves you $$ and no nasty critters to worry about! Ask your lfs if he can get dry in that price range...

Anything I should know about dry rock? Special rinsing etc...?

You can rinse it in some declorinated or RO water to remove dust or dirt from sitting around.