"Customizing" Base Rock By Drilling

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OneBowl

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 19, 2004
Messages
82
Location
Coopersburg, PA
OK, I have plenty of calcium carbonate base rock for my yet-to-be-set-up-tank, including a few pieces that are quite dense and not particularly porous at all (in other words, not all that pretty, just big solid rocks). So I get this idea...why not pull out a drill and a whole bunch of new masonry bits up to 1" and turn these into "custom" base rock with all the holes and hiding places I want. It seems to me this could have benefits such as decreased weight, increased surface area, increased flow etc. I don't see a downside, other than perhaps fracturing them if there's an internal crack, which I could live with. After a few scrapes with other tools to make it look more natural and after a few months in the tank with LR, I'm betting it will be hard to tell which is naturally very porous and which isn't. Has anyone tried this successfully? Are there any downsides I'm missing (other than my wife thinking I'm crazy for drilling holes in rocks I bought)? TIA.
 
Why not, go for it. People drill holes in their rocks so they can stick acrylic rods in them for aquascaping techniques all the time.
 
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