Can I make my own live rock?

[reefobsessed]

I have some rock that we got from the desert for yard art. Basically they are unique shapes with holes and twists. They would make great aquascape rocks. They have lots of little holes like live rock but it is dark brown not white like agronite. If I put it in a tank with only other live rock & pods, wouldnt it get coralline & become live rock???

[jamal-188]

Yes, over time the life would spread to the rock. I thought you actually meant MAKE LR. I"m actually going to make some out of concrete and cc. I can custom make the shapes in a sand bed to whatever I like.

[reefobsessed]

I have no doubt it will make my levels crasy for a while but if I have 20 lbs of real LR in with 10 lbs of what I want to make LR. Is that a correct raitio??

Thank god you said yes, I was affair people would think this was the stupidest question ever posted

[jamal-188]

No it's not stupid at all. There are a lot of people that use base rock(various types) due to the fact that LR is soooo expensive especially if you have a large tank. The only concern I would have is making sure the rock is fully cured and will not change anything such as PH. I would place some of the rock in a bucket of water for a few days and test the levesl to make sure it's ok.

There is no correct ratio of LR to base rock, any LR is better than non and it will eventually spread out to all the base rock. Of course if you have more LR it will spread faster.

The concrete/cc rock I will be making has to cure for 1-2 months so it will not throw off the chemistry of my main tank.

[ReefLady]

Not a stupid question at all. Many people purchase "base" rock (dead coral rock) and "seed" it with live rock.

I do have a couple concerns regarding the rock you intend to use...

(1) Is the rock porous? You want lightweight, porous rock in the tank. Dense heavy rock will not provide as much beneficial denitrification.

(2) I'd want to know exactly what kind of rock it is. My main concern would be the rock leaching heavy metals into the tank water.

As long as you're okay on these points, then dead rock is fine!

[ellisz]

We made some agrocrete with Portland Cement and Aragonite sand. Looks really nice but it is still leaching PH. I have been soaking it for almost 3 months. I was changing the water every day but have got lazy lately. Any tips on how to speed this up?

It is only about 15lbs but it would be nice to do something with it.

[reefobsessed]

Well you guys made my day.. Thanks