Man, I wish I had the internet the last time I tried this...Thank you all for offering donations and when I ready, I'll be sure to take you up on them. From some of the pics and info I've heard on you guy's systems, it's kinna humbling from what I'm going to do...I plan on taking time to build exactly what I want as well as a learning experiance for my kids (9g&4b)...For now, I hope you guys don't get sick of the questions, cause I'm gonna have em...
First, abt live rock, I understand the concept of cycling with it, but what about all the die off on really good live rock? Second, I've been researching using cement rock as a base, once properly cured, it seems like it's worked great for many people and research shows that once its cured right, if left near live rock/sand it starts to form coralline and crustaceons very quickly without leeching minerals...I've been experimenting with it for a week or two and whats coming out definently looks cool...Any shape you could conceive, leeme know ur input...Well enough 4 now, theres plenty more l8r...
hello again all, I got newb questions over here
Moderator: snoopdog
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Scott
- Goby
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Ask all the questions you want. I still ask too many and they put up with me.
1. Any live rock, high quality or not, will have some die off. This is the beginning of your cycle. The die off will result i production af NH4 (ammonia). It is a good idea to get any sponges and macroalgaes off the rock before they have a chance to grow or die in the tank. The base rock that Rich sells has no coralline algae but is in the same vat as his live rock, so it has started curing.
2. The home made liverock that I have seen has not been very good looking and is very dense. Density is not a good thing becasue there is less surface area for bacteria to grow. There have been a few post about it on various message boards and there are many ways to make it. One that I considered involved using noodles mixed in with concrete and crushed oyster shells. During the curing process the noodles disolve leaving some amount of porosity. I may try this wih only a limited amount of oyster shells because they make the rock look rough. I think once you have good coralline coverage you won't be able to tell the difference. The best thing about making your own is that you can make any size or shape you need. You will still want at least some real live rock to have micro fauna, unless you buy some from some place like Inland Aquatics.
If you have a digital camera I would like to see some of the liverock that you have made. I will soon have a 100 gallon that will need more LR than I have now.
HTH,
Scott
1. Any live rock, high quality or not, will have some die off. This is the beginning of your cycle. The die off will result i production af NH4 (ammonia). It is a good idea to get any sponges and macroalgaes off the rock before they have a chance to grow or die in the tank. The base rock that Rich sells has no coralline algae but is in the same vat as his live rock, so it has started curing.
2. The home made liverock that I have seen has not been very good looking and is very dense. Density is not a good thing becasue there is less surface area for bacteria to grow. There have been a few post about it on various message boards and there are many ways to make it. One that I considered involved using noodles mixed in with concrete and crushed oyster shells. During the curing process the noodles disolve leaving some amount of porosity. I may try this wih only a limited amount of oyster shells because they make the rock look rough. I think once you have good coralline coverage you won't be able to tell the difference. The best thing about making your own is that you can make any size or shape you need. You will still want at least some real live rock to have micro fauna, unless you buy some from some place like Inland Aquatics.
If you have a digital camera I would like to see some of the liverock that you have made. I will soon have a 100 gallon that will need more LR than I have now.
HTH,
Scott
Wanted: to set up a tank again.
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snoopdog
- Yellow Tang
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Noodles, now that is a cool idea Scott, got any research info on that like a past post, i would like to read it. But what Scott said is very true. Still to this day Marshall Island live rock is the most promising thing for live rock. Its light, porous and not too pricey for live rock, wish i had this instead of my Fiji that i have now. For a prosperous reef tank two things are a must to start, good sand bed (3 inch prefereably), and good live rock. You can try to make your live rock but until you get the hang of it i would limit it to just a rock or two, and rely on good LIVE rock for a basis to start.
To add to what you said Scott, another thing they recommend are PVC shavings added to the exterior of the live rock, this adds to lightness and great coralline algae growth since the algae attaches well to plastics. I still want to form my own rock, but home construction has me down ATM.
To add to what you said Scott, another thing they recommend are PVC shavings added to the exterior of the live rock, this adds to lightness and great coralline algae growth since the algae attaches well to plastics. I still want to form my own rock, but home construction has me down ATM.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
One site that I really liked as far as man made rock was http://garf.org/
Go to the how to pages from the left column and then click on Aragocrete. This may be what you have already looked at, but avery informative article.
Go to the how to pages from the left column and then click on Aragocrete. This may be what you have already looked at, but avery informative article.
Last edited by SaltnLime on Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Well......maybe I did get alittle carried away! "
I was going to do the agrocrete method to save some money, but was never happy with the results. I used oyster shells and various noodles.
And if anybody need or wants a big bag of oyster shells they can have it. I imagine the portland cement is bad by now (humitidity) but they can have that also.
I figure that since the liverock is the very heart of your filtration in a berlin system, if you skimp on this you will have skimped on a major component of your filtration, leading to more problems than it is worth later on down the road. Thinking of how much some of these corals and fish cost when you add it all up why skimp on one of the most important pieces?
And if anybody need or wants a big bag of oyster shells they can have it. I imagine the portland cement is bad by now (humitidity) but they can have that also.
I figure that since the liverock is the very heart of your filtration in a berlin system, if you skimp on this you will have skimped on a major component of your filtration, leading to more problems than it is worth later on down the road. Thinking of how much some of these corals and fish cost when you add it all up why skimp on one of the most important pieces?