Putting cement blocks in a reef tank

[nickt]

I have a 300 gallon future reef tank. I already have 200 lbs of live rock, wich I now know won,t be close to enough! But , if I can put some cement blocks behind and under the live rock it would really help the 200 lbs of rock look like alot more.Is this safe? I have seen it done before but Will it affect water quality? Or make your levels go crazy? Please help? :bigbounce

 

[nickt]

Anybody with any experience?

 

[hunterd_67]

I think Witful has cement blocks in his new 210, u might want to pm him.

 

[Witfull]

so far so good,,,make sure they are cement and not cinderblocks.

 

[nickt]

Do you have any pics Wit?

 

[Witfull]

 

[Frankie]

Wit, are you geting any coraline growth yet on them?

 

[nickt]

Will they turn purple? Did you clean them with anything special first?

 

[nickt]

Thats the idea I got

 

[Witfull]

i soaked in a slight vinigar bath and scrubbed them. im getting some spots on them now. i think it takes them longer due to the cement, but in time im hopefull.

 

[cheeks69]

Nick what are your plans for the tank ? Is it going to be reef or FOWLR ? Are you going to use a DSB ? If so and you have a real good skimmer and a moderate bio-load then you could get away with just the 200lbs. Is the rock you have porous or is it real dense like Tonga or Aquacultured ?

 

[nickt]

I'm planning on a big reef with some larger fish. I figure About 300lbs of live rock will be plenty for the bio load [ the tank is 300 and sump is about 50 ], but it still won't be enough for me to stack it like I want. I found some great base rock on hirocks.com . Only like 89us dollars delivered for 60lbs . That's really cheap. Anybody see this stuff yet? Their ebay feedback is great.