culturing live rock

crsaz · 02-20-2009, 01:29 PM

I curently have the supplies to make in excess of 800lbs of aragocrete. I have a few questions.
1. once its fully cured and stable and I just thro 200 or 300 lbs in a stock tank with a power head and some t-5 lights I have lying around and seed it with a few nice pieces of LR?

2. Will I need any sort of filtration. I was thinking of taking the skimmer off my main tank for 1 day every week or 2 and running it on the LR tank

3. will I need to dose to get coralline algea growth going at a fast?

chipmunkofdoom2 · 02-20-2009, 01:42 PM

It seems to me you're more focused on the aesthetics of the live rock rather than the function. If there's coralline on the rocks you seed it with, it will eventually spread, but just because a hunk of rock is covered in coralline doesn't mean that there are living bacteria deep in its pores, like true live rock.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge DIY advocate and this certainly extends to live rock, since it's so expensive and it is after all a natural resource, but in order to properly seed the rock, you should have at least half live rock to aragocrete. I think, ideally, it should spend a few years (upwards of 2 or so) in a well established tank (a tank that is 2+ years old) to be considered full-blown live rock.

rmlevasseur · 02-20-2009, 04:13 PM

I think Chip pretty much has it right. Naturally any LR needs a bio source to continue thriving. I haven't seen porous agrocrete, and I have never seen anyone sell it at higher prices because it is seeded. I'd just sell it as dry base rock.

Varga · 02-20-2009, 04:14 PM

Would you mind sharing how you have the supplies to make in excess of 800lbs of aragocrete? would love to know.

crsaz · 02-20-2009, 05:43 PM

I've got a full pallet of crushed coral sand thats 50 bags weighing in at 60lbs each that comes out to a total of 3000lbs I've got 4- 94lb bags of riverside white cement and Im gonna go pick up a couple bags of varius sized rock salt to make the rock pourous

so I'd be better off getting good live rock from 4 or five places rather than just a little from one established tank(8 yeaars old) like say 10-20 from my tank and 15 or so from the eastablished tank and then order like a 50lb box of nice SE asian LR and a 50lb box from another place. so this way I have tons of bio diversity

as for selling it for more I planned on selling it for $1.50-2.00/lb if I sell it dry I could sell it for $1/lb and still make enough money to help pay for my tank

02-20-2009, 01:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
crsaz Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 9 View Gallery Karma Komment	culturing live rock I curently have the supplies to make in excess of 800lbs of aragocrete. I have a few questions. 1. once its fully cured and stable and I just thro 200 or 300 lbs in a stock tank with a power head and some t-5 lights I have lying around and seed it with a few nice pieces of LR? 2. Will I need any sort of filtration. I was thinking of taking the skimmer off my main tank for 1 day every week or 2 and running it on the LR tank 3. will I need to dose to get coralline algea growth going at a fast?

02-20-2009, 01:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
chipmunkofdoom2 Reef Lobster Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Stewartstown, PA Posts: 1,307 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: culturing live rock It seems to me you're more focused on the aesthetics of the live rock rather than the function. If there's coralline on the rocks you seed it with, it will eventually spread, but just because a hunk of rock is covered in coralline doesn't mean that there are living bacteria deep in its pores, like true live rock. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge DIY advocate and this certainly extends to live rock, since it's so expensive and it is after all a natural resource, but in order to properly seed the rock, you should have at least half live rock to aragocrete. I think, ideally, it should spend a few years (upwards of 2 or so) in a well established tank (a tank that is 2+ years old) to be considered full-blown live rock. __________________ Will sell my body for ricordea DIY High Power LED Retro!

02-20-2009, 04:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
rmlevasseur Acropora Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,849 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: culturing live rock I think Chip pretty much has it right. Naturally any LR needs a bio source to continue thriving. I haven't seen porous agrocrete, and I have never seen anyone sell it at higher prices because it is seeded. I'd just sell it as dry base rock. __________________ Robert http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...ufas-tank.html

02-20-2009, 04:14 PM	#4 (permalink)
Varga Manta Ray Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 3,355 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: culturing live rock Would you mind sharing how you have the supplies to make in excess of 800lbs of aragocrete? would love to know. __________________ Varga's Cube http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...on-cube-5.html

02-20-2009, 05:43 PM	#5 (permalink)
crsaz Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 9 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: culturing live rock I've got a full pallet of crushed coral sand thats 50 bags weighing in at 60lbs each that comes out to a total of 3000lbs I've got 4- 94lb bags of riverside white cement and Im gonna go pick up a couple bags of varius sized rock salt to make the rock pourous so I'd be better off getting good live rock from 4 or five places rather than just a little from one established tank(8 yeaars old) like say 10-20 from my tank and 15 or so from the eastablished tank and then order like a 50lb box of nice SE asian LR and a 50lb box from another place. so this way I have tons of bio diversity as for selling it for more I planned on selling it for $1.50-2.00/lb if I sell it dry I could sell it for $1/lb and still make enough money to help pay for my tank

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