Cheap Rock Alternative?

[Vindicator]

Ok, I am spending money hehe, I know we all are when it comes to this hobby. But the one thing that I cannot justify spending money on is the live rock! No matter how many times I try to do it , I can't. It just drives me crazy how expensive this stuff is, FOR ROCK! I do not even want know how much they are going to charge me for shipping rock! LOL. Now I have a lot of time and patience, so I can wait for dead rock to become live, so I will justify buying a VERY small box of rock just to seed my tank. But iv been trying to come up with other ways to get cheap or free rock. I was going to make some myself out of cement and real rock and sand. But the question again is what rocks are safe in a tank? Is there anything I should make sure to avoid?

For example - I live in South Florida , about 1 mile from the ocean, and I was thinking to myself. Don't I live on top of one gigantic dead reef???? What If I just went to my backyard and dug up some rock, and let it cure for a month or something.

Let me know what you guys think. This rock thing is driving me nuts LoL

[sen5241b]

I hear you. My wife: "that pile of rocks cost how much?!!"

To save money do what I did: start out with less LR than you need but stock low. Add some good porous, coral rock and let it become LR in the tank. A month or two later, add some more cured LR till you get up to about 1 pound per G. But you really need it -its the best filtration system you can have. I found a lot of white dead, branch coral washed up on the shore near Naples and I am curing it as I write this.

[daugherty]

look into to getting dry base rock. i would be carefull with rocks that you find on the beach.

[d.french]

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/203892/product.web

[chaosfinity]

If you use the cement made "aragocrete" it needs to be cured in tapwater for 6-8 weeks to make it PH neutral otherwise it will drop your PH to very low levels dangerous for anything in a reef tank. After the few things my dad has done for rock i would be cautious with base rock, if you get any base rock apply the same concept for the cement rock cure it for 6-8 weeks in tapwater doing a water change every day to make sure that it will not for one have any mud or other contaminants and to make it PH neutral if it is not. Also just as a precaution we took and set the rock in the sink and filled it with boiling water and let that sit for about enough time for more water to boil and went on to the next rock.

Sorry to make it seem like a bad idea but we did lose a few fish using the baserock our LFS sold. Just want to keep that from happening to other people.

[d.french]

even cheaper yet i got mine here and than bought very little cured live rock from pet store so i can seed all this dry rock with live bacteria.
i wouldn't do anything cheaper than this unless you get on reef central and read on how to make your own rock and what supplies you need to do it.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...areefrock50lbs

[d.french]

my home made rock that i got from local reefer has to cure it for long time cause ingredient used with drive ph real high, matter of fact i still have to soak mine for 2 more weeks cause i did ph test on water and still a little high.

[Vindicator]

Well lucky for me I'm just setting up the tank now, nothing is in it. So when I do cure for awhile there will be no ill effects till I get everything right chem wise

[fatman]

There is a readily available cheap and good looking alternative to buying live rock that is dug up right there in Florida. Try this site http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/rock.htm
Just use it as a rock that you be innoculated with a few pieces of live rock. If I were you I would get the live rock that you do buy from http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com also right there in Florida. His live rock can not be beat.

[UnderwaterWorld]

I have heard great things about the tampa bay rock, I have heard someone even got a octupus with their shipment once!