Live Rock$$$

nufiefish

nufiefish

Newfiefish
hey people
planning on stocking my 55 gallon tank this weekend and never realized how much live rock cost $4 and $7 a pound at 1 -2 pounds per gallon so lets say at $6 a pound its gonna cost $330 for 55 pounds to fill my tank.I have heard using base rock and using live rock on top what dose base rock go for or can i find my own in the wild?? how do i do this on the cheep??

P.S i know its usually never a good idea to use wild objects(ROCK) in tanks just thought i would ask...
 
I wouldnt use rock in my tank. It might have chemicals on it, it might contain copper in it you just have no idea where it has been.

If you are looking for a base rock, get something that is porous. The nooks and crannies are where the good things live and populate the rock.

You can even make your own. Look for a thread started by project5k. It explains how to make your own. He has made it for like 50 cents a pound in materials and some time.
 
I have some of projects rock in my nano contest tank. It looks really good and is very porous. In that tank its the big rock on the left and the two shelf rocks. The other rock in there is Fiji. What the heck I will post you a pic of it so you dont have to look for it.
 

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well that depends on how you make it. Project used rock salt in the mix so that needed to dissolve out. I think cure time is like two months. Check out this utube video it tells you what you would want to know if you feel like making your own. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBNpmjMcTI&feature=channel]YouTube - How to Make Nano Reef Rock[/ame]
 
pretty sweet, i don't want to wait two months think i am gonna have to bite the bullet and buy some base rock and some live rock what % of each would be a good mix??
 
Well that all is really up to you. I know of people that have gone 50/50 others that use almost all base and only 10 or 15 percent live. If you cherry pick some really good stuff at the lfs then you can go with the later method.
 
Be patient and watch craigslist, where do you live? If you live in a large city I'm sure there are several people selling saltwater aquarium stuff and if they aren't selling live rock by itself they usually have some with the whole setup and might be willing to part with it alone. I scored 100+ pounds of live rock (mixture of diff types) for $100!

Edit: I saw you live in Toronto area which I know is huge so here:

These people seem to be selling full setups but email them to see if they'd sell the live rock separately.

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/yrk/for/1374634293.html

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/mss/for/1371636332.html same here

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/yrk/for/1367185132.html
 
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the rock i make cures out in about 3-4 weeks, and its really not the salt that is the concern.. the cure process is to make sure that the lime that is in the portland cement has had time to "go off" and become inert..... or disolve out, or whatever it does... i know that the chemical reaction that happens in concrete takes around 28 days or less to finish in parts of this size....

Ted - that 130lbs of rock that we put into my tank, that was 30 day cure rock, and the tank still looks freakn awesome!

the one thing that i discovered recently, or rather just finally put some thought into, is that when i had made the rock before, i used tap water to make it, and while i've not seen any issues with this, so far, i wonder about what other things are trapped in the rock and might be leaking out slowly....

so, the new recipie for making rock at ranch p5k is bluebag rocksalt, #1 portland cement, 40# crushed coral, RO/DI water(not tap)

like i said, i havent seen any issues, but if i can, why not eliminate the possibility.

oh, yea, and not counting my time, or the electricity to run the mixer, or the water i use to cure the rock in, so just the materials, its pretty close to 50 cents a pound...

you know, i went back and reread what i just posted and realized im a moron, if i'm gonna cure the rock in tap water, then whats the point in making the rock with rodi... hmmm

perhaps i should start thinking about curing the rock in something other than tap water....or at least do part of the cure time with rodi and not tap.. i dunno, gonna have to think on that one, if i decide it matters....
 
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I've collected more than half my rock from beaches including a beautiful 6 pound piece I found on a beach in Costa Rica. The rock should be made of dead coral skeltons. You'll have to cure it yourself.

I've saved hundreds of $$ on LR and my hand collected rock and it looks great. I also found some beautiful pieces at a yard sale for $7.

This is IMHO the best article on live rock out there:

About Live Rock - Live Rock
 
Here's the post for DIY Live rock which includes a video by Eddiekern as to how he made his.

As for time, making the rock takes overnight to settle, but around 4-6 weeks of curing (with daily 100% water changes). Mine were curing in a tub in my backyard. I changed out the water everyday. They look great. I just have to take new pics of the ones I've made so far. See the thread for how much people paid for materials. Definitely cheaper, and you have more control of the shapes.
 
on yea, i did my "daily" water changes every 6 hours, automatically.. i got an automatic sprinkler controller, i think i paid like 30 bucks for it at HD a few years ago, it take a 9 volt battery, and you just set the on and off times, so i set mine up to come on for 5 min at noon, 6pm, midnight, and 6am... that way i dont have to do anything to it for it to work..
 
oh really, what exactly did that do, and werent you just washing most of it away when you did the water changes?

and how are bacteria gonna help the curing chemical proces of the cement?
 

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