THOUGHT THIS ARTICLE WOULD BE OF SOME INTEREST FOR THOSE THAT WANTED TO MAKE THEIR OWN REEF ROCK.
By, Tom Miller
Reef Propagation Project:
The Complete Cookbook for Making Live Rock from Cement and Other Types of Rock.
-Includes How to Grow Great Coralline Algae and Make Live Sand-
Have you ever wondered if your hobby could support or pay for all of, or maybe more than all of its own expenses? It certainly would be nice if your hobby could at least pay part of its own way. Or, perhaps you would just like to save a small pile of money on the cost of live rock when setting up your next aquarium? You can do this when you learn how to make your own live rock. It isn't hard at all. People often ask me what types of rock can safely be used for making, growing or culturing their own live rock. The next problem many of them have run into in the past is finding some of the types of rock I've recommended. We're going to answer those questions in detail and solve any problems, right here and now! We're going to look at how to find suitable rocks for in-tank live rock aquaculture and how to go about the actual process of culturing or making them into live rock. I'll tie it up with the results of some very recent additional curing tests of cement rock and how to cure it best so that it is reef-safe.
Lately I have been getting more than the usual number of questions from readers who are having problems with not being able to grow nice looking purple and pink coralline algae on the live rock in their reef tanks. We'll also go over how to cure this missing coralline problem in this month's column.
-Land Based Rocks that can be used to Culture Live Rock.
You can make a lot of your own saltwater aquarium rock or reef aquarium live rock by adding plain whitish-beige aragonite rock, calcite rock or other reef safe rocks to your aquarium. It is a good idea to use ample amounts of rock in reef aquariums, and also in fish-only aquariums. This gives the fish more territory and hiding places. A tank devoid of rock is not as homey to the fish. A good combination of irregular rocky formations with some open space in between is appealing to the observer as well. Coralline algae, other reef life and good bacteria from the existing live rock in your reef tank will slowly spread to the new bare rocks. You can easily grow great looking fully coralline encrusted pieces of live rock in about four to eight months, but occasionally faster. Currently land based rocks that were long ago formed in the ocean are a good choice of rock to use. Some people use rocks like limestone in the form of calcite, or aragonite rocks from old reefs that are now above sea level. The younger it is geologically, the better it is, say perhaps under a million years old. True aragonite is the youngest reef generated rock or sand. Tufa rock also works well and is available at many aquarium stores now. It is a whitish-beige lightweight porous calcium carbonate, magnesium and mineral rock formed on land from geothermal activity. Some people also use landscaping limestone to culture live rock.
Some, but not all, lava rocks work well for live rock culture. Be cautious though, some types of lava rock just leach too many minerals and grow cyanobacteria (red, green and other colored slime algae) and hair algae very readily. If you've seen other people using a particular type of lava successfully without problems, then you're probably safe using the type they are using too.
Some people build the base or main structure for their reef or fish tank from any of the varieties of rock listed above, and then add some nice established cultured live rock or wild live rock or even ocean cultured live rock over parts of it, in many or just a few spots. This live rock from the ocean or from another good reef aquarium provides the "seed" culture for coralline algae, beneficial bacteria, tiny crustaceans (amphipods, decapods and copepods)and other goodies which multiply, spread and grow on and in your new rock also. I have even seeded Idaho aragonite rock with coralline algae in one 20-gallon reef tank with only the coralline on a few snails, hermit crabs and a live sand culture containing some small bits of coralline algae. Of course it took a lot longer to get really good looking live coralline rock with this very conservative seeding method. I prefer to use live rock for the "seed" coralline, NOT live sand with coralline mixed in with it.
I seeded another live rock and live sand growing tank (55-gallon) with only some home grown live sand and two 2-3 inch pieces of heavily corallined live rock. I put the well corallined rocks directly in the heaviest water flow from a power head. This helps spread the coralline algae spores around the tank and to the new rock faster. This grew nice coralline live rock much faster than the previous tank. Faster water motion in the tank (and across the seed rocks) helps here. Two MaxiJet 1000's work well to keep the water moving well in a 55-gallon live sand and live rock growing tank. These two tanks only had single or double flourescent lights of the Triton and Blue Moon Reef types which are 40 watt standard output. Two to four standard output reef tubes over a 45, 50, 55 or 75-gallon tank is ideal lighting for growing a good tank full of coralline live rock. You might as well grow live sand right in with your live rock at the same time. You need to use either enough live sand or live rock in with the new sand and rock to act as a starter culture to spread worms, amphipods, decapods and copepods along with coralline algae, to multiply and populate the new sand and rock. Of course some coral cuttings can be grown on top of all this in the same tank.
If you sell or trade the newly grown coralline live rock that you have just raised, you can then replace it with more dry base rock to keep growing more live rock. You will also have coralline algae growing on the inside glass of the tank by this time. If possible do not remove it, since it also provides seed culture in the form of spores, bits and pieces which can help spread coralline algae to the new rocks even faster the second time around. The more coralline algae on your glass and existing rocks, the faster the new rocks tend to grow coralline. Another trick that helps spread coralline algae is to scrub the coralline on the glass or a rock just a little with an abrasive aquarium cleaning pad or tooth brush to create coralline dust that can be blown around and settle on the new rocks to grow. Good water current is helpful. I do not use filter pads nor do I protein skim the tank during this initial phase, or especially when I scrub the coralline to "seed" the tank with coralline. Filter pads and protein skimming can remove spores or fine coralline dust which I want to encourage in the early stage of getting the rocks to start growing coralline algae.
The only calcium, magnesium or strontium additive I normally use to grow my coralline live rock is CaribSea aragonite sand. The aragonite sand dissolves slowly to provide these while buffering your water just fine on its own. Oolitic aragonite sand from CaribSea or ESV Company can also be used. I normally use no kalkwasser or buffers to culture homegrown live rock. I usually add iodide and a broad spectrum trace element and vitamin supplement such as CombiSan, Reef Plus or Vital Gold twice a week in smaller than recommended doses while growing coralline encrusted live rock. Other trace elements are used by others also. Some aquarists do not even add any other trace elements or iodide other than what the aragonite sand releases as it dissolves.
Using SeaChem's trio of Reef Plus (trace elements and vitamins), Reef Calcium (organic calcium) and Reef complete (calcium, magnesium and strontium) can speed up the process of coralline growth somewhat. Aragonite sand does release calcium, magnesium, strontium and some other elements too. Calcium and magnesium are especially vital to coralline algae growth. Organic calcium accelerates the growth of coralline algae also. Many people have experienced increased coralline algae growth when using Marc Weiss' Coral Vital.
END PART 1 - CONT. PART 2
By, Tom Miller
Reef Propagation Project:
The Complete Cookbook for Making Live Rock from Cement and Other Types of Rock.
-Includes How to Grow Great Coralline Algae and Make Live Sand-
Have you ever wondered if your hobby could support or pay for all of, or maybe more than all of its own expenses? It certainly would be nice if your hobby could at least pay part of its own way. Or, perhaps you would just like to save a small pile of money on the cost of live rock when setting up your next aquarium? You can do this when you learn how to make your own live rock. It isn't hard at all. People often ask me what types of rock can safely be used for making, growing or culturing their own live rock. The next problem many of them have run into in the past is finding some of the types of rock I've recommended. We're going to answer those questions in detail and solve any problems, right here and now! We're going to look at how to find suitable rocks for in-tank live rock aquaculture and how to go about the actual process of culturing or making them into live rock. I'll tie it up with the results of some very recent additional curing tests of cement rock and how to cure it best so that it is reef-safe.
Lately I have been getting more than the usual number of questions from readers who are having problems with not being able to grow nice looking purple and pink coralline algae on the live rock in their reef tanks. We'll also go over how to cure this missing coralline problem in this month's column.
-Land Based Rocks that can be used to Culture Live Rock.
You can make a lot of your own saltwater aquarium rock or reef aquarium live rock by adding plain whitish-beige aragonite rock, calcite rock or other reef safe rocks to your aquarium. It is a good idea to use ample amounts of rock in reef aquariums, and also in fish-only aquariums. This gives the fish more territory and hiding places. A tank devoid of rock is not as homey to the fish. A good combination of irregular rocky formations with some open space in between is appealing to the observer as well. Coralline algae, other reef life and good bacteria from the existing live rock in your reef tank will slowly spread to the new bare rocks. You can easily grow great looking fully coralline encrusted pieces of live rock in about four to eight months, but occasionally faster. Currently land based rocks that were long ago formed in the ocean are a good choice of rock to use. Some people use rocks like limestone in the form of calcite, or aragonite rocks from old reefs that are now above sea level. The younger it is geologically, the better it is, say perhaps under a million years old. True aragonite is the youngest reef generated rock or sand. Tufa rock also works well and is available at many aquarium stores now. It is a whitish-beige lightweight porous calcium carbonate, magnesium and mineral rock formed on land from geothermal activity. Some people also use landscaping limestone to culture live rock.
Some, but not all, lava rocks work well for live rock culture. Be cautious though, some types of lava rock just leach too many minerals and grow cyanobacteria (red, green and other colored slime algae) and hair algae very readily. If you've seen other people using a particular type of lava successfully without problems, then you're probably safe using the type they are using too.
Some people build the base or main structure for their reef or fish tank from any of the varieties of rock listed above, and then add some nice established cultured live rock or wild live rock or even ocean cultured live rock over parts of it, in many or just a few spots. This live rock from the ocean or from another good reef aquarium provides the "seed" culture for coralline algae, beneficial bacteria, tiny crustaceans (amphipods, decapods and copepods)and other goodies which multiply, spread and grow on and in your new rock also. I have even seeded Idaho aragonite rock with coralline algae in one 20-gallon reef tank with only the coralline on a few snails, hermit crabs and a live sand culture containing some small bits of coralline algae. Of course it took a lot longer to get really good looking live coralline rock with this very conservative seeding method. I prefer to use live rock for the "seed" coralline, NOT live sand with coralline mixed in with it.
I seeded another live rock and live sand growing tank (55-gallon) with only some home grown live sand and two 2-3 inch pieces of heavily corallined live rock. I put the well corallined rocks directly in the heaviest water flow from a power head. This helps spread the coralline algae spores around the tank and to the new rock faster. This grew nice coralline live rock much faster than the previous tank. Faster water motion in the tank (and across the seed rocks) helps here. Two MaxiJet 1000's work well to keep the water moving well in a 55-gallon live sand and live rock growing tank. These two tanks only had single or double flourescent lights of the Triton and Blue Moon Reef types which are 40 watt standard output. Two to four standard output reef tubes over a 45, 50, 55 or 75-gallon tank is ideal lighting for growing a good tank full of coralline live rock. You might as well grow live sand right in with your live rock at the same time. You need to use either enough live sand or live rock in with the new sand and rock to act as a starter culture to spread worms, amphipods, decapods and copepods along with coralline algae, to multiply and populate the new sand and rock. Of course some coral cuttings can be grown on top of all this in the same tank.
If you sell or trade the newly grown coralline live rock that you have just raised, you can then replace it with more dry base rock to keep growing more live rock. You will also have coralline algae growing on the inside glass of the tank by this time. If possible do not remove it, since it also provides seed culture in the form of spores, bits and pieces which can help spread coralline algae to the new rocks even faster the second time around. The more coralline algae on your glass and existing rocks, the faster the new rocks tend to grow coralline. Another trick that helps spread coralline algae is to scrub the coralline on the glass or a rock just a little with an abrasive aquarium cleaning pad or tooth brush to create coralline dust that can be blown around and settle on the new rocks to grow. Good water current is helpful. I do not use filter pads nor do I protein skim the tank during this initial phase, or especially when I scrub the coralline to "seed" the tank with coralline. Filter pads and protein skimming can remove spores or fine coralline dust which I want to encourage in the early stage of getting the rocks to start growing coralline algae.
The only calcium, magnesium or strontium additive I normally use to grow my coralline live rock is CaribSea aragonite sand. The aragonite sand dissolves slowly to provide these while buffering your water just fine on its own. Oolitic aragonite sand from CaribSea or ESV Company can also be used. I normally use no kalkwasser or buffers to culture homegrown live rock. I usually add iodide and a broad spectrum trace element and vitamin supplement such as CombiSan, Reef Plus or Vital Gold twice a week in smaller than recommended doses while growing coralline encrusted live rock. Other trace elements are used by others also. Some aquarists do not even add any other trace elements or iodide other than what the aragonite sand releases as it dissolves.
Using SeaChem's trio of Reef Plus (trace elements and vitamins), Reef Calcium (organic calcium) and Reef complete (calcium, magnesium and strontium) can speed up the process of coralline growth somewhat. Aragonite sand does release calcium, magnesium, strontium and some other elements too. Calcium and magnesium are especially vital to coralline algae growth. Organic calcium accelerates the growth of coralline algae also. Many people have experienced increased coralline algae growth when using Marc Weiss' Coral Vital.
END PART 1 - CONT. PART 2