Steve, if I am not mistaken, you can make your own LR. Concrete can be used and shaped to your liking.

yup, but that isn't live rock.. it is pourous cement that given time in a good tank will become live rock.. I contenplated making all my own this way but it was to long of a curing process and still a little bit of a risk

Steve

Our guy Ross has made a bunch of it, and is using it in his new 180. From what I uderstand it has to be soaked in fresh water for quite some time, because the pH gets really high. It is interesting material, quite light and porous. In my OPINION it is very ugly :shock: at the start. That is because it is grey and bland. I am sure though that when it gets Coraline algae growth, it will be just ducky. :D :D :D

Making live rock is a bit of a long process...and it is ugly to start. I have the recipe and one does need patience. It is a combination of crushed oyster shell, concrete and aragonite. It has to cure for a day (in a moist environment) then sit in fresh water for about 5 weeks (with regular changes) and then it needs 2 weeks in salt water before you can add it to your aquarium. After more than 4 months the rock is now starting to get a bit of color and growth on it and some pieces are virtually indistinguishable from the live rock I bought…and have the added advantage of not having nasty critters on them. The real plus is the cost. It was $8.50 each for 2 50 pound bags of oyster shell, $6 for a 50 pound bag of concrete, silica sand that was $8 bucks each for 50 pounds and 25 pounds of course aragonite. This made about 120 pounds of rock in all…so far.

Most people concider this a disadvantage as it is the critters that add diversity to your tank and a very smal persentage of them are actualy "Nasty" I look in my tank and any given moment and I see hundreds of bugs runnign around and bristle worms out foragaing for food, to me this is a helthy diverse tank and the lack of such critters would be more of a cause for concern in my opinion.

Steve

Steve I'm afraid I am coming across all wrong here. I think the concrete rocks are perfect for base rocks...and cheap . When you are getting into his hobby it helps to save cash where you can….but… If you don't buy some real live rock you absolutely miss out on the cool critters (I also have lots of those). Let me add this caveat, buy live rock, treat it just like you would live fish…it is not always safe.


Rant on***
I’m a bit jaded … and I miss my all my hermits, and old sally… and my favorite shrimps that ate out of my hand and all my nassarius snails…
Rant off***

Ok thanks for the tips :cry: :( :) :D

Yes but do you have Mantis Shrimp eating everything like Ross has?

I wish I did, I have a tank set up and waiting for one....

Steve

dang your about 47 hours too late. 2 nights ago I would have shipped the tank out to you. :lol:

I forgot one thing about the ugly home made rocks...I have two rear 8"X12" built in overflows. I made a mold out of wood and created a 1" fake rock covering that hids them quite well. When they are covered in algae they are going to look great (whenever that is).