I'm not sure about Vancouver but here Superstore (Loblaws) carries the water softening salt for cheap. Farm supply stores sell crushed oyster shell but I've seen at PetSmart as well, I don't recall the price. I don't want to say for sure that regular cement is cement but I don't think there is a difference. Cement is very alkaline and the rock formations can take awhile to finish leaching out into the water before it can be used in a fish tank. There are other sources of cheap dry rock as an alternate to live rock. Pukani reef rock comes to mind as an example.
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