Man Made Live Rock poll?

[wingedfish]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I understand some DIY rock nowadays people are using rocksalt to increase the porosity of the rock

this is how I built my rock a couple months ago. I molded it in the garden dirt. it's very porous. presently it is in my tank and looks nothing like "real" rock. I won't comment on weather or not others should use it. I like the price and the fact that I didn't rape a reef for it.

[Stones]

I ended up ordering a pillar and a few flat pieces of Aquaroche ceramic rock from a US vendor when setting up my 225 last May. They pieces themselves are made from clay rather than cement and they look great now that they are starting to get covered with coralline algae. However, they are also the only pieces of rock in my tank that have been plagued by hair algae.

I soaked the pieces in RO/DI water for close to 4 months, changing the water out every few weeks to hopefully leach out any residual phosphate. My tank has tested 0.00 ppm phosphate with a hanna phosphate colorimeter since the get go so I believe the nutrients are bound up in the rock and are not leaching out into the water column. Either way, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get rid of the hair algae on the ceramic rock since my fish show no interest and manual pruning is alot less fun than it sounds.

If I had to do it again, I don't think I would use man made rock despite all of the amazing shapes and sculptured pieces that are becoming more readily available to the hobbyist. Drilling live rock and inserting acrylic or PVC rods along with the conspicious use of zip ties in my opinion can also create shapes and structures that are equivalent to some of the ceramic rock being manufactured.

[plutoniumJoe]

When I first got back into the hobby I was and still am very impressed with the Garf project. I was also on a budget (Oh how things change). I made rock using a variety of techniques including adding acrylic shavings and pasta to increase coralline growth and poricity.

I put the rock in the toilet water collection areas(not the bowl collection area) so that it would get fresh water several times a day. At first it did not look natural in the tank but over time it was difficult to tell what was natural and what was made. I used mainly for structural bases or places where I needed tunnels. I was able to get some pretty good deals on rock as things progressed and now have more than I need but have kept some of the original man made rock in places that are less visible.