seeding base rock
 

Hi. I'm starting a 65 gallon tank and I'm on a tigh budget. To save money I'm thinking about buying some base rock and not so much live rock. How long will it take before the base rock begins to look like live rock? Thanks!

If you don't mind waiting,base rock is alot cheaper,and looks just like the rest after awhile.Buy yourself a couple of nice pieces of live rock and use it to seed the base rock.

the bacteria will colonise the LR fairly quickly I believe - within a few weeks.

But other life will take a while.

Alright, thanks for the info guys. I've been offered some live rock from someone in town, so I'll get a bunch of that and then get some base rock as well. Does anyone know where I can order some base rock? I live in Edmonton and I haven't seen it in any of the LFS. Thanks again.

The time can vary on how long it will take to seed, but remember, the more live rock you get (from differant sources), the more varied the life will be. Just food for thought. :smile:

try J&L for base rock.

Big Al's sells base rock. Its horrendously expensive though. As Jim said, it is best to order it through JL aquatics though they only sell it in 60lb packages I believe...

that drives me insane about J&L and live rock. You can only buy them in 50-60lb boxes. I only want about 30-40lbs of base rock. I'm sure there's someone around here that needs some as well and maybe we could split the cost. Thanks for the info guys.

I believe J&L sells dry base rock real cheap. I also believe they sell and ship quantities less than a full box. They do advertise prices for such.

I was just on the J&L site and it looks like they only sell base rock in 50lb boxes, for $75/box. I don't need that much base rock... oh well, I'll look around. Thanks again.