[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.