Man Made Rock

[tranvictor]

Hello I am setting up a new tank, and I am thinking about putting in some man made rock with a peice of live rock.

Does anybody know if the man made stuff will become full on live rock after the month or so cycling period? Or should the cycling period be extended until the man made stuff gets infused with bacteria?

How would I tell if the man made rock is full of bacteria? I am kind of impatient and I don't think that I can wait a few months for it to work. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks.

Vic

[mr_alberta]

Man made rocks can take up to several months for the pH to stabalize before you can even put it in your tank. It will then take several months to 6 months for it to look like the rest of your liverock. If you are impatient, then base rock would be a cheaper alternative for you than liverock.

[TheReefGeek]

You have a PM.

Using some dry rock to cycle along with live might take a bit longer but not much, bacteria spreads quickly.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by mr_alberta

Man made rocks can take up to several months for the pH to stabalize before you can even put it in your tank. It will then take several months to 6 months for it to look like the rest of your liverock. If you are impatient, then base rock would be a cheaper alternative for you than liverock.

the only time saved using base rock will be the 1 month to make and stabalize the rock.. depending on how you do it you might only have to cure it for 2 weeks but a month is average. the same aplies to dry live rock... If you have the time (say a month or a little longer) making your own rock has several advantages and is a lot cheaper.

Steve

[TheReefGeek]

What advantages? You can do more custom shapes, but I think there are disadvanages too. I have not tried it yet, but I would think you would end up with very dense stuff, and making molds and creating realistic rock would be tough I think.

Could be good if you are going to use the same molds over and over again, or if you can shape it by hand realistically.

Anybody made their own rocks have any pics?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

What advantages? You can do more custom shapes, but I think there are disadvanages too. I have not tried it yet, but I would think you would end up with very dense stuff, and making molds and creating realistic rock would be tough I think.

Could be good if you are going to use the same molds over and over again, or if you can shape it by hand realistically.

Anybody made their own rocks have any pics?

you use sand casting not molds so no rock will ever bee the same.

there are several people who are/used to be on the board that have done it and it looked pretty good. now there are probably 50 different ways to do it and you have to find the best mix for you. I am actually thinking of making some for the tank when I take it down.. I want to make a back cover type thing and do the side partly molded to the shape of the tank.

the rock being dense is not a bad thing, the only time that is bad is when you are buying it from a LFS and some of the home made rock I have seen is light.. so like I said you have to find the right mixture by making little ones at first to nail it down.


Steve

[TheReefGeek]

Maybe this summer when I can work outside I will give it a try, sounds like a fun project anyways.

So the Ph has to settle on the manmade stuff though, how would you test when it is "ready"? Just by testing the Ph of the water it is in?