MAKING DRY ROCK LIVE

[Abe]

I miss typed earlier of what I am looking for. I have dry rock that I bought couple of days ago and want to make them live with caroline algae so they are ready for the tank when it is set up, and to use them to seed the new dry rock during the cycle. I don't want to seed it with already live rock because I am worried I might get aptasia or unwanted criters in it. so my question is, if I put them in a bucket with a heater and a powerhead and added some aditive will that make them live and have coraline algae or I need some light on top to start the process. Thanks in advance.

[Money pit]

If you want coralline, you will need light and something to seed it. If it was me, I would wait for this step until after its in your tank. To seed the rock with bacteria, you can always just toss in a cocktail shrimp. This will start the cycle, but you may want to monitor the progress, depending how long it will be before you need the rock, you may need to add a shrimp periodically. Once the shrimp is gone the bacteria will begin to starve. This can all be done in the dark. Doesn't have to be shrimp, you can use fish food, plankton whatever. To get pods, you will need a piece of live rock, even a small piece that you can check closely for aiptasia will work as long as it has pods in it.
These guys will starve too if you don't feed the rock. If you're really worried you can always put the live rock in a small container under a light for a week or 2. If there is aiptasia, this should give it time to come out where you can see it.

[chewie]

As far as I know you will need some live rock with coraline algae already on it for more to grow. You cant just put dirt in a pot and expect tomatoes to grow without adding seeds...It does grow best under low light, even none.