Naturally seeding "dead" rock

[Panic]

Hi all,

 

I've always wondered:

 

Is there anything wrong with me buying dead rock from the LFS and leaving it in a secluded rockpool for a few months to get a good helping of life?

 

I know that it may introduce a few critters that won't stand the heat (Cape Town Atlantic seaboard is rather cold) of a reef, but surely the bacteria/algae would be pretty much the same and therefore perfect for seeding a new tank?

 

I'm ignoring the possiblity of Nature Conservation people delivering a baby on the sport.

 

cheers

Panic

[coralreefengr]

I would recommend seeding with a scoop or two of sand from a friend's established tank. I used "dead" man-made rock and now it's teeming with life by adding just a bit of live sand.

[MKramer]

I've seen several experts in the field refer to problems with even the bacteria from a cold-water region surviving in a warm-water tank. It's a question of whether their metabolism adaptation is dyanmic or ingrained. If it's dynamic, then a significant portion of the bacteria colony can probably survive. If it's ingrained, it would take several generations before the necessary adaptations are made.... but it's unlikely enough of the original colony will survive to make that happen.

 

The algae is completely different, and much of it will either die upon transition to warm water, or become uncontrollable.

 

If you're interested in seeding, you can do it more efficiently in the comfort of your own home. Well, preferably your garage, since it'll stink. Do the old trick of getting a big rubbermaid tub, a big enough heater, and some powerheads, throw in your dead rock and some live stuff... either live rock, real live sand (not the sealed-bag variety), tank sludge or order a detritivore or sludge kit from someone online. Let it all sit together for a month or two. Every couple days, throw in an uncooked shrimp or two (depending on how much water volume we're talking about here), and change the water every couple weeks.

 

You can use local ocean water for the curing process, unlike for your actual tank.

[offsprg01]

cheep eficent live rock. wish i'd know that before i went out and spent seventy bucks on a peice of fiji lr. really pretty but i'm still debating on wheather or not ten bucks a pound was worth it. so if i under stand you correctly i can take a really cool peice of "dead" rock (still don't under stand how a rock can be dead if it was never alive in the first place.) and place in a tank with lr and ls and all the little critters will move right on in? about how long does this take? do you need a light set up for it? do you have to use the sludge and stuff or can you use just lr and ls?

[MKramer]

There are a lot of articles out there on making your own live rock, so I suggest looking for some information out on the ether, as I am certainly no expert.

 

That said, a few points worth mentioning:

By dead rock, I mean a highly-calcerous rock that is reef-safe (ie, known not to contain poisonous quantities of metals such as copper). The best natural "dead" rock is actually former reef rocks that have long since been dried out on land. Many tropical islands have large cashes of these rocks, as the islands themselves are made out of old reef structures. You can usually find this stuff sold as base rock.

 

You can also make your own. There are some articles on doing this at garf.org, including the cement recipe to use. Since I don't like making molds, I take a slighting different approach to chapign rock. I buy lightweight reef-safe decorator stuff (like dead coral skeletons and such) and slap on the cement mixture around it. It gives me a good guide for shape, but allows me to make every piece slightly different.

 

As for seeding it, you've pretty much got it right. To me, the most important things to have on my live rock are the denitrifying bacteria, and nice coraline. These are the two things that spread most easily, thankfully. Other critters, like worms and pods, won't seed into your new rock nearly as easily (partly because of reproduction times), but you might get some. Also, my two needs fit well with the fact that the bacteria and coraline are present in both sand and rock, where most of the other critters like one or the other. So this way I can seed my dead rock using sand or sludge, instead of having to take up space with live rock in my curing tank. More bang for the effort, if you get what I mean.

 

I've tried this both with and without good light. I think the bacteria colonies grow just fine without the light, but the light is definitely necessary for getting good coraline spread. We're only talking like 1W/gal here, so it's not a horrible expense.

 

I usually let my rock sit for at least six weeks. And like I said before, I "feed" the rock a fresh shrimp every couple days to keep the ntirogen cycle going for the bacteria.

 

If you need more information, let me know.

[offsprg01]

i just sent you a pm with more specific questions.