Lace rock to live rock

[Rleepremier]

So I'm breaking down my peacock cichlid tank and decided to make a nice reef tank. I have about 50lbs of lace rock. Can I use it and seed it with some of my existing LR from an established tank? Is it even possible to make lace rock into live? Is there some guide to making it live? Thanks for the help. Hopefully I don't have to waste this rock.

[Rleepremier]

Bump anyone?

[irondragon013]

I have a good bit of lace rock in my tank. Should be fine if you get a few pieces of live rock to cycle with it.

[Rleepremier]

Awesome. Thanks.

[pyrocreep]

There are a lot of mixed feelings out there about lace rock for a reef tank. I was initially going to use it to start my tank, but decided against it. The main reason for this is that some lace rock seems to leach out various, though not always toxic, nutrients and elements. This can lead to a few different things, it may only mean that you have some excess algae growing or it could be toxic chemicals that will kill everything. Yes, there's a lot of could's here I will give you that.

 

Here's the good thing though. If this rock has been in a FW tank for a while (several months) then everything has probably already been leached out and removed via water changes. So, you should be fine. The only thing that you may need to worry about is that the rock won't buffer the kH (hardness) of the water. This is able to be worked around, but just make sure if you do use it that your testing your water.

[Rleepremier]

There are a lot of mixed feelings out there about lace rock for a reef tank. I was initially going to use it to start my tank, but decided against it. The main reason for this is that some lace rock seems to leach out various, though not always toxic, nutrients and elements. This can lead to a few different things, it may only mean that you have some excess algae growing or it could be toxic chemicals that will kill everything. Yes, there's a lot of could's here I will give you that.

 

Here's the good thing though. If this rock has been in a FW tank for a while (several months) then everything has probably already been leached out and removed via water changes. So, you should be fine. The only thing that you may need to worry about is that the rock won't buffer the kH (hardness) of the water. This is able to be worked around, but just make sure if you do use it that your testing your water.

 

well its been fine in my fw tank for about 6 months. i will be adding probably 20lbs of LR to 20lbs of Lace rock. will this seed the lace rock so that things will grow on it? like zoos?

[pyrocreep]

To the best of my knowledge you should be fine using the lace rock. You may still have a chance of it leaching nutrients into the tank (silica and the like), but I would assume that this is slim and you should be ok using it.

 

As long as the LR is actually live rock and not completely dry then yes, it will seed the lace rock and allow you to grow corals on it. What you'll be able to grow is a completely different thread though.

 

Edit: Spelling

[gabe_j]

have you ever treated any meds into that FW tank? i have 40# of lace rock in my garage, i found out in the hill country and i cleaned it and everything and then thought if i was willing to chance it leaching something out into an already established tank...40# of free lace wasn't worth the 5k worth of coral gamble sitting in my tank. ultimately its up to you. personally i'm iffy about it. at the very least let it sit in some water change water in an old tank/ rubbermaid for a month or so with a powerhead in there and test your water for any copper. or any other heavy metal test you can get your hands on, just incase. but again these are just MY thoughts and MY hesitations regarding my tank.