I have a question about base rock please help

[berad001]

Hey, first off I am new to the board. I am down in the gulf of mexico on vacation and I am seeing alot of great rock on the beach. At home I have a 100 gallon tank that I want to build up with some nice base rock before I invest in the nice top rocks. So I wanna take some of this rock home but I dont know if its going to be safe in my take. What it looks like is pretty much a bunch of shells suspended in rock. Its a very light color. I have about 30 pounds I wanna take back home with me to add into my take. Will this be safe in my tank?? Any help would be great

 

[Dan81]

It should be perfectly fine just r8inse it off good. You can use anything from PVC pipe to concrete for base rock.

 

[berad001]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dan81:
<strong>It should be perfectly fine just r8inse it off good. You can use anything from PVC pipe to concrete for base rock.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Cool, so you dont think adding rock like this will hurt the PH? It just rock righ off the beach. I plan on boiling it before adding it to the tank.

 

[Jawbone]

I know people that put rocks and water and whatever else they can get their little hands on right off of the beach into their tanks.

Generally not a good idea because of the pollutants that will be close to shore.

This still would not stop me if I lived near shore but I think I would just put the rock or whatever else I picked up into a seperate Hospital tank if you will for a month or so and if all looks well then transfer it in.

I would not boil the rocks because I might boil out a cool little sand crab or some starfish... you never know

 

[Anonymous]

I have used rock from Grand Cayman,Puerto Rico,Mexico and Florida and I have had no problems. As a matter of fact those rocks are now live rock now. prior to putting them in your tank they must be cleaned properly. Some I boiled for a half hour and others I soaked in vinegar for 2 days. Boiling seems to get the real small things out of the little holes.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

You'll increase the biodiversity of your tank if you do not exterminate all life from the rocks.

You would not do this with a top grade expensive piece of live rock, so why do it with a free piece?

Boling your rock will ensure you kill anything living in it - that will ensure you get some excess ammonia production. Whether this is a problem depends on your tanks ability to absorb the extra bio demand.

 

[JohnD]

Teapot,

The "problem" with diversity is you have to take the good with the bad. Gathering rock from in close could be more "bad" than "good". I agree with cleaning the rock real well and using it as the base rock.

Berad - My suggestion would be to get diversity from LR collected from several locations.

My $.02

 

[naesco]

I wouldn't kill of the life on it either. You might want to consider putting in one rock at a time over a period of time leaving the balance stacked in a 10 gallon tank.
In that way there will be a minimal adjustment to your main tank.

 

[berad001]

Great, thank you for all the help. I am going to boil it and use it as base rock. I am switching the tank over to a reef soon, so I needed to build a nice foundation. Any more input would be great, if anyone has any that is.

 

[MandarinFish]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

I am going to boil it

He evidently didn't read.

 

[Anonymous]

First of all I do not think that much of that life will make it back alive anyway. I am sure you cannot package it as they do for commercial transport. That is if you make it past Customs and PQ.

Second,I think that he has weighed his options and feels that more good will come out of boiling it than keeping it alive. I'm not sure what is "the right thing to do",but I think I would boil it as well.