anyone here ever use mined base rock?

[bhb1034]

i just bought some limerock from middle florida for really cheap. from what i understand its pretty close to the same as the rock used by tbs and gulfview liverock. it is heavy, as expected. but it looks great and ive got some soaking now and it doesnt seem to change the water chemisty. i have a 220g fish only that i plan to heavily stock with small peaceful fish. im going to use a large skimmer and no dsb. i know live rock helps lower nitrates but will this rock? im worried that because its hard and not that porous, that it will not aid in lowering nitrates as well as typical live rock. im going to have some live rock in there but mainly a couple hundred pounds of this base rock. is there anything i can do to make this rock better or more efficient? drilling etc?
thanks guys
brandon

 

[Anonymous]

If you have some live rock in there, as well as some live sand, the porosity of these base rock should not be an issue. The only concern is mineral that are embedded in these mined rock. Different region of US has different contanimant, so make sure it does not contains significant amount of copper/lead and other metal that can leach into the saltwater later. With regular water change this may not be an issue, but you should check the copper at the minimum before using.

The base rock should add a bit of alk/buf to the water, so I am sure it does alter the water chemistry unless the saltwater is already saturated with the ions.

Don't bother drilling it, but if you want them in a specific shape, get drill/chisel and have some fun.