Seeding diy liverock by drilling holes in it?

[cherubfish pair]

Will this work?

[lildraken]

I could be wrong but I think "seeding" means to introduce life to an otherwise lifeless rock. (life such as coralline algae, pods, worms)

You could make live rock more "porous" by drilling holes in it, is that what you mean?

[woz9683]

Well, like lildraken said, you're not going to seed it that way. What it will do is make the rock more porous, giving the critters (once they are seeded) more places to hide/colonize. To actually seed your DIY rocks you'll need to introduce at least a small amount of live rock and maybe some pods as well. You should check out the DIY live rock threads though, as there are more effective ways to make the rock porous. I'm not very well versed in this area, but I have read through a couple of those threads. I believe adding rock salt to the mixture while the rocks are being made is one option for making the rock more porous. While you cure the rock after it's been made the salt dissolves in the water making the rock porous. I've also heard of people spearing their molds with thin rods while the rock hardens. After the rocks have hardened you pull the rods out, leaving channels going through the rock. I'm sure there are other methods as well, I just happened to remember these two.

[lildraken]

I've made some of those DIY rocks with salt crystals to give it porosity. The pores left behind after the salt melts are pretty large. I wouldn't know how to drill concrete but it seems like you'd be drilling for a long time! but then again it took 5 weeks for the concrete to cure so it's a toss up!

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q112/Syford/aquarium/IMG_0005.jpg

[woz9683]

Masonry bits and a little water, takes no time at all as long as the concrete isn't fully cured (which would be months/years after being poured). These DIY rocks would never cure like a slab though, so you could probably drill it with relative ease forever. Still, not really a good option for making rock more porous. Lildraken, I like the look of those rocks, that salt dissolving method always seems to turn out great.

[cherubfish pair]

Well, what I mean by "seeding" is colonization of anaeorbic bacteria that do most of the biological filtration in tanks using the Berlin method.

[cherubfish pair]

Well, what I mean by "seeding" is colonization of anaeorbic bacteria that do most of the biological filtration in tanks using the Berlin method.

These bacteria would have to work their way into rock somehow unless they can be incorporated into the diy molding process.

[cherubfish pair]

Sorry, duplicate post.

[lildraken]

correct me if i'm wrong, but bacteria live on the surface of substrate. The reason why we want pores on our rocks is because porous rocks have more surface area to hold bacteria in a given space compared to the same size rock without pores.

by physically drilling bacteria into a rock, I personally believe that bacteria don't need any manual help colonizing.

[woz9683]

Yeah, bacteria aren't going to work themselves into a solid rock. Like lildraken said, they colonize on the surfaces of the rock. Sure drilling holes in it will give them more surfaces to colonize on, but like I said originally it's just not the most efficient way. You can create a much larger surface area using any of the methods we previously mentioned. Like I said before, you need to go read a couple of the huge threads on DIY rocks as they have an abundance of information.

[lildraken]

don't forget to pack a lunch when you read those DIY rock threads! it may take you a few hours.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=807988&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

er days