Base Rock becomes Live?????

[sharkbait993]

Will my base rock ever become Live Rock? Is there anything I can do to promote this? What about the coraline? How do I get it to grow on the base rock?

Any input is appreciated!

Thanks!;)

[Amador]

My base rock took ~4-5 months to not look like base rock anymore (coralline / critters). I didn't do anything special, just regular water changes. I have noticed that the base rock I've used as base rock (i.e. under a bunch of live rock, not exposed to light) still looks kind of like base rock, even after a few months. The base rock that's been out in the open under the lights has good coralline coverage. Not sure why that is.

[dougie]

yes it will. its called 'live rock' because of the bacteria that lives and colonises inside it.

(colonises) is that a real word?

it should look great after a few months, like Amador says.

Anyways HTH.

Cheers.

[dougie]

Also..... make sure you got plenty of flow through your tank, so that coralline spores can flow in the water and rest on the rock.

try putting a nice coralline covered rock in a high flow area to 'seed'the rest of the tank.

[dc]

It never hurts to put a couple already live rocks on top of them. The time it takes to become live varies, but eventually you won't be able to tell the difference.

[socalreefer73]

It just takes time for the colonization. The key to why Coralline won't grow in the shade is just that. It's algae -- a plant. Needs light to grow, though it doesn't need much compared to an acro. Keep your Magnesium level between 1300-1350 along with dosing Alkalinity and Calcium to proper or slightly elevated levels. Coralline is a calcium based algie.. needs Calcium and alkalinity to grow along with Mg.

What sort of lighting do you have over your tank?

[kiknchikn]

My base rock from reeferrocks took 3 months to start growing coralline on it, but now its growing rapidly, and I can see a big difference at the end of each week. It was originally a bleached white color, now its greenish brown, with specks of pastel green and pink/purple coralline. Critters are all over it too.

You can boost coralline growth by keeping your calcium at a decent level, either by dosing or by doing water changes (my preferred way). I believe you can also scrape off coralline that is growing on your glass, which could scatter the "spores" onto your rock to seed new growth, but I haven't tried that.

[socalreefer73]

Yeah, you can scrape and use a toothbrush to make the spores more mobile. Turn your skimmer off for at least an hour though or you'll skim them right out.

If you want the best coralline growth, dose Ca, Alk, and Mg. By the time you get around to doing your water change, your alk and Ca will probably be limiting the coralline growth. Plus most salts mix to make natural levels in natural salt water, so you're only becoming deficient from there...

just my 2c...

[sharkbait993]

Thanks to all for your input!! :D
Love this board! :mixed:
I have 1 MH, 2 CF White and 2 CF blue.

I will check Ca, Alk and Mag and dose accordingly!

Thanks again. Can't wait for all the rocks to look like my LR. Lots of Pink, White, Red and Green Coraline with sponges.

[socalreefer73]

You might want to do some research on using bio-plankton for your sponges (and other filter feeders -- my zoos expand their tentacles almost 2x when I dose)... I use it and the sponge on my rock is going nutz...

hth