Questions about DIY LR

[DewDropPony]

I'm actually thinking about making DIY LR. The problem is I don't have excess to anyone else here that already has an established reef so I'm going to have to seed the DIY LR by buying real LR. How much real LR should I buy to seed the DIY LR? I have a 55gal tank. I plan on making maybe 45 to 55 pound worth of DIY LR. Also, how long with the real LR need to take to spread into the fake LR? The fish should only be added after all the DIY LR is fully "live", right? And how will I know when it's ready?

Also, how long does it take to cure DIY LR? I've everything from 2 days to 6 months.

[maddyfish]

I'd probably get 2 small pieces of LR that were packed with life, and put one to one side of the tank and the other to the other side of the tank.

Mine took about a month before it didn't affect PH much.

[DewDropPony]

how big should the pieces be?

[maddyfish]

I'd probably shoot for a couple fist-sized pieces as a minimum, but since you're only buying a little, what you want to look for is the highest quality you can find, regardless of size.

[oldsaltman]

Mine is DIY rock also. I bought several small pieces (5-10 pounds total) of live rock from different LFS to get a good variety of different life forms. My tank took about 6m to go from concrete looking to nice and covered with several different colors of good algea.
;)

[ODOG]

I personally wouldn't do it with less than a 50/50 mix and would also try to get some real live sand. The nice thing about the sand is you could get a nice sampling from reefers here. It's cheap to ship a cup and can get a lot of diversity this way.

[DewDropPony]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8642044#post8642044 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ODOG
The nice thing about the sand is you could get a nice sampling from reefers here. It's cheap to ship a cup and can get a lot of diversity this way.

What reefers? Is there a website?

[DewDropPony]

i

[ODOG]

Reefers, you know other people on this site that have reefs. Just place a post in the classified section of the website that you are looking for some free live sand. I'm sure if you pay for shipping some of the nice people here would be willing to ship you a cup.

[DewDropPony]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8642815#post8642815 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ODOG
Reefers, you know other people on this site that have reefs. Just place a post in the classified section of the website that you are looking for some free live sand. I'm sure if you pay for shipping some of the nice people here would be willing to ship you a cup.

Really? They would do that here? wow! that's nice!