Seeding Base Rock

There is no question that this hobby we've chosen can consume a significant amount of our time, not to mention our money!  The group at Tampa Bay Aquatics is committed to using any cost saving measure we can as long as it doesn't compromise the well being of our livestock.  One of the many expensive parts of starting a new reef or fish only with live rock tank is the addition of the live rock.

 Though we fully understand why some make the choice to have artificial reefs, none of us are particularly fond of them or the look (they also tend to be expensive).  Therefore in all of our new systems, with live rock typically retailing from $4.00 to $9.00 a pound, we'd be looking at a fairly large investment for just the rock.  Base rock, however, typically retails for $1.50 to $3.00 a pound.  As such, we are all supporters of creating your own live rock by seeding base rock.  

Not only will you save a fair amount of money, another benefit is that you'll be able to have a much more custom look to your rock arrangement and can be more artistic with your design.  It's much easier to bring home a box of base rock and take it outside and start chiseling away to create the exact look you want where as with the live rock, you're stuck with what you can find.

As the question was recently posed by a new hobbyist, we'll take this opportunity to mention that you cannot simply add any rocks you find interesting from your back yard or the local park in your tank.  The specifics as to why are beyond the scope of this article and will be discussed at a later time, along with a tutorial on how to actually create safe, do it yourself, man-made rock.

In almost all of our new environments, we start with a couple of good pieces of live rock either purchased from a retailer or borrowed from one of our other tanks, and fill the rest with base rock.  With a little patience, the microscopic life from your live rocks will start to migrate and the bleached out plain white rocks will be teaming with new life at a fraction of the cost.