Quote:
Originally Posted by Astrivian  So, do you think mineralization would be a problem even with base rocks mined from ancient oceans? ( like marco rocks). I wonder if it would be a good idea to let any new base rocks soak in RO/DI water for a while to suck out all the excess minerals. |
My understanding regarding Marco's rock was that it wasn't mined, but simply collected - ie. might have still been "live rock" less than a year ago. I could be wrong but just looking at pictures of the product its quite obvious those are coral skeletons and, thus, probably not "mined". I know some people who boil them for a few hours in chlorinated tap water just to be safe... lots of marine creatures drop cysts just before dying, and not all of them may be as yummy as rotifers to your tank inhabitants (See
dinoflagellate cysts)
In my opinion: any dry rock should be rinsed/scrubbed and then soaked in a trashcan full of saltwater for at least a few weeks with lots of circulation and regular water testing, especially for iron and
copper if it is any type of "mined" limestone. It should then seeded with real
live rock for at least another few weeks or more, again with lots of circulation - this step can be done in the tank if it's a new setup, otherwise do it in the a Rubbermaid or trashcan. Don't worry about lighting it for the seeding phase -
coralline takes a few months to really get started anyway and nothing else in there is going to need anything more than ambient room lighting. Some people recommend a period of "months" rather than weeks for the seeding process, which isn't actually all that outrageous especially if the rock is destined to be placed into an existing system. I remember reading the results of some biodiversity study a while ago where a bunch of base rock samples were placed on a real reef to be seeded and after 8 months none of the sample rocks showed more than a fraction of the amount of life found on samples of nearby (physically touching, in some cases) natural
live rock.
