20 lbs base rock under the live rock

HI,
the tanks been doing great but I decided to add some more base rock to the tank,
I believe if you put it under the live rock it will cycle pretty quick, I ve had some green up in about 2weeks and get a little coraline in about 2 mos.
Its alot cheaper than live rock. one of my local LPS some how gets some snow white looking coral it usally has lots of holes and star like patterns like it was once live hard coral .
It seem to work and also have noticed a slight calcium spike that first week.
Doug
I bought all they had today, but they are a chain store, I believe its a Pet Smart the price is pretty good, 1.40 a pound, they also sell the same rock with sprayed on color ,fake looking coraline not sure why anyone would want that I'll be real afriad of that and it may seal the rock to bacteria.
DUH>

 

IMO putting DR(dead rock) under LR shouldnt have an effect. The watter current should move things around. You could put DR on-top of next to or below and it shouldnt make a difference. Cool do you know where your LFS gets it. Maby mine can special order it!!!

 

All your rock will eventually become "alive" in due time by bacteria and other living organisms growing, spreading and colonizing on your sand and both live and dead rock on and in it!
The only benefit to going with the dead rock/base rock, on the bottom is that in terms of eye appeal, the nice fiji/Marshall Is., Tonga etc. should be the center of attention with all the beneficial flora and fauna growing on and it! So obviously you don't want to cover up the nice rock with the base rock! Cycling time should be the same,unless we are talking about cured as oppossed to uncured rock!

 

Ah didnt think about that!

 

its the cost thing

its economics for me I can get 20 pounds of base rock for 28 buck or 20 pounds of tonga for 140.00 bucks.
Some LPS cycle rock in plastic garbage cans a few weeks and mark it up 10 fold.. I buy 5 pound of live rock and 20 of good base and it all pretty much looks the same in 2 mos. I ve seen coraline look good on cement blocks not to mention that cement may help the calcium in your tanks (LIME) ,

Doug
PS my reforguim/ dsb is already cycled as is the main tanks DSB,
I cycled a 37 gal tall in 24 hours by adding it to the same water column via siphon overflow and a simplepower head return pipe..this allows me add my fish, snails,seahorses, peperrmint shrimp the next day, and everything is peachy.cause the main tank is handling any waster products, your lps also does this they will break down a coral system rack clean, scrape, reload the frags on their bases and pump the water back in and its up and cycled, the down is evey tank in the loop will catch any nasties intraduced to that water column,yikes.
Ive noticed they keep the fish system seperate from the coral system, the fish only loop has a spec grav of 1.022-1.023the coral loops 1.025-1.026. next time you visit the lps check out how many tanks are in the main loop, with a 400-500 gal sump.