Lace Rock. Anyone experienced with it?

i personally like the effect Lace rock gives as far as aquascaping. I just like the look of it when it is put together. So much that I would like to use mostly lace rock and take out some of the pohnpei a fiji island rock Ihave. I know this isnt typical but does anyone have experience with? I have had a few pieces of Lace rock in my tank and I know that they are safe to put in and that they do attract coraline algae but thisis the extent of my knowledge. Do you think they have enough desirable surface area for benficial bacteria to use mainly Lace rock? Has anyone drilled them? are they easy to cut, make holes in? Elements? calcium based? any undesirable metels contained?

 

I found this on WWM about lace rock.SW Lace Rock ?? 6/14/06
Hi Eric or Crew,
<Daniel>
I was wondering what are your thoughts on using lace rock in the salt water aquariums. Is there any special way I need to clean it?
<Best to really "blast" it with pressurized water to remove organic material (most is dug up out of soil...). See below.
I have half of my tank set up with live rock and thought it would be a good contrast to use lace rock on the other side. It is a 135 gallon fish only with live rock
..so far. Any info. would be great - Thanks -daN
<Mmm, a chance for a more complete "answer" here... I am not a fan of using, or at least carte blanche endorsing the use of "lace, also often labeled/known as Tufa rocks" for marine aquarium use (though more so for some types of FW... e.g. African Rift Lake...) as the descriptive term is not accurate... Some of this rock is calcium carbonate based (principally), derived from sedimentary processes... perhaps from lime-rich hot springs (we've just installed travertine flooring in part of the house... similarly derived)... other sources for this material include pyroclastic volcanic ash that has solidified into rock... The largely calcareous material may be safe, adding carbonate (raising pH, alkalinity), and the volcanically derived material may be largely inert... composed principally of silicate (SiO2, Silicon Dioxide)... but both may have "other components" that may well be to a degree problematic, toxic. If it were me/mine, I'd either stick with "pure" sources of said decor, or at least have questionable ones thoroughly tested. Bob Fenner>

 

I heard some people say it raises PH but I found that not to be true. as matter of fact my PH is typically lower. This article agrred as well on the PH factor.

Lace Rock

"Over 2,000 lbs of Lace Rock available.
Lace Rock is a viable, inexpensive alternative to buying live rock (i.e., rock harvested from the wild) for saltwater and freshwater aquariums. Sizes range from 6 inches to 2 feet, and may be chiseled for incredible, custom shapes you just can't get with live rock. Because coralline algae will adhere quickly to lace rock, there is no aesthetic difference between lace rock and live rock in the saltwater aquarium. Lace rock will not affect pH, nor leach harmful nutrients such as phosphate, nitrate, iron, etc. into the aquarium.
Reef Systems, Inc. will be offering lace rock as cultured live rock from our coral grow out systems very soon. Lace Rock, Antique Lace Rock and Tuffa Rock are currently being cultured, and will contain the same bacteria and animals you would find in live rock.
If you would like to see an example of a tank comprised entirely of lace rock, check out the 450 gallon display tank here at Reef Systems, Inc. Pictures of this system may also be found here. Help conserve the beauty of our natural reefs by using Mari cultured or aqua cultured live rock!
Best Steps for Placing Uncultured Lace Rock into the Aquarium:

1. Clean off the Lace rock with a bristle brush to remove any algae or lichen from the rock.
2. Rinse the rock off with water and clean off any dirt or debris
3. Once the rock is cleaned and rinsed. Put the dry lace rock into the system.
4. For best results place the Lace rock in your sump without any light for a minimum of two weeks to allow bacteria to culture on the lace rock.
5. After two weeks the rock may be placed into the main aquarium with no concerns of nuisance algae moving onto the new rock because bacteria is well established and will discourage nuisance algae from moving onto the rock.
Note: Many aquarists will choose to omit step 4. If you have no algae problems in your aquarium, immediately placing lace rock into the main aquarium will not cause any problems.
​

Although Lace Rock has many detractors, having our 450 gallon display at our Farm shows that Lace rock can be used as an alternative to Live Rock collected from the reef and be very successful. Please come out and see our 450 gallon display set up and running since September of 2006.."

 

I used African lace rock (very large pieces of it) as my base rock for my 165, it has quite a bit if natural limestone in it, consider this if you use it. But after a few months you wont believe how much life grows on it- because it is so porous. I have 250lbs of live rock on top of the lace rock base. It makes for a great cave structure, as the entire bottom of my rock structure allows for little critters to hide from the big critters- from end to end of my tank.

That is all I know about it, I have no troubles using it.

 

I want to drill holes in it. Do you know if this is possible without breaking it?

 

I've used a ton of it over the years in my African tanks... I've been successful about 50% of the time I tried to drill it.

I found that not using a hammer feature on your drill works much better and is less likely to bust the piece in half but it takes forever to drill the hole, keeping the rock submerged while drilling helps a little.

I have made some pretty nice holes in it by drilling the initial hole, then using a die grinder with a carbide burr to open it up.

 

When you drill lace rock you need to start small, then gradually up the size of the drill bit, do not use a hammer drill, however, do use concrete drill bits. lace is a brittle rock, consider this before hand.