LionOfZion Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Does anybody know if scoria would be okay for curing to make live rock? Also how long do you leave the rock in the ocean to cure for? oh and does anyone if gardening/hardware places readily stock it or will I have to contact a quarry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Years ago when I had a different tank about 1/2 the rock in it was scoria with no ill effects. I took it from the sea so it was already cured. However it did not perform the same filtration as coral rock, when I replaced it with coral rock my 'trites etc improved a lot. If you're buying, best place to get it is a quarry, or some place they sell it by the trailer load, way cheaper. Look in the phone book under gardening/landscaping/soil type places, ring around, you'll find some. Edit - Been thinking, scoria from a quarry may leach. The rock I got was from the sea, and been there since Rangitoto blew up around 700 years ago. That would mean that much of the leachable stuff would have already leached, whereas "virgin" scoria that has not been exposed to the sea may be loaded with metals etc that could leach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 yes I have heard of it being used before. Not very successful with heavy bio-loads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LionOfZion Posted January 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Ive recently moved to wellington, does anyone know if there is scoria in the sea around the area? or within a reasonable drive. Im planning on doing a native cold water tank so Im guessing that if I got live rock from a store it would just die anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 you dont buy live rock from the store in nz (generally speaking) you buy dead coral base rock and cycle it your self. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Dont worry about scoria, Just go to a local rocky beach and get standard NZ rocks already underwater. Preferably as porous as possible. Will already be cured and have NZ life on it to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LionOfZion Posted January 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 Yeah Ive been giving it abit more thought, and I think I will start with rocks colelcted from the sea side to get the tank 'living', and then start to replace the rocks with better more porous alternatives later (piece by piece over a period of time). Does anyone know if the sand on beaches would be a high in microbial life ? , or would the turbulance of waves keep the levels quite low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 it would be fine for microbial life. preferably at low tide level where it stays wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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