making live rock?

Question

if i were to get some big rocks from my backyard and take them to the saltwater bay and leave them in a certain area in the water, would they become live rocks?could i bring them to my aquarium? like would they pick up little creatures or whatever.
dumb question ..i know..but would it work? or no

Answer 1

To go along with what fivespeed said, it would also depend on the type of rock if you should even try to add it to your aquarium. Only rocks that are carbonate based should be used in saltwater aquaria. Besides buffering the tank pH, the carbonate rocks are much more porous, so they have more surface area for bacteria to colonize, and the bacteria are the reason live rock is used. You might be able to use rock that's inert (or an artificial medium), but how would you know if the rocks you find are inert, or if they could leach acids or metals into your water and create a toxic situation for your fish?

Although this is the practice used in aquaculturing live rock, the rock is left in the ocean for a period of 1.5-2 years to get the bacteria and organisms that grow on it. And you just can't put it on the beach, you need to put it somewhere that it would be closer to areas where the organisms you want reproduce if you want the other organisms that come with the rock. Also, depending on where you live, if you're not in the tropics but farther north, your organisms may not survive if you keep the tank at tropical temperatures, plus there's no way to avoid the rock picking up harmful organisms as well as beneficial ones.

You COULD do this, but it would be a lot simpler (and faster) to get a few good pieces from a fish store and let what's on it colonize the dry reef rock you can get for $1.50 per pound. And depending on how far from the beach you live, it may cost less as well, with the price of gas!

If you still want to try this, read the links below for information on how the aquacultured rock is produced:

Answer 2

This is one of the methods of creating aquacultured live rock. The problem is that your rocks stand a good chance of becoming buried in the sand. If this happens, nothing will grow on them.