thoughts on using lace rock

[eran]

I was wondering what your thoughts on lace rock are. Is there anything leached into the water from them? Is a good way to clean it? It is pretty dirty and I washed it with the hose really good but should I soak in something as well? It will be eventually placed in a curing tank with some live rock to seed it. Pros and Cons as well. thanks

[jackets22]

I used lace rock as my base and it has been great so far.

Pros: Cheap, Good shapes are to be had.

Cons: Not as good looking as Fiji (if i have to pick a con)

[MrVociferous]

I used a big piece of it that acts a centerpiece of sorts in my tank. It made it easy to make a nice cave. If I can remember right, I think after I gave mine a good scrubbing, I soaked it for a few days. I've never had any problems with it and all my fish/SPS/LPS/etc have all been fine. Its all covered in coralline and various other "growth" now and looks like any other rock.

[eran]

sweet, my lfs just got in a huge tub and at only $1 a lb its a great price. did you just soak it in water?

[eran]

bumpity bump

[vanmo92]

I think it is a good thing to use since it is a lot cheaper.

[Fourty Two]

i have used it in the past with very good results as well. i usually powerwash it and either put it in the sump for a few weeks or try not to expose it to much light in the DT for the first few weeks to avoid an algae problem. but i have never had one.

[avp]

I use it all the time. It's great for shelves and ledges. The only drawback I've noticed is that it generally in covered in lichens that take a few weeks to die off.

At a dollar/lb. I'd buy extra just in case. It's not like it's going to go bad.


-avp

[psteeleb]

I have about 100lbs in my system. Like others have said I scrubbed it and let is soak, then checked the ph of the water to make sure I wasn't getting anything leaching out of it.

I have some large pieces I use for base rocks that have some DIY Portland cement feet. I'll also break up pieces and use them to mount sps to.


by the way; mojano's seem to like the stuff, for some reason they seem to propagate more on the lace rock then live rock. May have nothing to do with the rock other then it's virgin territory

[bj32482]

I have atleast forty pounds of it in my display, it is very nice looking once it gets covered with purple algae and microtubes

[okkiedokki]

i used lace rock a long when i upgraded to my 50g. It was nice and cheap but the only thing I would caution you on it turned out it was leaching an iron rust into my system (found out after adding a polyfilter). Killed all my snails, my cleaner shrimp, my six line wrasse; and a few corals. After removing it from my system everything was better again. Do some reading on WWM, the general theme there is its bad.
If its not from the ocean its not going in my system.

[Fourty Two]

i think there are a few different sources for lace rock, i see one kind everywhere, an have used it with success, but there is another kind that had some red/maroon coloration in it that i have seen, and did not use because it looked very different and suspicious to me. if the rock is all grey, you should be good, power washing usually removes the lichens

okkiedokki, was your rock all light grey, or did it have diffent colors in it?

[bj32482]

the company name on the box that I got was fellerstone...it seems to be safe...over a year in my system

[Fourty Two]

that is my source as well.

[okkiedokki]

Originally posted by Fourty Two
i think there are a few different sources for lace rock, i see one kind everywhere, an have used it with success, but there is another kind that had some red/maroon coloration in it that i have seen, and did not use because it looked very different and suspicious to me. if the rock is all grey, you should be good, power washing usually removes the lichens

okkiedokki, was your rock all light grey, or did it have diffent colors in it?

Mine was light green/grey when i first got it. Basically the same color my fiji rock was when i first added it. I would be very careful if you added it to your tank and just keep an eye on your parameters.

[eran]

the stuff that my lfs has is coming from utah. he has a bunch in his tanks and all is well