[Donnie999]

Hey guys,
I bought a massive pile of base rock and a bit of live rock in the attempt to culture my own live rock i.e. turn the base rock into live rock. Just wondering what time period im looking at (i know it's based on quantity of base/live rock). Also, what is the process by which this comes about, does dentritus settle on the top and slowly cover it, then it grows from that, or does it start to change colour............., i'm just unsure if by base rock is finally changing or if it's just detritus and i need to get a better clean up crew.

[pogodzib]

It takes several months if the ratio is too drastic, or only a few months if the ratio is closer to 1:1. As the rock is on your tank and aging, critters are working their way in and out of all the crevices making new homes, aerobic and anaerobic bacteria both begin to grow and multiply, coralline algae begin growing on the surface of the rocks. There is know way of telling when exactly all of this has happened since you can't see bacteria or the critters inside the rocks. However, seeing how your tank reacts to with added bioloads (livestock such as fish) by testing your water parameters (primarily for increases in nitrites and nitrates) will give you some indications. Tanks with a decent amount of LR should be able to obtain 0 nitrates even when adding livestock (until your tank is stocked fully). With tanks that do not have enough LR or rock that isn't fully "so called live" yet, cannot handle the added bioload as well.

This is just another example of why tanks can take so long to become stable.