Maybe starting a business venture.... DIY live rock

My friend has been absolutely fascinated by the fact that you can "grow rocks" as he puts it. I was telling him about how to do it and he's now full force into going into "business" as a live rock manufacturer. The preliminary plan is to take some nice bristleworm free live rock and use that to seed some dead rock so that we can later sell it. I told him it takes a looooong time to start a new live rock. He's prepared to financially back the operation as long as I'm frugal about getting this started. My preliminary list of needed items is:

100 Gallon or larger tank (long, or breeder, not tall)
Cinderblocks and 2 X 10s for a stand
Either several large hob filters or 1 or 2 canister filters
3 or more powerheads per tank
T5 lighting
Heaters
Large Rubbermaid tub for mixing large amounts of saltwater
Giant vats for seeding live rock
Protein skimmer
Additives like "Purple Tech" (I think it's made by Kent)

Can anyone else think of anything I'm missing? I read that article that you posted Raptor, it' very interesting and helpful! I can't wait to start making Aragocrete... I love making stuff and getting dirty! LOL!!

i would think bigger tubs would be better but thats my two cents lol

tim wrote:

i would think bigger tubs would be better but thats my two cents lol

I'm talking about those trash can vat kinda things that have a wheely base... not the little storage containers, lol.

no for the rock to be put in

Good luck on your new venture

Use rubbermaid vats. No need to look at them from the side. You will know on e it's seeded

You can get a 258 gallon kiddy pool from walmart for $12 its called a snapset pool, the dimensions are 6 ft x 15 in, there's an 8ft one too for about $18. you would need to add some liner to the bottom of it though so you don't put a hole in it.
I got one in case I needed an emergency fish tank People use them as temporary pond here when they clean their ponds, so they are fish safe... I would assume rock safe too
That would give you enough bottom area so that your running as much rock as you can in that area. Heck you could build a stand shelf type thing and run them 4-5 high.

I thought about this with my 2 75 g that stack ( the ones I got from u)
very good idea. Low cost and once you get it going your golden. I need a live rock sponsor! Do it

good luck some time taken for sure

yes you need a protien skimmer for this, it will remove die off adn other crud from your rock, how big of a tub you want LOL i still have the 450 gallon 7 foot octagonal spa shell LMAO. stability will help out as will as some hearty fish to keep the beneficial bacteria growing. basically you set up the tank as normal cycling it etc. then you add the base (dead) rock, add it a little at a time so that the biological filter you establish doesnt get smeared and keep up on water quality.

good luck on ur journey!!!!!

good luck with all that

How is this going