Texas holey rock.....good or bad in reef tank?

[dclegern]

I've got 80% LR, but my base is big chunks of Texas Holey rock.
Just wondering if this would be a cause of any problems in my reef tank!

Anyone know of any issues with this stuff?


http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/rocks.htmlhttp://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/rocks.html

[roscozman]

I know Mr. Cob had holey rock in his reef tank at one time. Hopefully he'll chime in...

[timmytimtim]

I've got a 75 gallon and have at least 40 lbs of holy rock. It is growing coraline and everything. PH stays at 8.2 - 8.4. Holy rock has been in there since i set it up (9 months).

[dclegern]

Any issues with algae, nitrate control, or any thing out of the norm?

[OrionN]

These rock are non-porous and thus add nothing to the biological filter capacity of the tank. They are very dense. I would not use them in the tank as it would stay the same essentially for ever. It may look pinker but is essentically the same rock with no animal fauna in it except at the very surface.
Get some dry reef rock that are saleing at about the same price per pound. This would be a much better deal since the dry reef rock is much less dense and will get colonize with animals once it stay in our reef for several months.

[RayAllen]

My only issue with it is that it does not look natural to me in a saltwater tank. Also think of it this way if you ever take down a tank you cant sell it as live rock. No one wants it unless they have a fresh water african cichlid tank.

[allan]

I had some in my tank with no problems until I was warned here on the site about leaching metals into the tank. I took it out immediately and placed it in my yard and noticed a week or two down the road that there were a couple of areas that "looked" like a spot of rust spilling out of the rock.

I've adopted a more "rayallen" approach in the last year. All natural... except for the power heads.... uh, and the overflows.... but other than that, all natural.

[Salty]

+1 on the metals, holey rock often has quite a bit of iron deposited in it. Plus it really just doesn't look as good as actual reef rocks. Buy dry rock, it will be white and boring but then again, isn't holey rock?

[Mr Cob]

Agree with all of the comments. I used some holey rock in the sand back in the day as a base for my LR structure and foam structure. I never saw any ill effects from it or rusting spots....but then again I didn't really look for them either because the rock was in the sand.

My current tank has a couple of small pieces that have some corals covered on them that I couldn't part with....hardly anything that could upset over 140gallons of water.

[RayAllen]

Its fine to use in aquariums, I like 1000's of others use it in african cichlid tanks because it keeps the PH high and resembles their rocky lakes.

I dont think it will lead to any serious problems in a saltwater tank unless you have your tank filled with it. Again its just doesnt look right in a saltwater tank. Once covered in coral it will look like everything else though.

[wesheltonj]

Limestone non-porous??? The only problem that I see with it, is looks.

[CoryDude]

My first setup way back used some of that rock for base only. I ended up pulling it after I bought more live rock. I didn't like the look or the denseness. No real other problems with it though.

[OrionN]

Limestone non-porous??? The only problem that I see with it, is looks.

Live rock are porous with thousands of little holes that are interconnected. Saw open a Live rock and you can see. The limestone are solid rock. Those large holes do not count. Lime stone have no impact on the diversity of life or the surface area for filer capacity for the aquarium.

[cyrus]

I started with a huge chunk of holy rock that covered the back of my first reef tank. It works just fine plus it gave nice holes to place my plugs when i got frags :)