Cinder Blocks reef safe?

After they leach everything out.

People usually cure them by leaving them in a 55 gallon barrell, a pond, or river for several months first.

 

Pond or river??? that sounds pretty freekin' risky to me man. Have you seen what they dump in the river nowadays? As far as ponds, **** runs downhill.

Why take the chance of letting something leech in?

Get a tub, and some tap water or better yet RO water, and let it cure for a few months, be sure to do a few water changes here and there. If you really want to do it right add it it to s separate saltwater system and let it turn "live" before adding it to your main system.

I hope you have some thick glass on the bottom of your tank, cinder blocks are damn heavy especially when totally saturated with water.

 

unless it's plastic, from now on I'm curin anything... lol
I was advised against with the coral stone I had, since it's just 1 stone...
And when something in it started to break down...heh
I suppose it's like I saw one guy had Matrix, the bio filter not carbon, and said it killed his tank.
Upon receiving mine, I examined it closely, and from what I can tell it's a white pumice, but in the 1/4 liter I cleaned, there was some stones that were NOT pumice..
Then you revert back to metals that could break down/leech..
Now you have me thinking about which metal/stones leech...

 

Why would anyone want cinder blocks in a reef tank?

 

IMO sounds crazy! All the time and money spent building a reef tank and then using something that could leach god knows what into your system is very risky.Avoid problems down the road and spend your money on live or dry rock. +1 on sh** runs downhill.

 

Trevor,
One thing that works really well for elevating your skimmer is one of those plastic sterelite containers with all the holes in them. I am not for sure what they are called exactly, but they usually make them in bright colors. All the holes keep water from stagnating inside of it while at the same time raising your skimmer up. They are also pretty easy to cut with a jigsaw if you needed to adjust the height. If you leech out all the lime in the concrete for a few months they will also be safe, but it's a slow process. I had DIY rock curing in a tub for about 2 months now and it is still clearly leaching out the bad stuff. I suppose the positive thing about using the cinderblocks is they would more effectively become "live rock" than say a plastic tote.

 

if you are worried about that, go to Menards and get a 50 stock tank for $50. They are not as deep and have a decent footprint/ Plus, I think they hold something like 50 gallons or so if things break/leak....lol