Sorry but I fail to see the purpose in painting the base rock. The live corals cover it almost completely so there's very little to see in a year or two plus the coraline algae should have covered what was left. Is it uncommon in your area to start the tank with actual live rock from the ocean? Here we can buy aqua cultured live rock for about $5 a pound, about the same cost as dry rock and it generally has plants, clams, feather worms, encrusting sponges, and lots of colors of coraline algae.



