A brand new MarcoRocks reef tank in SoCal, 250g tank using Prime Cuts and Premium Shelf Rock

[Battlecorals]

I dig it Looks really good. Started my new main with 1k lbs of dry rock from Marco as well First 9-10 month were a little rocky as expected (pun mildly intended) but she's firing on all cylinders now. I never had or saw any dinos either throughout, so i think it's kind of a misnomer to absolutely equate dry rock with appearance of dinos.

 

[gcarroll]

You live to prove people wrong? Great. I live to shine a light on the truth. If I had no other choice, I'd follow your build thread. However, there is too much superfluous content in your build thread for my taste not to mention its updates being sporadic. Since this is a thread promoting dead terrestrial rock and your tank's use of it, why not post your progress with the rock in this thread? Something like a picture a week showing the rock in detail as it progresses and your system matures. You can include a clear copy of a print newspaper from that week in your photo to verify its time/date authenticity for us.

Look, it is are obvious that you are confident in your knowledge as a reef keeper. I am not saying that I am better than you. What I have found is that "birds of a feather flock together" in this hobby. When a hobbyists try a product and fail, the first thing they do is look for others who have had similar issues and for a lynch mob against that product. Reefer never want to take the blame for their failures. It makes them feel better about themselves to blame someone or something else. It's not a knock on any certain reefer. It's a knock an almost all in this hobby.

I remember when many Americans blamed loosing corals because of Zeovit, yet Europeans had no issues. I had several friends who were running zeo and never had an issue.
I remember when GFO came out and they said that if you removed phosphate too fast, you would wipe out your tank. I added 1 liter to my tank and didn't have an issue.
I remember when biopellets hit the market and people said to start off with very little or you will kill your tank. I added 2 liters to mine at once and never had an issue.
I remember when Tyree and Carlos told me that I would never be able to color up SPS with 250w metal halide. I did it anyway. Helped Phoenix sell so many bulbs they put my tank on the box!
I remember people telling me that my skimmer was too big for my tank and would never produce a foam head. Until it wasn't.
I remember when deep sand beds were all the rage.
I remember when barebottom tanks were all the rage.
I remember being told that my shallow sand bed would lead me to crash my last tank. They told me it was a ticking time bomb! Many of us know how that turned out.
I remember when they said LEDs were to blame for coral loss and you needed to supplement with T5 (oh wait, some are still saying that even after many tanks are running 100% LED and have produced amazing tanks.)

What I am trying to say, is that you can sit back and wallow in your failure and the failure of others that have failed the same way, or you can analyze what the people have done that made them succeed using dry rock. The fact remains that if one reefer can be successful with a product that many have failed with, he is not the exception, he is the leader of the pack! The future of this hobby has moved away from live rock. Terrestrial rock and man made rock are now more the norm. We have to make it work. I choose to hang with the leaders rather than wallow in failure.

And as for following my build thread, what part of

Once the tank is completed, you may follow my journey via my build thread.

did you fail to understand?

Lastly, I do appreciate your opinion and thank you for chiming in!

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Have 100% Marco rock in my tank, started from scratch. Full sps tank. Not a sign of dino. Not sure why of the negative post on this build, two guys putting together a nice tank and sharing a new option with other hobbyists... There are other options out there for everyone, Marco rocks isnt for you it seems. Dont make assumptions about it as a rule, you clearly are not as informed about it as you might think

This is a discussion forum, correct? My posts are not meant to be negative, they are meant to educate and foster discussion. Like I said, if you established a tank 100% from terrestrial rock and did not have a Dino outbreak, you are the exception and not the rule. For every one person who claims they had no issues, there a dozen who have. There may be other factors as to why you "got lucky" such as introducing a number of items into the tank that contained beneficial life on them thereby "seeding" the tank early on and preventing the Dino outbreak. I'm not just randomly making assumptions here. From my experience you are much more likely to get Dino outbreaks when solely using terrestrial rock.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Look, it is are obvious that you are confident in your knowledge as a reef keeper. I am not saying that I am better than you. What I have found is that "birds of a feather flock together" in this hobby. When a hobbyists try a product and fail, the first thing they do is look for others who have had similar issues and for a lynch mob against that product. Reefer never want to take the blame for their failures. It makes them feel better about themselves to blame someone or something else. It's not a knock on any certain reefer. It's a knock an almost all in this hobby.

I remember when many Americans blamed loosing corals because of Zeovit, yet Europeans had no issues. I had several friends who were running zeo and never had an issue.
I remember when GFO came out and they said that if you removed phosphate too fast, you would wipe out your tank. I added 1 liter to my tank and didn't have an issue.
I remember when biopellets hit the market and people said to start off with very little or you will kill your tank. I added 2 liters to mine at once and never had an issue.
I remember when Tyree and Carlos told me that I would never be able to color up SPS with 250w metal halide. I did it anyway. Helped Phoenix sell so many bulbs they put my tank on the box!
I remember people telling me that my skimmer was too big for my tank and would never produce a foam head. Until it wasn't.
I remember when deep sand beds were all the rage.
I remember when barebottom tanks were all the rage.
I remember being told that my shallow sand bed would lead me to crash my last tank. They told me it was a ticking time bomb! Many of us know how that turned out.
I remember when they said LEDs were to blame for coral loss and you needed to supplement with T5 (oh wait, some are still saying that even after many tanks are running 100% LED and have produced amazing tanks.)

What I am trying to say, is that you can sit back and wallow in your failure and the failure of others that have failed the same way, or you can analyze what the people have done that made them succeed using dry rock. The fact remains that if one reefer can be successful with a product that many have failed with, he is not the exception, he is the leader of the pack! The future of this hobby has moved away from live rock. Terrestrial rock and man made rock are now more the norm. We have to make it work. I choose to hang with the leaders rather than wallow in failure.

And as for following my build thread, what part of did you fail to understand?

Lastly, I do appreciate your opinion and thank you for chiming in!

Your anectdotes about bio-pellets and other husbandry practices only serve to highlight one thing. That there are many factors involved when it comes to successfully keeping reef tanks, also that there any many ways of doing so that have evolved over the years. Those points have no bearing on whether or not terrestrial rocks contribute to the proliferation of Dinos in new systems. You're talking about trends in the hobby, this is not a discussion about trends.

So bringing up a potential issue with something, and trying to have a discussion about it equates to wallowing in failure? Hmmm, OK. If you say so. So what I take away from this post is that you are not actually accepting any challenge and will not be posting any pics of the build and the rock as it actually progresses. It seems that your "living for proving others wrong" has met a quick death when the rubber hit the road Bro. Good luck with your tank.

 

[ycnibrc]

Bouncingsoul u are entitled to post your idea or your method for reef keeping. We are sharing our ideas and experience through discussion but don't tell me to go read book and learn. There are no books or a person that can teach me more than I know how to keep a reef tank. Sps to me is like green star polyps and Xenia.

 

[gcarroll]

Your anectdotes about bio-pellets and other husbandry practices only serve to highlight one thing. That there are many factors involved when it comes to successfully keeping reef tanks, also that there any many ways of doing so that have evolved over the years. Those points have no bearing on whether or not terrestrial rocks contribute to the proliferation of Dinos in new systems. You're talking about trends in the hobby, this is not a discussion about trends.

Dry rock is not a trend. It is a reality! At this time live rock is very limited. Especially here on the west coast. I can't say that it is a contributing factor to dinos. I will agree however that it may not be helping protect from dinos. That being said, there may be other techniques that can be employed to reduce the risk of dinos. We may need to dig further into what we are missing when we introduce live rock into the system. We also may need to see if those that failed did anything different that those that succeeded. IMO, blaming the rock is a lazy approach to solving the issue.

So bringing up a potential issue with something, and trying to have a discussion about it equates to wallowing in failure? Hmmm, OK. If you say so.

Yes, you are simply discounting those that have succeeded without once asking what they are doing right! That is wallowing! You are simply calling their success luck and discounting it as though it didn't happen. Luck will have nothing to do with my success or failure. I own up to my mistakes.

So what I take away from this post is that you are not actually accepting any challenge and will not be posting any pics of the build and the rock as it actually progresses. It seems that your "living for proving others wrong" has met a quick death when the rubber hit the road Bro.

Oh, I'm accepting the challenge. Will I take a pic a week and post today's newspaper in the pic. Nope, I told you where you can follow my progress. I have nothing to hide. However, you are 100% welcome to come by and follow up on my progress. It's not like we are a world apart, 30 mins or so on the weekend. We might actually strike up a friendship as it is obvious that we have our love for this hobby in common. You may learn a thing or two from me as I may learn from you! So that my friend is where your rubber can meet the road!

Good luck with your tank.

Thank you for the well wishes!

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I dig it Looks really good. Started my new main with 1k lbs of dry rock from Marco as well First 9-10 month were a little rocky as expected (pun mildly intended) but she's firing on all cylinders now. I never had or saw any dinos either throughout, so i think it's kind of a misnomer to absolutely equate dry rock with appearance of dinos.

Glad to hear you didn't have any issue with Dinos. Then again, I have no idea why, out of all the options, you would choose 1k lbs terrestrial rock for the biological filtration of a commercial frag grow out or holding system. Probably the worst possible choice. Then again, you were the guy a few years ago who was saying selling fresh cut SPS frags and saying they were awesome and that you never had any issues and have now done a complete 180 now that you are selling encrusted frags because they are awesome. So, who really knows?

I don't mean to imply that it is an absolute. I agree with you there. My point is that using terrestrial rock over real ocean live rock greatly increases the chances of an Dino outbreak due to lack of bio-diversity, lack of flora-fauna micro web.

 

[dodgerblew]

This is a discussion forum, correct? My posts are not meant to be negative, they are meant to educate and foster discussion. Like I said, if you established a tank 100% from terrestrial rock and did not have a Dino outbreak, you are the exception and not the rule. For every one person who claims they had no issues, there a dozen who have. There may be other factors as to why you "got lucky" such as introducing a number of items into the tank that contained beneficial life on them thereby "seeding" the tank early on and preventing the Dino outbreak. I'm not just randomly making assumptions here. From my experience you are much more likely to get Dino outbreaks when solely using terrestrial rock.

I propose you start a thread and even make it a poll thread validating your claim of a 12:1 ratio of no issues:issues. I think that would be very informative. Post the link on this thread.

 

[dodgerblew]

Dry rock is not a trend. It is a reality! At this time live rock is very limited. Especially here on the west coast. I can't say that it is a contributing factor to dinos. I will agree however that it may not be helping protect from dinos. That being said, there may be other techniques that can be employed to reduce the risk of dinos. We may need to dig further into what we are missing when we introduce live rock into the system. We also may need to see if those that failed did anything different that those that succeeded. IMO, blaming the rock is a lazy approach to solving the issue.
Yes, you are simply discounting those that have succeeded without once asking what they are doing right! That is wallowing! You are simply calling their success luck and discounting it as though it didn't happen. Luck will have nothing to do with my success or failure. I own up to my mistakes.
Oh, I'm accepting the challenge. Will I take a pic a week and post today's newspaper in the pic. Nope, I told you where you can follow my progress. I have nothing to hide. However, you are 100% welcome to come by and follow up on my progress. It's not like we are a world apart, 30 mins or so on the weekend. We might actually strike up a friendship as it is obvious that we have our love for this hobby in common. You may learn a thing or two from me as I may learn from you! So that my friend is where your rubber can meet the road!
Thank you for the well wishes!

Greg, you are a true gentleman

 

[dodgerblew]

double post

 

[dodgerblew]

triple post, internet issues lol

 

[ycnibrc]

If you look at the new reef rock and plate rock like the one that Greg use the shape is incredible. Its near impossible you can find real live rock with that shape and if you find it then you pay a fortune to buy it. Back in 2000 the live rock cost more than corals to buy. I had a 260g tank back then and I remember 1lb per gallon rule the live rock cost me 2000$ for 200lbs.
Regarding starting new tank the common method everyone use is not efficient. They let the phosphate climb and algae start before they do something about it. For me and this works every time as soon as I cycling the tank I run GFO the nitrogen cycle doesn't need phosphate to complete. After done cycling I will add fish particular tang and clean up crew. I will shut down GFO and monitor algae growth. If the fish and lean up crew can handle leave it. If not I start GFO aggressively leave no fuel for algae to grow. I never had an algae problem with my tank because I control the nutrient not they control me.

 

[ycnibrc]

I propose you start a thread and even make it a poll thread validating your claim of a 12:1 ratio of no issues:issues. I think that would be very informative. Post the link on this thread.

The poll is not going to be truthful, if I don't have to pay the high price of live rock i would start with it no question ask. However the cost of rocks do make the decision to buy which type. If you ask "if you have to pay which type of rock you will buy then you will have more accurate poll"

 

[Battlecorals]

Glad to hear you didn't have any issue with Dinos. Then again, I have no idea why, out of all the options, you would choose 1k lbs terrestrial rock for the biological filtration of a commercial frag grow out or holding system. Probably the worst possible choice. Then again, you were the guy a few years ago who was saying selling fresh cut SPS frags and saying they were awesome and that you never had any issues and have now done a complete 180 now that you are selling encrusted frags because they are awesome. So, who really knows?

I don't mean to imply that it is an absolute. I agree with you there. My point is that using terrestrial rock over real ocean live rock greatly increases the chances of an Dino outbreak due to lack of bio-diversity, lack of flora-fauna micro web.

Dude just give it up man.

Your contributions on this forum are so convoluted and misinformed it’s not even worth responding anymore.


Sorry to ugly up your thread Greg.

 

[dodgerblew]

The poll is not going to be truthful, if I don't have to pay the high price of live rock i would start with it no question ask. However the cost of rocks do make the decision to buy which type. If you ask "if you have to pay which type of rock you will buy then you will have more accurate poll"

actually what I'm doing is suggesting the poster run a poll asking who had trouble with Marco rock and who didn't as he claims for every 1 who didn't have abnormal issues there will be 12 who did. Based on the responses whether it be a poll or a general thread lets see if his 12:1 ratio holds up.

 

[Reefcowboy]

@Battlecorals, Good to learn about this big system, please post pics of it here when you have it ready. 1k lbs of Marco must be insane and look very cool.
The rocks have so much surface area for placing frags, so much can be done

 

[Reef News]

This is cool!

 

[revhtree]

Greg this aquascape is fire!

If you would like me to remove y'alls off topic comments to a new thread I will be glad to do so. Your thread Greg so your call!

 

[gcarroll]

Rev, thanks for the kind words. This is not my thread. It's my tank that was featured but this is Unique Corals who originated the thread. If it's up to me, I say leave it. the discussion although hot and heavy, gave a lot of reefers exposure to this amazing new rock! And truth be told, the vast majority of those reefers loved it and would consider this rock for future builds. In my eyes, that was the purpose for this build!

 

[siggy]

Sad to say but it looks as if Live rock is a Dinosaur, if the current trend continues aqua-cultured LR may also be a thing of the past. Moon Rock (void of life) will be the future or norm, might as well learn the ropes...From the leaders that is. Great Job on the scape!