OP
OP
The more I look at this scape, the more I want to add sand. Decisions! Decisions!Agreed! Marco prime cuts and cherries are awesome. I recently completed my scape using Marco and some reefsaver which are basically the same.
Is Marco Rock premium shelf rock the best dry rock?
- Thread starter gcarroll
- Start date
- Tagged users None
CherBear811
Active Member
Do you make shelf rock that is smaller, for use in much smaller tanks, say a 75 or 90? I love the idea of the extra swimming space it creates for the fish (as well as the over hangs for fish that normally dwell in such a spot in the wild), and also the idea of drilling the shelf to accommodate frag placement for instead of having to glue down. But these pieces all seem pretty big for 48" x 15-18" footprint.
Same boat on my new build. Love the look but hate sand.
Plus so many things love it like Wrasses. I also like cucumbers they are interesting.
My new build I am thinking of putting in a glass divider to hold the sand just in the visible areas. I am thinking of doing a trench type build so the sand would just be down the middle.
MTBake
2500 Club Member
I like Marco Rocks. Used it for my last 2 builds. The cut shelf rock is really nice for creating caves and such. I can't say it's the best or not as it's all I really use. So my opinion may be biased.
I really like the way yours turned out, gcarroll!
I really like the way yours turned out, gcarroll!
Greg I totally missed it was your aquascape that is nice...
That is what i get for not reading the full thread. I am at work so I skip some stuff and fly through threads.
So is the rock the premium rock?
You said you used prime cuts for the bottom.
How much rock did you order or was used and what are the dimensions of the tank?
If it is I want to order some of it for my new build..
I have a bunch of the prime cuts already in my live rock vat.
That is what i get for not reading the full thread. I am at work so I skip some stuff and fly through threads.
So is the rock the premium rock?
You said you used prime cuts for the bottom.
How much rock did you order or was used and what are the dimensions of the tank?
If it is I want to order some of it for my new build..
I have a bunch of the prime cuts already in my live rock vat.
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CDavmd
AstroReefer
Lol! Do it!!!
Sand looks natural...houses many beneficial critters....helps buffer....etc etc etc. as you well know [emoji6]
Just keep flow and some sand stirring species and it will stay clean. I used a mix of mini and Mesoflakes. It will stay put with high flow.
That scape of yours with all the inlets and caverns is begging for Sand!
CC13
Valuable Member
This is 100% my opinion:
Do Marco Rocks (or similar type rock) look cool? Sure, the premium stuff looks pretty good I will admit.
Would I ever in my mind pay $269 + shipping for 40lbs? Absolutely no chance in this world. That's over $15 a lbs for essentially dead rock you still need to seed and wait to come alive.
You can accomplish the exact same look and feel with $1/lbs dead rock, a chisel, hammer and an hour of your time.
Do Marco Rocks (or similar type rock) look cool? Sure, the premium stuff looks pretty good I will admit.
Would I ever in my mind pay $269 + shipping for 40lbs? Absolutely no chance in this world. That's over $15 a lbs for essentially dead rock you still need to seed and wait to come alive.
You can accomplish the exact same look and feel with $1/lbs dead rock, a chisel, hammer and an hour of your time.
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ReefBum
Well-Known Member
Same here......my one attempt to start a tank with 100% live rock did not go well. Ended up re-booting the tank with 100% Haitian live rock. The stackable Marco rock looks great but it would be much better, IMO, if it was conditioned for a while at a LFS or other holding facility with other live rock.
CDavmd
AstroReefer
Agreed! Why in my case I will be putting a few pieces of real live rock in there with my scape and let things seed for 6-9 months then move those pieces to the sump so I can have the best of both worlds.
CherBear811
Active Member
You can pre-cure easily in a trash can, with bottle of bacteria, dose some ammonia and feed very lightly a couple times a week. I actually used formerly live rock from my last set up, sat dry for 7 years in boxes. Gave it a bleach bath to breakdown dead organics, then rinsed, then sat in sun for a few days til dry, then into a new tank with live sand and bio spira. Put corals in that night. Zero ammonia or nitrite spikes. I don't recommend that to newbies by any stretch. But if the bacteria is seeded it doesn't really matter, as long as you don't skim for a few days, over feed or add too much for the bacteria to initially handle. I actually believe in stocking in reverse... corals first (obviously not a super delicate species), then cuc, then fish. Though I put a cleaner shrimp in, which I fed daily, a few weeks before adding fish at about 4 months. The light feedings for the coral was more than enough to sustain and grow the nitrification bacteria.
There is quite a bit of debate though on whether dry fabricated rock leaches phosphates somehow. I have no opinion on that since I have not so far used anything that wasn't live or formerly live.
OP
OP
It's actually $8.99 from BRS. I provided the link in the first post but here it is again.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef-saver-shelf-aquarium-dry-live-rock.html
CC13
Valuable Member
This is what it looked like first set-up about 18 months ago. Its changed since then I was originally going to do this one was FOWRL, but you get the point.
pompeyjohn
Active Member
I prefer Caribsea belize branch and arch & tunerls
OP
OP
I actually started my 25g with dry rock to experiment with setting up a tank with dry rock. Previous to that, I had not set up a new tank in 15 years and that was with live rock from Marshall Islands. I have heard of some real horror stories and failures using dry rock. I am happy to report that for me, My method worked and I added SPS within 2 months. The tank has great coralline algae growth already at 6 months and the rock is certainly live now. I plan to use the same techniques in starting up the 250g. I'm not worried.
CC13
Valuable Member
If you use truly dead rock you should give them a bath of muriatic acid and bleach to 100% remove unwanted leftovers and then P04 remover like Prime in case the rock itself is leaching.
Re-using Macro Rocks (or any rock for that matter) from a previous system is no different. Unwanted pests, algae can still be in/on the rock and if your system has high P04 it will leach into the new system if you don't first remove it.
Even at $8.99/lbs .... its dead rock.
I introduced one 5/lb piece of live rock to my system, pods and some of Dr. Tim's bacteria and within 4-months I had coraline growth, and a noticeably 'alive' tank.
Jeremy Luke
Well-Known Member
I started my current tank 1.5 years ago using Marco Dry Rock only. I am only recently started getting good growth and color from my SPS. I'm no expert so who knows the list of things I've done wrong but my previous tanks were started with some live rock and seemed to do better sooner. My pumps, overflow, bare bottom spots and even rock putty are covered in coralline. My Marco Rocks still have none.
OP
OP
I believe this is certainly possible but also very, very easy to remedy the phosphate issue in the infancy of the tank. Seems pointless to wait til problems arise to finally decide to do something about it. JMHO, but I something think people make things harder than they have to simply for the challenge.
CDavmd
AstroReefer
Speaking for myself- I am not a fan of these man made rocks. I purchased life rock in the past. I found it to be very heavy and solid. If you break it you will find the inside to be a solid white concrete like substance. It’s missing all the microporosity of real rock.
Obviously I prefer the live rock of the good old days like Fiji and Marshall but Marco/reefsaver/ reef cleaners is at least real rock from Florida’s ancient reef. If you are patient and seed it properly and WAIT..the results can be the same as in the past with ocean live rock.
Obviously I prefer the live rock of the good old days like Fiji and Marshall but Marco/reefsaver/ reef cleaners is at least real rock from Florida’s ancient reef. If you are patient and seed it properly and WAIT..the results can be the same as in the past with ocean live rock.
CC13
Valuable Member
What problems though? Every problem you 'can get' from using LR from an old tank, or using real dead rock, you can also get with Macro Rocks (or any of the other man-made rock). If people start to re-use Macro Rocks on future tanks, you can still get all those nasties, they don't just go away because you system is new.
I'm speaking from a price point perspective. If you were to say, the man-made stuff is just easier and I just like it; fair enough. But if your paying a premium at $8.99/lbs what are you getting for that money? Because not getting pests with Macro Rocks, you can also assure with dead LR for $1/lbs.
One other point, and this may have changed since I last bought rock, but the man-made stuff did not use to come in very large sizes. For smaller tanks, this is no issue, but for larger tanks, it would take considerably more rock pieces to accomplish the same intended or planned aquascape.
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