Marco Rock… the most difficult dry rock ever?

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I didn't know anyone is selling 'out of ocean' dry rock, who sells non quarried? That would deff be superior
Not much anymore. Although it does come in here and there. Dry and Live.

Would you agree Limestone is much different than regular dry rock?
 
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Anybody know what kind of rock KP aquatics is using? I believe it’s man-made, but is it concrete or something else?

 

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Not much anymore. Although it does come in here and there. Dry and Live.

Would you agree Limestone is much different than regular dry rock?
Well limestone is essentially calcium carbonate


There are different styles of limestone/cc used in freshwater vs reef for sure, like 'Texas holey rock' used in freshwater Ciclid tanks vs the calcium carbonite with more open structure that looks -closer- to old school Fiji. That's what Marco/BRS/Ebay/Caribbsea dry rock is...

If someone were gonna pull it out of the ocean, dry/kill it and resell it would be kinda silly... most would just sell it live in that circumstance :D
 

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Anybody know what kind of rock KP aquatics is using? I believe it’s man-made, but is it concrete or something else?


I believe they take 'dry rock' that is quarried, and put it in the ocean for like a year until it becomes true 'live rock'
 

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Well limestone is essentially calcium carbonate


There are different styles of limestone/cc used in freshwater vs reef for sure, like 'Texas holey rock' used in freshwater Ciclid tanks vs the calcium carbonite with more open structure that looks -closer- to old school Fiji. That's what Marco/BRS/Ebay/Caribbsea dry rock is...

If someone were gonna pull it out of the ocean, dry/kill it and resell it would be kinda silly... most would just sell it live in that circumstance :D
lol no idea why that link is titled 'stripping and polishing wood floors' but the link is about limestone
 

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I am using macro rock for my display tank. I have no problem with the rock at all, and the coral encusts very well on it.

Yes, it's rather sterile, but would also comment that it's very clean as well. Kind of like a blank slate for all sort of micro-lives to go on.
 

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I personally believe the 'porousness' of live rock vs dry rock is essential not relevant. Nitrification within the rock itself pales in comparison to the sand (or better yet synthetic media like marinepure/xport). One synthetic brick provides more bacterial cultivation room than all the rock you could stack from floor to ceiling in your house...

The real value of live is the bio-diversity and encrusting algaes, nothing particularly valuable about the supposed 'porousness'. Especially when its covered in CCA - how is it porous then/benefiting nitrification? Marketing mumbo-jumbo...
 

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there's a guy on eBay that sells essentially the same thing as Marco a little cheaper - the standard pieces or the sawn/flat discs. His customer service sucks though in comparison to Marco
 
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there's a guy on eBay that sells essentially the same thing as Marco a little cheaper - the standard pieces or the sawn/flat discs. His customer service sucks though in comparison to Marco
Tyler Johnson. He pulls the rock from the same quarry as Marco Rocks. Same Limestone rock.
 
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KP Aquatics says they get their rock from a natural reef:

“Our rock was taken from an ancient reef, meaning it causes no harm to current marine habitats. We then take the rock and culture it in an artificial reef we created in the ocean. Not only does the rock develop colorful microbial communities, but the artificial reef has become a habitat for marine life. So you get great live rock and support marine life communities and habitats.”

This looks a lot like Marco rock.

1129F304-8985-4189-BD2D-F00AA07CE04D.jpeg





But there are different rock quarries in Florida. This video below shows rock that does not look like the Marco rock Limestone that I’ve had. Not sure what the difference is between “Keystone” which is a type of Limestone, but it looks way different to me. More of the look that Pukani had. My rock definitely does not look like petrified coral.




Some of the Marco Rock looks completely different than others. Not sure why that is. Some is really shelf like while others are more dense and bolder like.

Photo credit: Marco Rocks
22CC9B25-B238-4E4E-9CE9-A6DFEE742EB5.png
Photo credit: Marco Rocks
1708FB59-9E8D-4C2C-A05F-F329C8A062F6.png
 
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Hmm…the Limestone is definitely not created equally.

“It can vary in purity, consistency and hardness. The limestone can be a soft chalky material with microfossils, a hard recrystallized mass, a grainy sand-lime mass, or a mass of fossil corals, urchins and shells.”

Miami Limestone (formerly Miami Oolite, orange on map) in relation to other formations in South Florida.


Miami Limestone forms the Atlantic Coastal Ridge in southeastern Florida, near the coast in Palm Beach, Browardand Miami Dade counties. It also lies under the eastern (Miami-Dade County) part of the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the lower Florida Keys from Big Pine Keyto the Marquesas Keys.[1] Mitchell-Tapping also states that a component of the Miami Limestone extends under the Gulf of Mexico north to a point 112 kilometers west of Tampa.[2]

The part of the Miami Limestone forming the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and the lower Florida Keys is an oolitic grainstonewhich includes fossils of corals, echinoids, mollusks, and algae. The oolitic formation in the lower Florida Keys has less quartz sand and fewer fossils than does the oolitic formation on the mainland.[3] Based on those differences, Mitchel-Tapping divided the Miami Limestone into the Fort Dallas oolite on the mainland and under northern Florida Bay, and the Key West oolite, under southern Florida Bay and the lower Florida Keys.[4] The fossils in the formation underlying the Everglades, which does not include any ooids, consists primarily of a single bryozoan species, Schizoporella floridana.[5]

The Miami Limestone was deposited during the Sangamon interglacial, when southern Florida was under a shallow sea. Falling sea levels during the Wisconsin glaciation exposed the formation to air and rain, and rainwater percolating through the deposits replaced aragonite with calcite and formed an indurated rock.[5]

7855DFD2-0DDF-442E-A112-A4941E8845E5.png
 

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I love the ancient reef comment… I used to dive the finger lakes in ny they were carved by glaciers many many years ago. These fresh water lakes have swathes of stag horn fossils from way back when it was an inland sea. It’s amazing to dive a wall that drops hundreds of feet and find these fossils laying in a crack on the wall. Some have even bean put on display in different museums. Point being that ancient reef is just another way of saying quarried limestone. But it sounds much more aquatic . Also I have 120 lbs of Marco coming in the mail today for my new build.
Shameless link to fallow lol

 

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I wanted to start a thread to hear feedback and also gather some information on Marco Dry Rock.

I’ve used it several times and it looks amazing and aquascapes great. However, the rock takes a long time to establish and everybody seems to have issues with it. Over the last several years I’ve noticed more issues with dry Marco Rock that most other dry rocks on the market. I think it has something to do with it being quarried Limestone.

My current system has cured Marco Dry Rock that has been cured for 1 year, but it’s honestly not going as well as I though it would. It’s definitely going better than normal, but not what you would think for that length of cure time.

Let me know your thoughts, share your pictures, and any issues you’ve had with this rock.
I have been made to tear down and rebuild due to house being fumigated. I have two take and one ios a quaratine. Al;l gone! I moved my fish into trash brute cans across the street. I had been getting ready tyo do aquascaping with marco rtock and it has been one year since it was dunked into the cyle and has remained there. Then the panick started.....my rock, my tanks, my coral, and fish. so I have lost for beauties. Coral is okay only. Been amonth. (Just did the little 230 gal upstairs with Marco rock and some Brightwell bio cubes I harvested that I took from the trash can they now live in. Is that a good thing? It is under 5 days and now I taking the chance and I believe the bacteria that the rock has for all this time and Brtightwell xlm or xml cycle should go pretty quick. rtight. I am scheduled to do this move tonight. I dosed the marko rock earlier this week with xlm, or xml, water is clear and pars are nitrate, not nitrite. good? Please help as I am scare but at same time I thing its fine. let it roll.
 

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I personally feel that mature Marco rock is similar to the large chunks of Pukani that I have. It is a good bridge in my opinion.
 

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I’m cycling 100 lbs of Marco right now. Just transferred it from my brute to my display. It was only in the brute for a couple weeks, I had it in salt water with dr tims one and only. Now that it’s in the display I will add another bottle of Tim’s to the display when it’s back to fully submerged and the salinity is back topped off. I’m hoping that it cycles well enough. I’m in no rush as I have a busy summer planed. So it’ll cycle in the tank till fall while I finish the fish room build out. Have to get my cables managed and my apex systems programed.
 
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I think one of the main issues with Limestone is that it’s got too much clay in it. When you crush it, it turns into a clay-like thick powder kinda moist feeling. Other dry rock I’ve had feels really dry and more porous like Pukani for example. Pukani IMO matures much faster and grows corals quicker than Marco Rock.

Limestone is composed largely of mineral calcite which is less soluble than aragonite and apparently difficult and slow at becoming established in a reef tank. Definitely the most challenging of all the dry rock I’ve used over the years. Even today it boggles my mind why it’s constantly giving reefers including myself so much headache.

If you look at the Pukani or Hatian dry rock (what I consider to be very good rock that matured well for dry rock) vs Marco you can see it looks very different. Something with Marco rock is just off. I can’t put my finger on it but the clay in the rock is definitely one thing I hate and I think it may be causing some of these issues. Yes I know people have some nice tanks with Marco, and I have too. It just takes longer from what I’ve seen and a lot of issues along the way, but to be fair with Macro rocks it is very reasonably priced rock that aquascapes well and looks pretty amazing in a tank after you do get through all the issues.

Pukani dry rock (Photo credit: Premium Aquatics)

B8372D8C-A967-4E29-B6B3-13EEAD1B4FC4.jpeg


Haitian dry rock (Photo credit: @punziracing)

DDA8483F-78B9-4842-AC7A-F5D1848D7554.jpeg


Marco Rock (Photo credit: Marco Rocks)
You can almost see the CLAY in there.

9A04D48A-8294-4374-B8A0-E5923FB084C8.png
 

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