Marco Rock.... nervous

[hokie822]

I am completly new to this hobby. I have purchased a 100g tank and was considering aquascaping with Marco Rock. I really like the look and options it provides when building a reef. I spoke to my local pet guy and also the local guy who service/maintenances tanks and they both think i am making a bad choice. So now i am unsure what to do. It seems like so many people use it, but am i setting myself up for failure?

 

[Jamie9]

Is live ocean rock better in many ways? In my opinion yes. If I do another tank I’ll skip the dry rock and go all live ocean rock. That said..Marco rock can be perfectly fine, but it’s going to take 3-4 months to get to the point of where you’d be starting with live rock. But…it does offer flexibility in aqua scaping and lower cost.

 

[Fish Fan]

Marco rock is indeed a very popular dry rock that many have used, and though I've never used their "regular" base rock, I did order some of their shelf rock and their foundation rock, and I didn't care for either. Both appeared to me to be some kind of man made thing, it didn't look like natural rock to me at all, though on their website they say that their "regular" base rock is indeed minded rock (the website makes no mention of the shelf or foundation pieces though). And to me, I thought the foundation pieces were decent for their intended purpose, but the shelf rock was the furthest thing from flat and/or stackable, and in the end I didn't use either of those rocks.

Just my personal experience

EDIT: And I too MUCH prefer real live rock to dry rock!

 

[Biokabe]

At risk of providing too much information:

You're sitting at the nexus of one of the big rifts in the reefing community over the past 10-15 years. Manmade/dry rock vs ocean live rock?

Dry rock has a lot to recommend itself. It's cheaper, substantially so, and in a way that makes a huge difference when setting up a larger tank. Dry rock can usually be found for anywhere from $2-$5/pound; live rock typically goes for $7-$10/lb. Given that most people suggest stocking 1-2 pounds of rock per gallon of water, you could be looking at a difference of more than $1,000 to go with dry rock vs. live.

It's also easier to get dry rock in specific shapes. This gives a level of intention to your aquascape designs that isn't really possible with live rock. You can plan out several foundation rocks, arches, caves, etc., and plan out exactly how to aquascape everything without getting anything wet.

Finally, dry rock allows you to control what goes into your tank better. This doesn't matter so much to me (I fall more into the non-QT camp), but if you're planning on quarantining everything that goes into your tank, dry rock gives you an extra level of control that live rock doesn't.

Having said that, there's a reason that live rock is more expensive. It just seems to set everything up better for success. I've used both dry rock and live rock; when I started my dry-rock only tank, it never really got going until after I added in about 20 pounds of live rock as a supplement. There's something about the natural balance of everything in live rock that seems to really promote success in a reef tank. Can I prove it? No. If you ask me to define what that x-factor is I couldn't do it. But having used both, the higher expense of live rock has always seemed worth it to me.

You're not setting yourself up for failure if you want to primarily use Marco rocks. But if you do go that route, I'd recommend adding in about 20-25 pounds of live rock as a supplement.

 

[Jamie9]

That really sums it up nicely.

Here’s how my mix of dry and live rock has gone over the course of a few months…I just happen to have done side by side photos yesterday. Just to give you an idea of the progression.

Thread 'What a difference a month and a half can make!'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-a-difference-a-month-and-a-half-can-make.1146643/

I’ve definitely got life on my dry rocks that came from the live ocean rock…so that’s maybe a plug for the hybrid route.

 

[oakcityreefer]

I used Marco in the display and TBS rock in the sump. I just got through my cycle, two and a half weeks, and am just starting to see signs of algae on the rocks. Dosing purple bacteria and pods now. Pair of clowns will be out of QT later this week. I have no complaints for now. Was able to spend a couple weeks planning, gluing, and mortaring my scape. Was able to QT critters to the refugium, was only a couple of emerald crabs that Ive seen so far.

 

[Waters]

I use all dry rock all the time lol......well with the exception of one piece of live in my sump. You can see in this pic I added two additional pieces....they already look like the others a couple of weeks later.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

As others have said, there are benefits to both. And those benefits depend on your goals. I've used both live and dry rock. In the future, I think I'll opt for live rock (just because it is so beautiful lol), but SO many people use dry rock.