dry rock

[poakley723]

I am looking into buying some rock from Marcosrock.com. If i buy this I know I will likey have to let it cure for about 3 month. My question is do i need to seed it with a few pieces of LR or will it be ok if i just use live sand? I am also curoius how much lighter dry rock is compared to LR. How much will i need to order for my 125g?

Thanks for any input.

 

[ac7av]

I would think you do not have to cure dry rock. There is nothing to cure. Just rinse off the dust and put it in the tank. You did not say what type you were looking at but if you were looking to the Florida dry base rock just remember you do get what you pay for and that rock is dense and there for you will not get the volume you would get using something else like birds nest base rock. As far as seeding it you can do that any way you want. Put a few small pieces of prime rock stock in there or barrow a piece from some one to seed it. That’s my 2 drops worth.
Nice prices on that rock.

 

[g0rFz]

just make sure to add some sort of live rock to get the good algaes to spread around, the more you add that is "live" the better, you could get away with spending under like 30$ for a nice seeded LR to add in. i think ac is right about curing, since there will be nothing to die off you are just making this new stuff turn alive with bacteria

 

[returnofsid]

Marco rock does need to be cured as it's man made. Not curing it will cause all kinds of issues with nitrates and phosphates. Adding quality live rock would speed up the seeding process, however, you'll still need to cure until your tests report zeros.

 

[DonW]

Marco rock does need to be cured as it's man made. Not curing it will cause all kinds of issues with nitrates and phosphates. Adding quality live rock would speed up the seeding process, however, you'll still need to cure until your tests report zeros.

Marco rocks are not man made, they are just dead / dry rock. They do not need to be cured or "seeded" unless you are looking to seed something in particular like coraline. If there is no desire to seed the the tank can be set up and cycled like any other tank. If the rock is real clean you will need to add something to get the bacteria growing, like a dead shrimp from the grocery store.

Don

 

[jake65]

Has anybody ever done business with this place? Thats some cheap rock, seams like a good way to go when starting your foundation of baserock. Just curious

 

[DonW]

Has anybody ever done business with this place? Thats some cheap rock, seams like a good way to go when starting your foundation of baserock. Just curious

Yes, a little slow but other than that its a good product.

Don

 

[returnofsid]

WOW, my bad. I was under the impression that Marco rock was man made. Sorry about the bad advice I gave!!! Thanks for setting me straight Don!!

 

[poakley723]

I read a few other shings about the rock saying it sometimes does have some dead stuff on it. I would clean it and all that good stuff. Does a company make some kind of bottled bacteria? I read some stuff on garfs goo but really I didn't get a real clear piucture of what it is. My goal is to start a tank up with the as little bad stuff as possible. My 24g nano has LR that i ordered on the internet and came with all kinds of miselanious crap and it kind of sucks. I don't want to start a tank with all that crap.

 

[DonW]

I read a few other shings about the rock saying it sometimes does have some dead stuff on it. I would clean it and all that good stuff. Does a company make some kind of bottled bacteria? I read some stuff on garfs goo but really I didn't get a real clear piucture of what it is. My goal is to start a tank up with the as little bad stuff as possible. My 24g nano has LR that i ordered on the internet and came with all kinds of miselanious crap and it kind of sucks. I don't want to start a tank with all that crap.

You dont need bottled bacteria, I dont think any of it has ever been proven to work or at least be beneficial. The die off and a piece of shrimp meat is plenty to start a cycle.

Don

 

[poakley723]

Sweet, thanks for all the information. Very excited to get my 125 up and running.

 

[busdriver]

about the weight question you asked...
I have a chunk of rock that weighs about 17-18 lbs, the person i received it from said it weighed about 23-24 lbs. wet. of course that depends on the type of piece...

 

[poakley723]

Thanks bus driver that is exactly what i was looking for

 

[Sascha D]

The weight added to the rocks while wet is more like ounces and not pounds. The rock can be HUGE but if its full of holes than it won't weigh as much even while wet. The best way to determine how much rock you need is to look at where it comes from and what its made of.

For example, Haitian rock is considerably lighter than Tonga because its essentially dead lettuce coral skeletons. Fiji of similar size and shape will also be lighter than Tonga because it is more porous.

 

[busdriver]

Bojangles,
Here is a pic of the rock in question. i'm sure for smaller rocks it is a lot less, but i don't have a digital scale and I don't know for sure how much it weighs wet, but here are the pix

 

[Pedro_Mann]

I have a digital scale that will weigh up to 5 lbs for postage. And a digital weight scale for seeing how fat I am getting I could maybe weigh a piece of dry rock and then let it sit in a bucket of water for a few days and weigh it again. I would think that water will add at least a pound or two because the more porous it is the more surface area it has to get wet. Also, porous rock usually has cavities inside that will hold water. If you've ever noticed when you put a piece of rock under water you have to tilt it like 5 different ways to let all the air out. If a person didn't do the same to let all the water drain off before weighing it, it could weigh considerably more. Also, if you take surface tension into account, the water won't come out as easily as the air does becuase it sticks to the rocks. So very small cavities would fill with water and then not let it out, except by eveporation.

Well there is my scientific answer

 

[MrSculpin]

Has anybody ever done business with this place? Thats some cheap rock, seams like a good way to go when starting your foundation of baserock. Just curious

I bought from them to add to my live rock. Got the cheaper base rock, the Florida I think. Its okay... pretty dense and heavy. No replies to my emails, I sent two asking about the rocks and about shipping. It seemed slow to get, but I got what I paid for, 20lbs. I think it was actually 23lbs. Big solid pieces.

 

[Sascha D]

about the weight question you asked...
I have a chunk of rock that weighs about 17-18 lbs, the person i received it from said it weighed about 23-24 lbs. wet. of course that depends on the type of piece...

That rock looks pretty dense. Dense rock like that could hold a fair amount of water, similar to Lace Rock.

1 gallon of water = 8 pounds. Fish distributers ship specimens in as little water as possible to reduce shipping costs, increasing their profits. So the LR that you order is often fairly drained of water and an acurate estimated weight should be received. The package will weight alot more with all the added material to keep the rock "live". Its not uncommon to get 5+ pounds of wet newspaper with your order.

I find it hard to believe that the rock absorbed an entire gallon of water, but I'm not an expert or anything and its completely possible. I just think the person you bought it from added a pound or two.