Well Its About Time... Rock Cured A few pics

[Illusion]

Well I went ahead and tested the Rock last night and everything seemed great... nitrates were at 10ppm but other than that everything else looked great.. I figured the Nitrates would drop once I got the rock out of the tub and into some Stable water... Anyways I didnt really aquascape I more Just dropped the rock in and took it as it landed for now... Here is 3x 88lb cases on Pukani in My 224g tank...

James

 

[MikeS]

looks nice...what kind of rock is that?

MikeS

 

[Illusion]

Thanks.. Its all Pukani...

James

 

[Elmo18]

Nice stuff James! So what pieces of sps did you end up saving for this tank?

- Elmo

 

[nasher8860]

Nice!!!!!yea about time..lol.How long did the overall process take like 2 1/2 weeks Ive been following loosely..

 

[Illusion]

I didnt Intentionally keep any Sps for this Tank Except my Soli and pulchra.. Everything else was just kind of Misc stuff that didnt sell off...

I think It took about 2 weeks tomorrow... Was going to give it another week but being Impatient got to me a bit LOL... I also had a huge skimmer on the rock as well as occasional Ozone going so that probably helped out a lot..

James

 

[Kensn]

Tank looks great, well done!!!!

ken

 

[NaH2O]

Looks awesome, James!

 

[mojoreef]

LOL James I am amazed you lasted 2 weeks, hehehe.


looking good


MIke

 

[WA98296]

Wow! Looks really nice! In your boxes of Pukani, what sizes were most of the rocks? They all look pretty decent sized in the pics. I need to get Live Rock and want to find a source where most of the pieces will be bigger than baseballs -- more like footballs or bigger.

Okay, I just have to ask what exactly is Pukani anyway? It looks beautiful in the photos. I'm wondering though, is Pukani a marketing "brand"? Or, any chance that “Pukani” is simply Fijian for “Exported Rocks”? Is it different than Fiji? Thanks for any clarification, I'm having a hard time getting past the "what kind of rock" portion of my journey.

 

[mojoreef]

Hiya WA. Pukani is just another Island that they have opened up for collection. The collectors tend to name the rock after the island it is collected from. As in Pukani comes from the Island of Pukani, Kalini comes from Kalini, figi come from figi and so on.
What we call Live rock is simple dead coral. Rock that comes from figi tends to be more of the species of porities which is rounder and more massive of a coral. Marshall Island Live rock is more dead acropora coral, so it has more table and branching style peices. Live rock from Tonga is either branching acropora (which they call tonga branch) or plating montipora type corals which they call tonga shelf.
The pukani seems to be collected a little deaper as it has a large amount of sponges (but i could be wrong) it seems to be more of digitata style coral (thinner more fused branched) and is very light.


Hope it helps


Mike

 

[Illusion]

In every box there was a piece that was atleast 24" if not more... Glad I have huge Openings... I had a few pieces that just barely fit thru the openings of my tank...

Pukani is actually the Island in fiji where the rock comes from... Very nice rock... I like it a lot..

James

 

[WA98296]

Mike and James,

Thanks for the info! In all my looking around trying to learn about rock, I've never found your info!
Can I ask one more thing, please. I've noticed a lot of places offer different "grades" of rock, yet I see no real change in the description, or a written "standard" for the grades anywhere. Is this based on size of pieces, or "freshness" or some other thing?

Thanks again!

 

[Illusion]

IMO the grades is all a "Hype" type thing... The premium is supposed to be somewhat Precured but Its still sent from the same place... However if I was you I would highly look into this pukani... A friend highly recommended it and I got some and Wow did I like... I would do It all over again in a heartbeat..

James

 

[Illusion]

Well here are a few more as of today.. Much clearer in the tank...

I think my Cap on the right hand side is getting weak and thats why its Yellowish... I am probably going to order some new Caps sometime within the week or so...

James

 

[CarlaW]

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

That really looks sweet, now it's time to kick back and let 'er rip. You are gonna be one happy guy when all that stuff turns colors. Are you gonna take monthly progression pics for us and yourself?

 

[Kensn]

Wow your tank is ROCK'IN !!

Ken

 

[Illusion]

yeah I will be taking many pictures... however after looking at the tank for a while Its just really not what I like as far as Aquascaping... I am sure I will be changing many things around... I dont really plan on gluing any corals down right away for atleast another month... Been thinking about getting rid of my giant clams as well... I just dont know what I think about them taking up the bottom of the tank..

James

 

[Illusion]

Well Here it is...

Day 1 of Messing around Please give me honest feedback...

Thanks again,
James

 

[Illusion]

Well I made a few more changes to the rockwork... Something about the Leftside and Middle that I dont like..

James