marcorock

[wmboots]

has anyone cured marcorock? what was your experience with unwanted critters etc.? how long did you cure, was it any different than curing live rock purchased online? I'm asking all these questions as I am trying to schedule my upgrade from 90 to 150.
I plan to use the marcorock as the base along with intergrating some of the smaller pieces into the existing 200-250lbs of rock currently in my 90.

 

[Jaycen B.]

The dry rock? It is a non issue put it in and go. Oh rinse good first.

 

[tgray3]

I haven't used marco rock but I did use BRS Pukani, i believe they're pretty much the same type of stuff.
I rinsed it real good to get the dust from shipping off it, scraped off a couple dried sponges, put it in the tank and started cycling. The cycle took no more or less time for me than using standard Live Rock. All in all if i remember right it took about 3.5 to 4 weeks to get unreadable ammo, Nitrite and Nitrate. I haven't seen any hitchhikers at all, wanted or unwanted.

 

[wmboots]

<span style="color: purple">so your saying there is no reason to cure the dry rock before adding to system?</span> I won't have an issue with ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spikes? I suspect I will have a mini cycle when moving everything from the 90 to +8150 since I will be adding rock albeit dry rock and sand but as I mentioned before I already have over 200bs of rock that has been in my system any where from 1.5 years to 10 years and nearly every piece has coral attached or covering it already.

 

[tgray3]

I would expect at least a mini cycle if adding to an existing system. Like i said i scraped some dried sponges off. I didn't use any "live rock" just 100% dry and i got an ammo spike that went off the color chart. I didn't even use the cocktail shrimp to start the cycle. Marco may be cleaner or it may not, i haven't used it, but I would treat just like you would normal live rock and cure it as such before adding to an existing system.

 

[Jaycen B.]

wmboots;643014 wrote: <span style="color: purple">so your saying there is no reason to cure the dry rock before adding to system?</span>

Yep. Just add some of your live to seed it.

 

[crewdawg1981]

As long as you aren't putting a 50lb box of the dry straight into your system you should be fine to add some.

 

[Jaycen B.]

It's an upgrade.

 

[wmboots]

just had concerns about adding dry rock to system, never have done this before and the upgrade will be adding nearly double the size of total system

 

[project1004]

Hi, wmboots ^^
I just used marco rocks on my new set-up... I started with all the dry rocks so I didnt had to cure it... I had spike on ammonia and nitrite and now just nitrate... around 20ppm (yay.. I know right)... but some reason ammonia is back upto 0.25ppm it looks... so I am going to do a water change (50%) tommorow!!! It has been up for just over one month... Marco rock I got from ichthyoid back in march... I just rinced it and put it right into my tank... Seems fine to me...

But You are adding to already established tank... I would think it will be much faster for you since it is already established... (this is without any research Hope it helps someway!!! LOL

 

[budsreef]

If this is dry rock that was originally live rock then there could be lots of dead stuff in the rock that has not had a chance to rot away and it will cause a cycle. I would definitely put it in a tub with saltwater after rinsing it well with a heater and powerhead to let it cycle before adding it to the system.

 

[crewdawg1981]

SUPPOSEDLY, with MarcoRock you arent supposed to have to cycle your rock before adding it. Its awesome rock with lots of crevices etc., that is supposed to have been through several different baths to ensure its ready for your tank.

 

[liverock27]

I am planning on using BRS dry rock for my upgrade and BRS recommended cycling it in a tub for a few weeks before adding it to my new tanks because a small cycle could and probably will occur.

 

[wmboots]

I placed 50lbs of marco as well as a couple small rocks and couple cups of sand from my existing system in a 55 tank on friday with a heater, powerhead and old canister filter just to be on the safe side. I will check params in a week to see if there is anything spiking. I would like to know if anyone here has used marco in an upgrade and if they found it necessary to do a long term cycle or if they cycled at all. I have a nicely established tank with lps,sps and softs and would hate to lose any of them let alone all of them. The last time I upgraded I didn't lose a thing but only added a few pounds of live rock when I made the change.

 

[morganatlanta]

Marco is mined rock. It hasn't been wet for thousands of years, so there is nothing to die off. Pukani is dry, but came out of the ocean, so it does have some dead stuff that will decay.

 

[wmboots]

OK I decided to cook 50lbs of marcorock in an old 55 tank before putting in my upgrade, as I posted last friday I put 2 cups of sand and approximately 5lbs of rock from my 90 in with the marco. just tested after 1 week and here are the results granted this is an api kit which isn't the most accurate but still result are interesting considering marco's website says their dry rock can be placed directly in a system without worrying about ammonia spikes.
ammonia - 25
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 10-20
ph - 8.2
didn't test calcium or mag as it isn't necessary at this time
looking at these numbers I am almost inclined to believe that I would not have seen a spike if I had introduced this 50lbs of rock to a system that already had over 200lbs of rock in it. I believe the bacteria in the existing system would have been sufficient to absorb the results I have found so far.
Anyone else with more experience with upgrades and additions have any input or opinion on my results and train of thought