Marcorocks
 

I was wondering.. how do you cure them and for how long? It's going to my tank with fishes and SPS so I want to make sure it's OK here.

I would have rinsed it but I don't want tap water to be the first thing that it soaks up.. There are some brown and black spots on it but not too much. I am thinking just mix some SW and throw them in for a while. It should generate some ammonia on it's own.

You have to let them cycle for quite a while... The first week you will want to do a water change (NEED to, cause they stink) then throw a small piece of live rock in there with them and let them cook for a few more weeks, with water changes.

you might consider putting a little bit of frozen food in there too to allow the bacteria to break it down and establish. Feed your live rock.

it took me a good 4 weeks to get to the point that i would feel comfortable adding it to an established tank. I had it in a 45 gallon brute with heater and two pumps with no lighting. I did water changes every other day for the first week and then once a week after that.

Here is some advice based on my experience with 200# of Marco Rock for my 200 Bow:

1. Drill and pin your aquascape while the rock is still dry. I put a tape outline of my tank on the floor to get my spacing right.

2. Cook the rocks in rubbermaid containers, NOT the tank. You would not believe the amount of gunk that comes out of these rocks the first couple weeks. I didn't want that stuff in my tank, especially with any sand in it. I cooked the rocks for 2 months, but if you don't want to wait that long, I would say at least a couple weeks. I did 50% water changes (salt water) every other day. Each of my rubbermaid bins had about 10% uncured live rock placed in it in week 2 to start seeding the dead rock. Each one of my containers had a heater and a powerhead to keep good circulation and flush the rocks better. By the time I was ready to put the rocks in the tank, I had a good starting population of amphipods in the rock.

3. When you do put the rocks in the tank, run RowaPhos or another appropriate phosphate remover. It doesn't take a lot of phosphate to make the algae go crazy and the rocks will leech phosphates for a while.

Overall I'm extremely happy with my Marco rocks. They are beautiful, much cheaper than imported live rock, and are teeming with life now 6 months later.

Good Luck,

Steve

Thanks.. does it matter initially to run the heater or not

Also these rocks are really a coral skeleton with alot of holes do you think alot of detritus will get in there over the long time in the aquarium?

I ran the heater as I had live rock in along with my marco to help seed the dry rock.

To your other question, my current system has only been running for 6 months so I can't give you a definitive answer. I would guess the infauna of the rock, brittle stars, amphipods and the like, and good flow should keep the rocks clean. I'm not worried about it.

i put 10 lbs of uncured marco rocks in my tank thinking they were all dried up and wath harm could that do ??? what a jack ace worst thing i ever did, i pulled one of teh rocks out a week later after realising there was suddenly alot of algea and my skimmer was producing tar and it stunk to high heaven.. at that point it already kicked off a cycle in my tank so i threw it back in but now four noths later im battleing dino's and wouldnt be the least bit surprised if it started from putting the uncured marco rock in..

i do really like the rock though and my next upgrade i am defiantely going to get all marco rock for my additional rock but not going to make the same mistake again..

Well I've had a different experience. I soaked my rocks in tap water for 2 days, rinsed them off and continued the soak for another day. I then took a wire brush and scrubbed them. The rocks then went into a salt water bin after being flushed under a garden hose. Water checked out within 10 days and I never had any problem adding them to the tank at that time.

marco rocks are the best rock ive ever seen! i love mine - they look great. i left my 50 lbs outside in a 75 gal tank filled with fresh water with a running power head. it was in the fall time so we had nice and chilly days. i left it out for 20 days changing the water every few days and moving them around. i smelled the rock and once it didnt smell at all it went into the tank which was new otherwise i might have cooked the rock.
anyway it did just fine- skimmer picked up some good sludge.
i would buy these rocks in second if i had to in the future!

I got 125 lbs of Marco Rocks and cooked it with water and white vinegar w/ 2 power heads for about 3 days. then I swished each rock in a bucket of RODI. I am building my reef with them now. After I put them in the tank... I expect to have to skim for awhile and run the phosban reactor before the tank will be ready for fish.

I don't think you should take a chance on putting them in your established tank without taking serious care to make sure they are safe.

Maybe cook them for a couple weeks with frrequent water changes and then seed them in the bucket with your live rock before adding them to your tank.

I have 50# of Marco rock sitting in the box it came in waiting for me to finish building my tank setup. I have not done anything with the rock and was actually planning on using this plus about 100# of live rock to start a cycle.

Does this sound like it would work or should I do something to the Marco Rock first?

When you say "cooking" the rock, what does that mean and what is the best way to go about it? I have this vision of standing over a huge pot hanging over a bonfire in the backyard stirring with a canoe paddle. But I could be wrong.......

Steve

Cooking is not needed but it can help greatly. Acid is the trick to getting the rock clean. It still has biological matter on and in it. Sponges, algae, etc. which are dead. I cleaned mine by soaking in a 50/50 vinegar solution for a couple days, removed all the dead and decaying matter you can see first then scrubbed very well with a brush, rinsed them and let them dry. Adding them to the tank caused no issues.

Phosphates can be bound in the outer layers of rock and the acid will dissolve most of this as well as eat up the biological matter. Cooking the rock serves the same purpose...the bacteria eat the available nutrients until they are gone. Acid just does the initial cleaning in days instead of months. I am not worried about nutrients inside the rocks as it is food for the future bacteria populations. Getting the rocks clean and as much of the outer layers off is what is important.

Jack, the 50/50 solution was using tap water? Rinsing was in tap water too?

Steve

Yes it was.

You will add far more nutrients such as phosphate IMHO with food than you will have absorbed by cleaning in tap water. The perfectly clean water thing only goes so far. As soon as RO/DI water leaves the filter it begins absorbing things. Yes you want to start with as clean of water as possible but there is no reason to get crazy about it. Your tank has to be able to process nutrients, if you do not have the processing and export capabilities you will have problems. "Clean" water is only clean for a very short period of time. At least this has been my experience.

Jack, thanks. Off to get a big Rubbermaid tub and vinegar to start cleaning.

Did you run a powerhead or heater when the rock was in the water/vinegar bath?

Sorry for all the questions. I appreciate your assistance.

Steve

I think you'll find that the powerhead might blow off some of the junk but the bulk of it will be washed away with a lot of rinsing. I never bothered with a heater because I soaked mine inside a heated basement where the air temp was probably 70 degrees. If you were doing this outside or in an unheated space where the temps are cold, a heater will likely loosen the debris faster.

soak...scrub....rinse....repeat

You'll likely be surprised how fast you can get these ready for your tank. I know a lot of people spend months to reach a point where they feel that the rocks are safe but I've never had to wait that long.

Actually I did mine in about 40 degree weather. I wasn't trying to seed or cycle the rock, just clean it. Vinegar does work better when warm but not sure it is needed. The important thing is to clean as much of the loose stuff off as possible. Use tweezers if you have to, but get the sponges and anything else off it that you can. It will shorten the amount of time needed to soak it. Be sure you rinse well after the soaking. I used a stiff new plastic brush to scrub the rock before I rinsed it. I ended up with very white and clean rock.

So the first thing the rock needs to be soaked is vinegar? Even if I use a moderate container I think I need 5 gals of vinegar and 5 gals of water.

Just the gallon jugs of white vinegar at walmart will do?

I wish ,I had cleaned my MR before I put it in the tank. The tank was new and I did many water changes before I put anything in the tank. I had cayno and a small alage problem. I took the bad rock out. Put them in 50/50 for a few weeks. I have no more problems. Clean your rocks well, or deal with the problems latter.

The first thing is to remove anything that is not rock from them, such as sponges. I used the cheap white vinegar from walmart. It doesn't have to taste good, just be acidic. :D You can also use a stronger acid diluted more to make it faster. Remember not to leave the rocks in for too long, this rock is very porous and you can weaken it. I cannot say how long but use your head.

Hmm, my experience with Marco rocks was different. I put 50 lbs (along w/ 45 lbs of Fiji premium) into my 75G w/ a heater, powerheads & skimmer. Very little detritus, and most of that was from the Fiji.

Ten days later, with one 30% water change, NH3 & NO2 were zero (and still zero, two weeks later).

Maybe I just got lucky, and got a clean batch of Marco?

-R

Cleaning Marco Rocks
 

Here is a picture of 50# of Marco Rocks in 10 gallons of vinegar and 10 gallons of water. I rinsed and scrubbed the rock before putting it in the tub. This is after about an hour.

[IMG]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh216/snodine/DSCF1402.jpg[/IMG]

How long should I keep in in the vinegar and water bath? and what should I do after taking it out? Put it in another bath? Rinse it and let it dry?

Thanks,

Steve

About 2 months ago I cured 150 lbs of MarcoRocks by simply putting them in saltwater in rubbermaid tubs with flowing water and they cycled completely in about 10 days. I changed the water twice during that time.

Holy moly... I should have cured mine. I set them up in the new 50G display tank (don't worry, nothing living in it), and filled it with water. The past three or four days have been a journey through various kinds of stench. The first couple of days were just your standard "dirty ocean rock" smell, pervasive but not terribly strong. Then I added a tablespoon of sugar and a few drops of ammonia, turned on the powerheads, and ack

hack

wheeze

oh dear lord the stench. Full bacterial bloom, the visibility is about 6 inches, and the rocks are various shades of grey to black. I also cranked the heater up to 84 degrees, so whatever happens happens fast. I now have a window open and a bunch of fans. The smell has turned from "dirty rocks" to "oh my god rotten eggs". I hope rtecanoe's 10 days are what I can hope for, because this is... an experience. Bonding with the aquarium, I suppose.

I did take the time to pick over them with tweezers to get any obvious dead stuff (sponges etc.) off, but no rinsing. Ah, regrets.

This isn't a knock on marcorocks at all, I love the rocks, just my stupid misadventures have put me here :)