Anyone used carib sea reef rock?

I just got some from them on thursday. I have it in a tank in my basement curing now. I put a couple of pieces of my liverock from my tank in with it. As for price I thought it was a great price. The pieces are nice sized. I got a few larger pieces and then some medium and smaller pieces. I like the look of it and once it colors up I think it will be very nice.
Here are a couple of pics that I just took of it.

PANA0048.jpg


PANA0049.jpg


PANA0047.jpg
 
Is there any need to cure it? I thought i could just add it in my tank with some live rock and cycle for 4 weeks?
 
There's no real need for curing since it is 'dead' base rock. It does need time to get the bio filtration going though.
 
directions for curing per carib sea.

Curing Carib Sea Rock

Important Instructions: Reef Bones are authentic uncured natural ocean rocks. They should be treated before putting into an established aquarium by standard curing methods such as soaking in a bucket of freshwater or seawater for 1-3 weeks changing water frequently. For faster introduction, you may soak in a mild bleach solution (5 tablespoons per gallon) for at least 1 hour, and then expose to the sun for about 3 days or until you cannot smell bleach anymore. For new aquariums set ups, Reef Bones can be put right into the aquarium, and cured during normal cycling process (1-3 weeks).
 
That sounds more aking to curing of DIY rock than live rock curing (bleach hints to me that there's something chemical (and non-biological) going on) Did they give any indication as to what that process accomplishes?
 
The bleach helps clean the dust and stuff off of the rock. It was quite dusty when I received mine. It was packaged well but still the banging around during shipping causes some grinding of the rock against each other causing dust and small pieces to break. I washed mine quite well before putting in the tank to cure and we will see how it goes...
 
I believe the rational for the curing is even though the rock doesn't have anything living on it some dead organic matter from the organisms still remain in and on rock (suppose to be essentially actual dry liverock). the dead organic matter still breaks down like any dead matter would which could cause an ammonia spike. I've read people who said they've had quite a large spike using reef bones. I have 40lbs of it myself. No complaints. Great aragonite base rock. As for the article interesting but a fish I dont want to fry right now.
 
All my tanks are done up with the carib sea reef rock and I just used a few pieces of live rock from my LFS to seed them. Alls I did was rinse them off with a hose before I put them into the tank. I probably have almost 800lbs of that stuff between all my tanks. Only thing I didnt like about it is I always got a few big pieces then a bunch of rubble in every box. Its cheep though compared to live rock and once it is covered in coraline it looks great. Depending on where you order it from figure on spending about 30-40 bucks per 50lb box.

Here are some pics:

45 reef with all carib sea reef rock and maybe 2 small pieces of live rock.
45%20front.jpg


My old 110 with reef rock and maybe 3 pieces of med sized live rock.
110%20front.jpg


Most of the rock from the 110 is in a garbage pal now cooking and awaiting its new home in my 150. The rest is in my 29 gal reef which I dont have any pics of yet. And then I have a bunch of the rubble in my fuges.

One suggestion, drill it before you put it in your tank so you can peg your corals. The carib sea reef rock drills really easily with a masonary bit. The bigger pieces of rock are also very heavy. Most of my show pieces are on average 20-50 lbs.
 
In reply to that article that was posted, I went to the Dominican Republic last year, which is on the same island as Hati and could not belive all the "reef rock" I saw. That stuff is everywhere, not just in the ocean. They were making new roads and that was the bedrock. It was piled all over on the sides of the roads from the excavations. Alls I could think of when I saw all them piles of rock was that someone could make a fortune selling that to reef aquarists. They also have quarys full of that stuff.
 
Looks to be just base rock $43.99 for 50lbs, just rinse it off in tap water, adding the bleach must just clean off water ever could be on the rock so it doesnt polute your tank, I bet you could get away with just dipping the rock in tap water to rinse off the dust you mentioned. But that rock looks like really dead rock when for $120 you can get 50 lbs of some rock w/ life
 
So, since there's plenty of it, it's okay for Carib Sea Inc. to illegally import it into the United States?
Click to expand...

No, I never said it was ok for them to import it. I was just saying that that stuff is everywhere, and doesnt just come from the ocean. Cuban cigars are everywhere there too, and those are also illegal to import. Just stating some observations is all.
 
I got 50 lbs tonight from thatpetplace also got me a DI filter and a mag pump while i was there to get my 25 gallon going.
 
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