curing live rocks

[Jocephus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11491143#post11491143 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by siwelk
i dont think anyone can really tell exactly how long it takes for dead rock to become fully seeded. it is fine to use after it cures, which can take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks or more. it may not be filled with as much anaerobic bacteria on the inside as its live rock counterpart, but it should continually colonize as you will have introduced sources for this to occur.


i dont think it takes a whole lot of live rock for seeding purposes. ive seen a few ratios mentioned before...20%, 25%, 50%. ill be seeding 25lbs of marco rock with roughly 10lbs or so of fully cured hand-picked Kaelini rock from Premium Aquatics. once its all cured an in my tank, ill be adding livestock very slowly to give my seeded rock time to "catch up" with the new bio-load.

Exactly what I was getting at. As long as you don't have misconceptions about the rock acting as a biological filter before being seeded, dry rock is great. The rock itself, does nothing but provide surface area. It is not until the bacteria colonize these areas that the rock becomes an effective filter media, and it may take months to fully mature.

 

[Racing1]

The marco rock is awesome.I just purchased 50bs for my 75 gallon and the pieces were just what I asked for--- LARGE --- With very nice shapes... Here are a couple pics

And in the Tank

 

[cy88]

Racing1, that big piece that looks like a clam is amazing

 

[cy88]

Just an update - Been exchanging emails with marc for the marco rocks, and he's very slow and inefficient in replying emails that I really don't think he's interested in selling the rocks to me.

Ah well, i guess I'll need to hunt for some LR from my LFS... I hate bad customer service!

 

[siwelk]

sorry for your experience. when i emailed marc he called me back within maybe 10 minutes and we discussed the kind of pieces i was looking for. i had a tracking number within a couple days and my rock in a week. ive heard one or two other people say that they have problems communicating with him. thats too bad. i got my rock last week and it was amazing.

 

[Jocephus]

There was an article in AQUARIUM FISH, I think, about two months ago that discussed using other than "live" rock for marine aquariums. The author basically said that using "lava rock" or "lace rock" was perfectly fine. I'll see if I can dig anything up on it, but I would at least consider the possibility. Could save you big bucks, and provide the same as the marco rock.