Lace Rock? good, bad, indifferent?

[jh2pizza]

I see some folks use some lace rock as Base rock in their tanks. Where does it come from? Is it a good idea? Will there be Phosphate issues with it? I have seen a few tanks where there is a chunk of it covered with Hair algae and nothing else in the tank has any. Is this coincidence?

I saw where MR. Mulch has it for $.50 per lb, but its not a good deal if its got problems that come with it.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

There are 2 potential issues with lace rock.

1, its so porous, it can be really difficult to thoroughly clean. Ive seen people power wash large pieces, only to find mud and plant debris in their tank a short time later.

2, you dont know where the rock was mined. Ive heard of numerous cases where the ground the rock was collected from was contaminated with phosphate and other chemicals/fertilizers. That stuff is absorbed by the rock and can leach into the aquarium over time. That can lead to the concentrated pockets of hair algae youre talking about.

That said, Ive used small pieces before without any major negative affects. Id be more cautious about putting in big pieces though.

 

[Shark Keeper]

I have used lace rock on all of the tanks that I have set up with no issues at all.

I bought it from Reef Systems and power washed it. then let it sit in the sun to dry out for a day or two. after that it worked great. My 120 had over 200lbs of base rock in it which seeded with live rock and moved over recently to my 180.

 

[geo]

These marco rocks are cool, kind of pricey but nice.

 

[TOURKID]

marco rocks are AWSOME. I ordered 50 pounds and my box was HUGE. Have pics... looking. I cleaned/soaked them 48 hrs, then put in a new tank and definately got a cycle from them. I eventually started adding cured rock from my other tank at the time

90 gallon tank, 50 pounds of marco rock

heres what my order looked like out of the box

cant remember the cost, but it was pretty cheap

 

[hllywd]

I used lace rock for my base. Presure washed it good (it did have a LOT of dirt in it), broke the biggest piece into about 4, glued it back together with Gorilla glue and haven't attributed any issues I've had to the rock. I have some bubble algae in the tops of my Mega Flows I need to figure out or more appropriately , take the time, to remove then shade the over flows. I don't really think that has anything to do with the rock though... A couple pics...

Tim

 

[macchicks]

I plan on using the lace when I do my big tank but every time I look at it dry I am dissappointed. The fiji has so many holes and divits. The lace just does not seem porous enough.

But once in a tank I think it turns out just as beautiful.

 

[MarineFishGuy]

The "Aquacultured Live Rock" I purchased from Todd at Reef Systems (in June 2007) looked just like the Marco rock in your pictures.
It was White, very porous, and very light for it's size.

I used it as supports since it was cheaper and part of it was going to be buried in the sand.

It was covered with coraline algae in 6-7 months (I had 70lbs of coraline covered LR already).

In my last tank I used some Lace Rock and some Lava Rock. I had lot's of algae issues.

As noted, I think it is kind of hit or miss with lace rock.
You may get lucky and get some good "clean" pieces or you may be unlucky and get a batch tainted with chemicals.

 

[dew2loud1]

We set up our cube with 80% lace rock, full coralline coverage in five months only had about ten pounds of live to seed it. We've never had any issues what so ever, much of the flat lace rock for the aquarium trade you see in the country is mined here in utah. I washed ours off, there were still quite a few lichens left on the rock when we used it. Our stuff isn't very porous so it was easy to clean, and makes some amazing shelf pieces and arches. We paid about .50 a pound I think.

I had a lot of the tufa that larry sells in my 120 and the guy that i got it off of said it wouldn't grow coralline, it was completely covered in three months as well.
Main Benefits
NO PESTS
no mantis shrimp to catch, no giant worms that will take your arm off, no nuisance algae you can't get rid of etc.

For a big tank or a tank on a budget you can't beat it

 

[jh2pizza]

Thanks for the input. I think I will steer clear of it. I am past the experimental ways.

 

[METZCOOL]

My tank was doing good and I got some big flat pieces of lace rock that I could set on top of my live rock for coralshelfs I put 2 big pieces of lace rock in my tank with cured live rock and all my corals and corraline algae died a slow death when all parameters tested good, and could not keep any corals alive after that. After trying everything in the book, a local reefer suggested sending water samples to a lab for testing. Test came back with toxins and 5 different traces of metal in the water.
Lace rock was pressure washed and sun dried for 5 days.
NEVER, NEVER, EVER WILL I PUT LACE ROCK IN MY TANK.
PS After starting from scratch again $$$$$ , I put those pieces of lace rock in a spare 55 gallon tank and filled with my water change water. Put a mushroom frag in the tank and within a day the coral had closed up tight as a drum, so I put him back in the frag tank and it died.
Tank has been fine since!

 

[cl2ysta1]

like kyle said pretty much 90 percent of the tanks here in Utah are composed of it. Because its free. They just walk out in the desert and collect sand and rock and put it in their tanks. We havent had an issue with ours at all and i've seen no ill effects on any reef tanks here in utah.

 

[burgei16]

I bought Lace rock from Reef Systems and Phishy Business and I have had no problems.

 

[cl2ysta1]

our looked like this in january

and like this two months ago.