Please critique my ‘scape, and what is Marco rocks?

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

If this is just a QT tank for inverts, I think scape is fine. You could glue a couple pieces together but I would ensure they are easy enough to remove. So when it's time to remove the inverts, you can pull out the rock to catch. Other wise it will be a pain to catch. You will be breaking the structure down and putting it back together after lol.

These rocks should not have any organics on it.

 

[Fish Fan]

Unless it was in someone else's tank there should not be any organics on it. Its mined, power washed, acid bathed, power washed again and set in dry storage until sold. I have seen some discoloration like light brown patches but never anything that would possibly rot in a tank. I have used a ton of this stuff too. If you are worried scrub the area with a metal scrub brush and water. The shelf rock does usually appear "dirtier" than the other stuff for some reason, dont think it is probably just different deposits that makes it.

I can try to get a pic, but there is a TON of organic material on this rock, I can see it, and pull it off with my fingers. This is different from other dry rock I had on hand that I got locally many years ago, but I think it's a CaribbSea product.

 

[exnisstech]

I think I had rock from CaribbSea, not Marco Rocks, but I read this and recently tried it. I tried five different rip saw blades, including three that were diamond coated and said they went through block and brick. Absolutely none of them made a dent in the rock I had. I got so frustrated and realized that I was buying new rip saw blades, and in the end I just ordered a few pieces of the stupid expensive Marco Foundation rock.

Strange to me, the Marco foundation rock for the small size I used has one cut on the bottom and the stuff is like $16/piece, and each piece was about a pound. The Marco shelf rock - which is cut twice, on the top and bottom - was like $6/pound. They really rip you off for this kind of stuff, I mean, it's a rock lol!

But again, I got so frustrated buying saw blades, that I just sucked it up and bought the expensive foundation rock. Maybe the Marco rock cuts more easily than the CaribbSea stuff I had?

Were you using blades with teeth? I've cut quite a bit of caribbsea rock with a diamond tile blade on my table saw and its still going strong.
It's a different brand but the blade looked like this.

 

[Fish Fan]

If this is just a QT tank for inverts, I think scape is fine. You could glue a couple pieces together but I would ensure they are easy enough to remove. So when it's time to remove the inverts, you can pull out the rock to catch. Other wise it will be a pain to catch. You will be breaking the structure down and putting it back together after lol.

These rocks should not have any organics on it.

Thanks buddy, good idea, and I appreciate you stopping by here!

Hang on everyone, I'm going to get a pic of the organics.........

 

[Fish Fan]

Were you using blades with teeth? I've cut quite a bit of caribbsea rock with a diamond tile blade on my table saw and its still going strong.
It's a different brand but the blade looked like this.

Thank you very much for your help here! No, I did not try this. I consider myself a woodworker, I have a mid-level Ridgid table saw, and I couldn't see using it to try to cut rock. I do have an El Cheapo Skil tile saw, but it can't take a large enough blade to make these cuts (same with my small angle grinder). And, after buying a few new rip saw blades, I just figure why bother? Save the effort, and just spend the money on the Marco foundation rocks. I only need three pieces here.

Thank you again for your help and suggestions!

 

[CD_Scapes]

Thank you! I'm not worried about the cycle at all, I have on hand, and almost used, some live TBS mariculture rock. I plan to pack one of the 'fuge sections of this AIO with TBS rock to seed the dry Marco rocks. I may also temporarily pile some TBS rock in the tank with the Marco rocks and let that "cook" for a couple months with the lights off. I'm in no hurry to get this tank going.

But I can see organic stuff on these rocks, it's going to take some time to blow that all off. A bleach bath would certainly speed that up, but I don't think I'll bother with that here, I'll just give it more time in the tank.

Thanks for your help!

I’m sorry did you say you thought about bleach bathing TBS rock or did I misread that?

 

[Fish Fan]

I’m sorry did you say you thought about bleach bathing TBS rock or did I misread that?

You very much misread that

Or I mistyped, but no one is bleaching the deliciousness that is TBS live rock ;-)

Thanks for your help!

 

[Fish Fan]

This is a piece of recently ordered and delivered to me yesterday Marco Rocks shelf rock:

You can easily see organic material on it:

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

My 2 cents of advice. put one piece of Marco rock in the rightmost corner or at the left a little out making a fairly large cave which I'm pretty sure inverts would love

 

[Fish Fan]

Here’s the Marco shelf rock next to a piece of dry rock I got sometime around 2016, so I’m fuzzy in the details. This rock came either from a local store (which I believe is a CaribbSea product) or from BRS, and I had thought I ordered Marco Rocks, but maybe not. I did buy rock from both places back then.

It may be hard to see in the photo, but the bottom piece (CaribbSea?) is more porous and has no visible organics on it (and I have like 50 pounds of this stuff). The Marco Rock on top seems like it has a powder on it and even sand possibly adhered to it? It looks entirely man made to me, unlike the other stuff that I fully believe is mined.

I’m not really complaining, I’m sure the Marco rock will be fine, it’s just not what I was expecting

 

[IceNein]

I love it and I love what looks like a custom shelf built for it!

That custom shelf was what caught my eye! Looks awesome.

 

[Fish Fan]

My 2 cents of advice. put one piece of Marco rock in the rightmost corner or at the left a little out making a fairly large cave which I'm pretty sure inverts would love

Thank you for your help! The 'scape may yet evolve, nothing is glue down at this point ;-)

 

[Fish Fan]

That custom shelf was what caught my eye! Looks awesome.

Thank you much, I appreciate you stopping by!

 

[CD_Scapes]

You very much misread that

Or I mistyped, but no one is bleaching the deliciousness that is TBS live rock ;-)

Thanks for your help

Oh good, I have heard of people buying TBS rock and then acid dipping or bleaching dipping them. Crazy that people would do that but it’s happened.

 

[Fish Fan]

Oh good, I have heard of people buying TBS rock and then acid dipping or bleaching dipping them. Crazy that people would do that but it’s happened.

LOL! No, not TBS rocks!

I was saying that I could bleach cure this Marco Rock for the organics, but I'm in no rush, so I'll just let the rocks cook in the tank with no light until those organics are consumed.

But see my pics above, clearly there's organic material on this Marco rock I just got. You could well justify a bleach cure I would say.

 

[rhitee93]

I think the scape looks good. Maybe a bit densely packed, but I'm not one who's opinion you should listen to. I suspect that bit of organic material just got blown in somewhere along the way.

That rock does look different than what I have bought from Marco. The stuff I am used to seeing has more holes and pockets.

This was my Marco branded rock before going into the tank. Ignore the purple stuff, that was a carib sea product.

 

[Fish Fan]

I think the scape looks good. Maybe a bit densely packed, but I'm not one who's opinion you should listen to. I suspect that bit of organic material just got blown in somewhere along the way.

That rock does look different than what I have bought from Marco. The stuff I am used to seeing has more holes and pockets.

This was my Marco branded rock before going into the tank. Ignore the purple stuff, that was a carib sea product.

Yeah, that looks a lot like the "regular" dry rock that I got years ago. But the new Marco foundation and shelf pieces are not porous like your rocks, and they have what looks like sand that's been adhered on it. I would bet money that the stuff I got yesterday is man made, it just looks it.

An the organics I don't think blew in the rock in transport or anything like that. They are fairly well "in" the rock. Organics in dry rock is not at all a new, it's literally what started the whole bleach curing dry rock thing. I'm just surprised by how much of it is on these rocks.

 

[Fish Fan]

I think the scape looks good. Maybe a bit densely packed, but I'm not one who's opinion you should listen to. I suspect that bit of organic material just got blown in somewhere along the way.

That rock does look different than what I have bought from Marco. The stuff I am used to seeing has more holes and pockets.

This was my Marco branded rock before going into the tank. Ignore the purple stuff, that was a carib sea product.

Oh, and thank you for the critique because I too feel like somehow what I have is too dense, or just too much somehow. Maybe I'll use more of my "regular" rocks instead of some of the shelf rocks, so it looks less "just stacked up". I do like what you have going on, but my tank is really shallow (like, 11.9") so may scape has to be pretty low.

 

[Fish Fan]

I was picking the organic matter off of that piece of Marco shelf rock with teasers and than I noticed what looks to my aging eyes like a piece of quartz stuck in it:

I can’t get a great picture of it, but it’s pretty clear in real life. That one kind of crescent shape spot literally sparkles like a diamond in the light. This has to be man made stuff. Maybe the shelf rock is different from their “regular” rock?

 

[twentyleagues]

I was picking the organic matter off of that piece of Marco shelf rock with teasers and than I noticed what looks to my aging eyes like a piece of quartz stuck in it:

I can’t get a great picture of it, but it’s pretty clear in real life. That one kind of crescent shape spot literally sparkles like a diamond in the light. This has to be man made stuff. Maybe the shelf rock is different from their “regular” rock?

It is also mined. Not man made. I am sure there is all kinds of ways that could happen in nature. As for the organic material may have been terrestrial in nature.