Show Me Pukani and Marco's Aquascape Pictures

[Upstartreefer]

If I weren't in a hurry, I'd just do seawater. Both methods are equally effective.. Why mess with bleach, if you don't have to?

Agreed

 

[Upstartreefer]

Brs Pukani

That's a thing of Beauty. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Radman73]

If I decide to go with pukani I have plenty of time to cure it because it will be at least 4 months before ours home is complete. That is the only complaint I have really found about pukani is the cook time it takes to completely cure the rock.

I don't want to do an acid bath and lose 25% of the rock I paid for. After watching to BRS video on curing pukani the only thing I might try is the 10:1 ratio of bleach to speed up the process but like I said I have plenty of time to do a natural cure.

What do you guys think? With ample time to do a nature cure with warm salt water and flow would you still do an alternative cure with bleach or acid?

I was worried about losing too much rock with an acid bath too. In my case it was an unfounded concern. My first batch I could see a slight difference but the second batch I just finished today is fine. While I didn't weigh before and after, I'd be surprised if I lost even 5% of weight. I bleached first, soaked in RODI, then acid bath, and soak again in RODI. Then it goes into the DT. All told I should have about 100lbs of Pukani in my 220 DT. I'll eventually move over some ceramic rock from my 60 cube. Or not if the pukani fills it up enough.

Take a little rock out and inspect it while giving the acid bath. Easy to keep up with progress that way and dump in the baking soda when you're happy with the rock. Just wear proper protective gear.

 

[Emery]

I used a combo of Marco and pukani. Used Aquaforest stone fix to glue the joints. Really came in handy with the arch (which was like 12 small pieces), and the branch structure I made in the back left.
Here's the scape on the work bench. Then in the tank (120g) cycling.

 

[Upstartreefer]

I used a combo of Marco and pukani. Used Aquaforest stone fix to glue the joints. Really came in handy with the arch (which was like 12 small pieces), and the branch structure I made in the back left.
Here's the scape on the work bench. Then in the tank (120g) cycling.

To time and the patience you put into this scape definitely shows. Great work!!

 

[Rob77]

That's a thing of Beauty. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you !

 

[Jason mack]

From what it was too what it is ! Now 9 months old !

 

[Upstartreefer]

From what it was too what it is ! Now 9 months old !

WOW!9 mouths that is great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Full tank shot

Ducati in your avatar, sweet fish tank, pinball...man if you were a chick i'd put a ring on it!

 

[Scubabum]

Ducati in your avatar, sweet fish tank, pinball...man if you were a chick i'd put a ring on it!

lol

 

[DaveRaz]

 

[Upstartreefer]

Very nice! How long has your system been running?

 

[DaveRaz]

Thanks. This 180 since late April.

 

[Jorge Linares]

Not a 220 but a 60. All pukani. Love it. Easy to work with, can saw it and is really lite. I I soaked it in bleach for a week then treated it with LC for a week for phosphates rinsing it every day. No issues so far.

 

[Mr V]

 

[Forsaken77]

Just out of curiosity, have you considered CaribSea Life Rock? It's an aragonite base material (instead of cement), doesn't really get algae on it and is pretty porous.

In my current 93 cube (which is getting switched to my 180 as soon as I plumb & paint it) I have a mix of Pukani and Fiji. The Pukani, while being the most porous and lightest rock available, can collect A LOT of detritus in it because of its big holes. Makes scaping easy without glue, but after a few months you can take any piece of Pukani, shake it, and watch a crap load of debris fly out of it. That's its worst con and may not be wise to use it exclusively in a 220.

I decided to go man-made this upgrade and the CaribSea is great stuff and offers a ton of options with shapes... regular, shelf rock, stick pieces, and odd shapes. My brother has 120 pounds of it in his AI SR-120, SPS tank. He has never had a stitch of algae grow on any of the rock yet, even during cycling.

Also, and I don't know if this is a guideline anymore, but most sites say to use between 1-2 pounds of rock per gallon. Does nobody do that anymore? Isn't it better for biological filtration?

 

[Ben Henwood]

Marco Rock stuck together with AquaMaxx Reef Welder Plastic Epoxy.

Heres my 120 right after the initial fill:

Tank 1

• Ben Henwood
• Oct 5, 2017

And here it is about 8 months later.

Tanks 2

• Ben Henwood
• Oct 5, 2017

 

[Susan Edwards]

I don't have pukani for reference, but each of those cemented pieces was probably 15lbs, or it at least felt like it. The one thing I don't like is pressure points from an amount of heavy rock on the glass, and as noted if I could do it over I would pick up some pieces of the marco rock that's cut flat on one side to serve as the base.

Some people use egg crate on the bottom. when I get my next bigger tank (planning already....) I figured I'd do that to protect the bottom glass

 

[Ben Henwood]

Some people use egg crate on the bottom. when I get my next bigger tank (planning already....) I figured I'd do that to protect the bottom glass

Something that looks nicer, but its more expensive, is starboard. Its basically plastic board that you silicon to the bottom of your tank. It protects the entire bottom surface and looks pretty good and comes in all sorts of colors. I would look into it if you want to really jazz up and protect the bottom of your tank.

https://www.boatoutfitters.com/cut-to-size-black-king-starboard

 

[Upstartreefer]

Just out of curiosity, have you considered CaribSea Life Rock?

I did some research on the Caribsea rock and there were things I did like:
1) Starting out with rock that looks like coralline algae would be great.
2) Having bacteria on the rock to kick start the cycle. Awesome.
3)They come in many shapes that you could make virtually any scape you want.

Things that I didn't like:
1) From everything that I have read the rock is not very porous so if you were going to use it for biological filtration it would take 1-2 pounds of rock. Which leads me to my next point.
2) Expensive ( I know what isn't in this hobby) but 200# would be around $800 from the prices that I have seen.

but after a few months you can take any piece of Pukani, shake it, and watch a crap load of debris fly out of it

I personally didn't have the pukani in my system very long before we sold the house but I can see your point. Its a very porous rock and I can see where it could become a debris sink. Has anyone had a problem like this?

Thanks for you replay