Dry Rock suggestions

[bfrench]

Will be setting up the new tank in just over a month. Trying to decide where to pick up dry rock from. Visual appeal trumps everything else. Running marine pure blocks in the sump.

Had anyone tried macro rocks? BRS large boxes? Open to suggestions

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[Jimbo662]

I always use the BRS reef save rock. It's very jagged so it stacks and locks together...no need for drilling or anything. It good for stacking mounds rather than a more artistic approach. It gives you lots of places to stick plugs if you don't want to remove a frag from the plug. You can also buy it as rubble which I use to mount frags then it blends in with the rock.

[jestep]

I used BRS pukani for my last build. I really like how porous it is.

Honestly, I've seen both types of BRS, Marco, and reef cleaners and it's all about the same. Marco is closer to the pukani in shape, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

The cement that marco sells is awesome stuff though if you are trying to do anything more elaborate than stacking. It doesn't have the same leaching issues that some have with hydraulic cement.

[+olaggie01]

I've got quite a bit of dry Marco rock left over if you want to come and look through it. I should have some LR that is in my sump as well.

[Sascha D.]

When I was buying dry rock, I was considering Reef Cleaners Florida Rock and Aquamaxx Pukani. Right now the Aquamaxx Eco Rock is on sale. BRS and Pukani have a lot of holes, making them weigh less for the size and allow a lot of water flow through the rock. Florida rock is more solid, come in interesting shapes and will hold up better while drilling. The choice you make will depend on how you want to set up the tank and what look you're going for.

[FarmerTy]

Quick note on the marine pure blocks, rinse the heck out of them before using. They tend to leach aluminum over time and rinsing will help keep that to a minimum. Some purple have reported issues keeping leathers with them but otherwise, no other reports of issues. I have two in my sump and my aluminum concentration its 86 ug/l, 20x the concentration of natural seawater. I've had no issues though so it's not a concern for me. I don't have leathers either.

[FarmerTy]

I used BRS pukani rock as well. Tend to work well.

[bfrench]

Thanks everyone!

[bfrench]

I've got quite a bit of dry Marco rock left over if you want to come and look through it. I should have some LR that is in my sump as well.

I may take you up on that. I'll be down next weekend for the meeting. Should be good on live rock though

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[Juiceman]

I used Marco in a Previous Build. it is very Dense and heavy but definitely stacked well. When I was looking at DRY i was going to go PUKANI from BRS. But decided to stay with live rock.

[+FluxCapacitor]

Does BRS dry rock still need to be cured?

[jestep]

Does BRS dry rock still need to be cured?

They're all technically dead / mined rock that has never been in water, but I would assume it needs to cycle. My pukani kicked off a cycle with nothing else in the tank which didn't make much sense but there was definitely something that created ammonia after a few days of sitting in water.

[Timfish]

I always go by easthetics, how cool does the rock look, then by ease of drilling which I do quite a bit so I can build a taller, more open structure and still have excellent stability. It's a lot harder than 20 years ago to find nice local honeycomb rock at local places that sell rock but that has worked very well for me. I would not use murratic acid to do an acid bath (intentionally making a banned chemical warfare gas doesn't seem smart to me) and have not had any problems just rinsing and scrubbing local limestone.

[rosslonghorns]

BRS Pukani. I used it for my build and love it. Very porous.

[jolt]

I used BRS pukani for my first build and it is really cool. I went with the BRS fiji for my next build. Less porous but I think it will be better for acros to encrust large areas (speculation at this point).

[+FluxCapacitor]

Has anyone done a before after test for aluminum in only RO water with a marine pure block?

[FarmerTy]

I have two blocks and my aluminum level is 86 ug/l (avg seawater level is around 4 ug/l if I remember correctly), to no ill effect to any of my tank inhabitants. We don't even know what form of aluminum is leached from the blocks but I'm going to guess a non-reactive form. I've got some pretty sensitive corals and fish in the tank and there have been no issues. Some have reported that it does irritate leather corals for a brief period but I don't keep any to confirm that.

[+FluxCapacitor]

Interesting, that is good info. It sounds to me like they will continue to leach whatever material until they completely disintegrate. I read a ton of reviews where people said they were using marine pure for a long period of time with no ill effects that they could tell. Sure the aluminum measures high but , like you've pointed out, is it really an issue? Also, it makes me think that rinsing the blocks may not have any substantial effect at reducing what is leaching out from them if it's caused by the breakdown of the block itself.

[FarmerTy]

Not sure where you got the conclusion that they break down. Mine are as solid as when I first got them. Rinsing them initially is very important. They use alumina as a binder so you want to remove as much of that as possible in the beginning. I'd rinse like crazy and even soak it in RO/DI for awhile before using.

As to continued leaching, my Al concentration has stayed the same the last two years without water changes so it demonstrates at least in my tank that the leaching stops or that there is some other process occurring that is restricting it from leaching anymore.

[+FluxCapacitor]

I was reading that they were made from a process that creates ceramic:

"Aluminosilicate minerals are minerals composed of aluminium, silicon, and oxygen, plus countercations. They are a major component of kaolin and other clay minerals."

I also found that people said their marinepure blocks softened after a period of time. I think it was 2 years or something like that, and that, to me would indicate the break down of the block. Another forum poster said that they suspected it would continue to leach until it broke down completely due to the material it is made from.

Would it make sense that your marine pure is now leaching at a steady rate and it's balanced like every other chemical in your system at this point? If you don't do water changes then that could be a good reason to believe that it's stopped leaching if your levels of aluminum are maintaining a steady number.

I'm still interested in seeing a test done only w/ RODI water. I couldn't find anything like that "on the line". Everyone talked about adding it to their tanks that were full of other variables like, "oh yeah I used marinepure and at the same time I started dosing and using this other media. I can't believe how high my aluminum is now."

I'm also skeptical of the sole test that I've seen named as indicating Aluminum. Everyone brings up the name Triton, have these results been verified by other methods and has this been tested in a true scientific fashion with the elimination of the maximum number of result changing variables as possible? If it has been done I haven't been able to find any information on it. It seems like a lot of people talking about it are not approaching the test in a true scientific fashion. Excuse me if I'm wrong, i'm not trying to debate, I'm just skeptical about the info I've read about this. I spent close to 2 hours the other day reading as much as I could find on marinepure media.

[jestep]

I think I was one of the first on the forum to get one of the bricks and mine is still solid, definitely not softening that I can tell. I haven't ever tested for Al so i can't comment on that aspect but as far as structural integrity goes mine is fine after being in the tank since 2013.

[FarmerTy]

Here's some good reading on Triton if you haven't run across it yet.

http://packedhead.net/2015/triton-lab-icp-oes-testing-of-a-certified-artificial-saltwater-standard/

I like to use it to monitor annual trends as it seems the data is precise, though I am skeptical on the accuracy. For accuracy, I look at the data as more of "in the ballpark" of the concentration and not the actual concentration, which is fine if I'm just monitoring for trends. I never do any corrective action to the tank using the data though from Triton tests.