Dry Rock of Choice

BRS
Jump to Last
AS
Real Reef Rock is pretty looking. It's a bit more expensive as it's man made live rock but I think it's great looking. The purple Carib sea rock is decent. It mostly comes down to what you want to spend.
 
Define unique? Marco rock can be easily broken up and glued/mortared to create any shapes you want. It is also very porous and light.
 
Tidal Gardens
The great thing with dry rock is you can really break it up, attach it together and really make any kind of aquascape you want without spending an arm and a leg on purple rock. I have used Natures Ocean from Amazon and had zero complaints, just make sure you soak it and wash it well first lots of nooks and crannies full of sediment.
 
I think there is more to this decision than cost and initial looks. I have started thinking of 'rock' in more tiers than just live or dry, mainly to help me keep the various strengths and weaknesses in mind when discussing them. I'm not entirely happy with my current descriptions but here is how I classify them currently:

'Rock' Types:
-Wild Live Rock: don't know of any current sources.
-Aquacultered Live Rock: KP Aquatics, Tampa Bay, etc.
-Dried Reef Rock: don't know of any online sources but Wild Live Rock that has been cleaned and dried.
-Cured Reef Rock: reclaimed Wild Live Rock that is currently acting as filtration, usually at an LFS.
-Dry Quarried Rock: MarcoRock, CaribSea Moani, Two Little Fishes Stax, etc.
-Manufactured Rock: Aquaforest AF Rock, CaribSea Life Rock, Cornerstone, etc.

Since you are talking about dry rock, we want to compare the quarried rock with the manufactured rock and I feel there are some real differences between them that should be considered.

In general the quarried rock does not look as good as it has no 'coating' but it is more porous than any of the manufactured rock I have seen. I doubt a manufactured rock will ever be as porous as a quarried rock although the Cornerstone rock is supposed to be very light weight so maybe...

In contrast the manufactured rock looks great right out of the box and has really interesting shapes. It is mainly heavy and what is under the 'coating' is somewhat disappointing. If you really look at the rocks they are not nearly as porous and don't really have the same surface area as a typical quarried rock.

I guess my advice really is to look beyond the initial looks. I will not personally use manufactured rock again--although I may actually give the Cornerstone a look as possible filler pieces.
 
I think the Marco type mined rock is the best because you can break it up > use its powder and thin super glue to make incredibly strong bonds and shapes.

The main thing to be aware of is this rock can bind up a ton! of phosphate so when you cycle, you need to be dosing phosphate or you will get dinos. I had to dose almost a full liter of neophos on my 25lagoon before I could hold it above 0.
 
Deltec
I love shelf rock aquascapes or NSA. You can come up with some really unique shapes and scapes.
 
Not cheap by any means, but I love this Morroca rock from Premium Aquatics. I put about 30 lbs in my upgrade tank with my existing live rock. Looks great and the fish have lots of hiding places.

Premium Aquatics | Aquarium & Fish Supplies

Aquarium & Fish Supplies Superstore. Guaranteed Low Prices. Free Shipping for qualified orders. Aquarium supply for your aquarium fish, saltwater aquariums, freshwater aquariums and ponds. The best aquarium lighting, protein skimmers, aquarium chillers, calcium reactors, aquarium pumps for fish...
premiumaquatics.com
 
happyhourhero said:
I think the Marco type mined rock is the best because you can break it up > use its powder and thin super glue to make incredibly strong bonds and shapes.

The main thing to be aware of is this rock can bind up a ton! of phosphate so when you cycle, you need to be dosing phosphate or you will get dinos. I had to dose almost a full liter of neophos on my 25lagoon before I could hold it above 0.
Click to expand...

I’m confused, it holds phosphate? I’ve run into the Dino problem in the past, wasn’t sure why…explain this further please.
 
Hammer, chisel, brick saw and some glue. Beyond that a little imagination and the type of rock doesn't matter. You can rent a wet saw for cheaper than premium rock.
 
tharbin said:
I think there is more to this decision than cost and initial looks. I have started thinking of 'rock' in more tiers than just live or dry, mainly to help me keep the various strengths and weaknesses in mind when discussing them. I'm not entirely happy with my current descriptions but here is how I classify them currently:

'Rock' Types:
-Wild Live Rock: don't know of any current sources.
-Aquacultered Live Rock: KP Aquatics, Tampa Bay, etc.
-Dried Reef Rock: don't know of any online sources but Wild Live Rock that has been cleaned and dried.
-Cured Reef Rock: reclaimed Wild Live Rock that is currently acting as filtration, usually at an LFS.
-Dry Quarried Rock: MarcoRock, CaribSea Moani, Two Little Fishes Stax, etc.
-Manufactured Rock: Aquaforest AF Rock, CaribSea Life Rock, Cornerstone, etc.

Since you are talking about dry rock, we want to compare the quarried rock with the manufactured rock and I feel there are some real differences between them that should be considered.

In general the quarried rock does not look as good as it has no 'coating' but it is more porous than any of the manufactured rock I have seen. I doubt a manufactured rock will ever be as porous as a quarried rock although the Cornerstone rock is supposed to be very light weight so maybe...

In contrast the manufactured rock looks great right out of the box and has really interesting shapes. It is mainly heavy and what is under the 'coating' is somewhat disappointing. If you really look at the rocks they are not nearly as porous and don't really have the same surface area as a typical quarried rock.

I guess my advice really is to look beyond the initial looks. I will not personally use manufactured rock again--although I may actually give the Cornerstone a look as possible filler pieces.
Click to expand...

cornerstone rock is beautiful! Seems like it’s not meant to be broken though.
 
Jekyl said:
Hammer, chisel, brick saw and some glue. Beyond that a little imagination and the type of rock doesn't matter. You can rent a wet saw for cheaper than premium rock.
Click to expand...

I have some of the Marco mortar here, it’s incredible stuff! Any good videos out on getting sand to stick to rocks and such? I vaguely remember hearing something about baking soda and something else…
 
My next scape I've given some thought to. Going to cut a bunch of large rocks into 1" or so slices. Use an angle grinder to give a more natural look to it. Then stack them in separate tiers and structures to make them all link up across the tank. Will provide plenty of coral roof and hiding places. While still allowing flow to get everywhere. Kind of a few separate spirals interlocking in some manner. Besides the base rocks all others will be lifted off the bed. Just showing that some thought and hard work now will really pay off in the end. I can't stand my current scape so the next one will be a masterpiece lol.
 
djbetterly said:
I’m confused, it holds phosphate? I’ve run into the Dino problem in the past, wasn’t sure why…explain this further please.
Click to expand...
Aragonite binds up phosphate so if you have freshly mined rock, almost all phosphate will be “absorbed”. A lot of people who run into Dino’s on dry rock tank is because their phosphate is bottomed out and it’s bottomed out because of this. Here is a start to the rabbit hole.
www.reef2reef.com

Phosphate Absorption Rates in Aragonite

I was chatting with @mcarroll the other day about phosphate binding to aragonite. I have seen many instances where phosphate bound live rock and sand requires massive amounts of media and water changes to remove all of the phosphate. Two instances: 1). Local purchased 120lbs of Pukani live...
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com
 
Deltec
hllb said:
Not cheap by any means, but I love this Morroca rock from Premium Aquatics. I put about 30 lbs in my upgrade tank with my existing live rock. Looks great and the fish have lots of hiding places.

Premium Aquatics | Aquarium & Fish Supplies

Aquarium & Fish Supplies Superstore. Guaranteed Low Prices. Free Shipping for qualified orders. Aquarium supply for your aquarium fish, saltwater aquariums, freshwater aquariums and ponds. The best aquarium lighting, protein skimmers, aquarium chillers, calcium reactors, aquarium pumps for fish...
premiumaquatics.com
Click to expand...
That looks nice but it is crazy expensive for manufactured 'rock'. What does it look like when you break it open, is it porous throughout or like Life Rock, basically a pig's ear of aragonite concrete with a silk purse sewed to the outside.
 
djbetterly said:
cornerstone rock is beautiful! Seems like it’s not meant to be broken though.
Click to expand...
I have a suspicion that all of the manufactured rock is similar under the covers and frankly, I'm not impressed.
 
I just got 120 pounds of CaribSea for a 81 cube and 55 sump. Really nice shapes and color to work with.
 
Nutramar Foods
tharbin said:
That looks nice but it is crazy expensive for manufactured 'rock'. What does it look like when you break it open, is it porous throughout or like Life Rock, basically a pig's ear of aragonite concrete with a silk purse sewed to the outside.
Click to expand...
No idea as I didn’t break any open
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

New Posts

Tidal Gardens
Top Shelf Aquatics
Chewy.com
Nutramar Foods
Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
TCK Corals
World Wide Corals
Deltec
New Posts
Back
Top