MarinePure Blocks...?

[SilverCityReef]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but do the MarinePure blocks take the place of live rock in the filtration cycle? If so, should I add a 8x8x4 block to sump and buy a few less pounds of dry rock?

My tank is a 40B with 20T sump and I had planned on using 40lbs of dry rock, 20lbs of live sand, and 1 MarinePure block in sump.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but do the MarinePure blocks take the place of live rock in the filtration cycle? If so, should I add a 8x8x4 block to sump and buy a few less pounds of dry rock?

My tank is a 40B with 20T sump and I had planned on using 40lbs of dry rock, 20lbs of live sand, and 1 MarinePure block in sump.

If you want it to be able to de-nitrificate & remove NO3 at all you'll need to set it up like a deep sandbed - sitting on the bottom with a slow flow over the top of it.
How effective they are at de-nitrification, even when set up like this, is debatable.

The other problem is aluminum leeching. There is info about this on Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley,,, use the search

 

[Smo]

I’ve been using MarinePure blocks for several years in two tanks with...I think...good success. I have two 8x8x1 blocks in the 20L sump for my 40B. Only have 3 grapefruit size pieces of Pukani (maybe 5-6 lbs) and 50 lbs of live sand in the 40B.
So yes, MarinePure enables you to take a more minimalist approach to rockscape. Just be sure to have good flow across the MarinePure.

 

[SilverCityReef]

If you want it to be able to de-nitrificate & remove NO3 at all you'll need to set it up like a deep sandbed - sitting on the bottom with a slow flow over the top of it.
How effective they are at de-nitrification, even when set up like this, is debatable.

The other problem is aluminum leeching. There is info about this on Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley,,, use the search

Thanks, I will find and read that.

I’ve been using MarinePure blocks for several years in two tanks with...I think...good success. I have two 8x8x1 blocks in the 20L sump for my 40B. Only have 3 grapefruit size pieces of Pukani (maybe 5-6 lbs) and 50 lbs of live sand in the 40B.
So yes, MarinePure enables you to take a more minimalist approach to rockscape. Just be sure to have good flow across the MarinePure.

Any pictures of your setup? What do you use to increase flow across the blocks? I was planning on having one right at the beginning of sump so overflows dumps directly onto the block, then pass baffle into skimmer, then through chaeto fuge into return pump area...? I was also hoping to have it standing up rather than laying down as I have seen this done in BRS videos and have limited floor space in 20tall (24"x12"). Obviously I will need to figure out best design for baffles in sump.

 

[Smo]

I fabricated a filter sock and drain chamber to support a BeanAnimal drain system. The first block is vertical on the far left between tank side and filter sock box; and gets flow from the carbon reactor discharge. Also from the slimmer outflow on the front side. The second block is under the slimmer stand. The stand has lots of holes that allow flow from the filter sock box and slimmer output.

 

[lapin]

Thanks, I will find and read that.



Any pictures of your setup? What do you use to increase flow across the blocks? I was planning on having one right at the beginning of sump so overflows dumps directly onto the block, then pass baffle into skimmer, then through chaeto fuge into return pump area...? I was also hoping to have it standing up rather than laying down as I have seen this done in BRS videos and have limited floor space in 20tall (24"x12"). Obviously I will need to figure out best design for baffles in sump.

That should work

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

i have been using these since they first came out. well, i has been using other pumace-type materials way before that. i’ve never had an issue with them even in my big sps tank. never had one fall apart on me either. how efffective are they? hard to tell. on paper they do add tons of surface area for beneficial bacteria, but would our tanks crash if we removed these blocks?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

What do you use to increase flow across the blocks? I was planning on having one right at the beginning of sump so overflows dumps directly onto the block, then pass baffle into skimmer, then through chaeto fuge into return pump area...? I was also hoping to have it standing up rather than laying down as I have seen this done in BRS videos and have limited floor space in 20tall (24"x12"). Obviously I will need to figure out best design for baffles in sump.

I had a block with an elaborate set up - water flowed over an acrylic plate with a 2" hole in the centre. The water flowed through this hole, then through & around the entire block & then underneath the block out through a hole in the centre of another acrylic plate the block was sitting on, but raised an inch above. Entire flow from tank through & around 100% of the block.
But,,, because the blocks are so porus too much oxygen was forced into the block & it did no de-nitrification. The way you are looking at setting it up, you will get non either.
a
As I said, you need to treat it as a sandbed with a slow flow of bubble free water if an anoxic zone is to ever be established.

 

[Daniel Waters]

Yes, marine pure blocks (or other similar media) can serve as replacements for live rock and sand in terms of housing beneficial bacteria. I have used them for years. You can place them somewhere in your sump and bacteria will colonize the media. I've used them in passive flow areas in my sump and as thin plates in my baffle area where water is actively forced through them. I think the media has been helpful in maintaining nitrates at a fairly low level, but I did not notice any benefit of one placement over another. I have ran multiple Triton tests and can attest to the blocks causing an increase in aluminum. I have seen no negative effects on corals or livestock, though. Also, my aluminum levels while elevated have stayed at the same consistent level for 2+ years that I've done my Triton tests, which leads me to believe that the blocks seem to reach an equilibrium level and don't continually leach aluminum forever (or perhaps my water change schedule is perfectly matching the increases, which I doubt is the case). My nitrates stay around 10 ppm, but this just seems to be the "natural" level my tank wants to run at. I did use marine pure blocks on a previous tank that was consistently at 40 ppm nitrates beforehand. I believe the marine pure blocks helped bring down to around 5 ppm nitrates. I can't be 100% certain it was the marine pure blocks but this is just my anecdotal experiences with them.

As far as live rock, just use the amount of rock you need to achieve your desired aquascape. For your sand depth, deep enough for any sand loving creatures like wrasses that may bury at night when they sleep , sand sifting gobies, or certain corals that like to sit on sand for instance. If you want sand just because you like the way it looks, then you may not need that much. In general, I think 1 to 1.5 inches is a pretty good depth, as it's not too deep, so it's easier to keep clean.

No need to buy extra rock or sand thinking it will have some large additional biological benefit. Spend that extra money elsewhere, like a quality skimmer, better powerheads, return pump, or so on.

 

[JasonK84]

I love the marinepur products. I use spheres in my QT canister filter probably 5 or 6 1.5" spheres and haven't had an issue with ammonia in a bare bottom QT with pvc. The rest of the box of spheres is what keeps my current 30 gallon going and I am almost through cycling my 120 which I have 4 of the 1" plates in. Once it's ready everything from the 30 will transfer to the 120. Then I'll mix and match parts of my current QT tank and the 30 gallon system to create one bad QT tank with sump filtration! Oh, the 120 also has 4 liters of pond matrix in it as well as the 4 marinepur plates. I'll add more matrix and marinepur as my bioload starts increasing. It's a fish only system with triggers and puffers so lots of media will help.

 

[SilverCityReef]

Yes, marine pure blocks (or other similar media) can serve as replacements for live rock and sand in terms of housing beneficial bacteria. I have used them for years. You can place them somewhere in your sump and bacteria will colonize the media. I've used them in passive flow areas in my sump and as thin plates in my baffle area where water is actively forced through them. I think the media has been helpful in maintaining nitrates at a fairly low level, but I did not notice any benefit of one placement over another. I have ran multiple Triton tests and can attest to the blocks causing an increase in aluminum. I have seen no negative effects on corals or livestock, though. Also, my aluminum levels while elevated have stayed at the same consistent level for 2+ years that I've done my Triton tests, which leads me to believe that the blocks seem to reach an equilibrium level and don't continually leach aluminum forever (or perhaps my water change schedule is perfectly matching the increases, which I doubt is the case). My nitrates stay around 10 ppm, but this just seems to be the "natural" level my tank wants to run at. I did use marine pure blocks on a previous tank that was consistently at 40 ppm nitrates beforehand. I believe the marine pure blocks helped bring down to around 5 ppm nitrates. I can't be 100% certain it was the marine pure blocks but this is just my anecdotal experiences with them.

As far as live rock, just use the amount of rock you need to achieve your desired aquascape. For your sand depth, deep enough for any sand loving creatures like wrasses that may bury at night when they sleep , sand sifting gobies, or certain corals that like to sit on sand for instance. If you want sand just because you like the way it looks, then you may not need that much. In general, I think 1 to 1.5 inches is a pretty good depth, as it's not too deep, so it's easier to keep clean.

No need to buy extra rock or sand thinking it will have some large additional biological benefit. Spend that extra money elsewhere, like a quality skimmer, better powerheads, return pump, or so on.

I love the marinepur products. I use spheres in my QT canister filter probably 5 or 6 1.5" spheres and haven't had an issue with ammonia in a bare bottom QT with pvc. The rest of the box of spheres is what keeps my current 30 gallon going and I am almost through cycling my 120 which I have 4 of the 1" plates in. Once it's ready everything from the 30 will transfer to the 120. Then I'll mix and match parts of my current QT tank and the 30 gallon system to create one bad QT tank with sump filtration! Oh, the 120 also has 4 liters of pond matrix in it as well as the 4 marinepur plates. I'll add more matrix and marinepur as my bioload starts increasing. It's a fish only system with triggers and puffers so lots of media will help.

Much like everything else in this hobby, I am getting mixed reviews. I don't plan on rushing to get tank cycled but I also don't want to wait longer than I have to. I just saw the amount of surface area and mention by BRS of how much better MarinePure was than the Reef Saver dry rock and didn't know if I should just limit my dry rock to what looks nice and grab a block of MarinePure to cover what's missing. All my previous equipment had to be trashed so I am starting from scratch, bare drilled tank, which is quite costly when trying to strive for SPS dominant setup so any money that can be saved without sacrificing any necessary components would be great. I have $350 worth of plumbing, salt, sand, rock, heaters, etc in my BRS shopping cart that I need to order, I spent $500 on a light, mount, RO/DI system, stand materials, and return pump already plus I still need to get another Hydra 26HD, 2 powerheads, a protein skimmer, and have glass cut for sump baffles. There will be a fuge in sump at some point but may have to wait for now.

 

[JasonK84]

it won't make the tank cycle any quicker. It's just the surface area needed to house the bacteria.
Do you have a build thread going?

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Although many have used them with success as seen by the posts here, I am wary of the elevated Aluminum levels so I prefer to use Siporax or Matrix. Siporax is made from scintered glass and can increase your silicates, but I have not found this to be a problem at all. Matrix will not increase anything that I'm aware of, and both of the products provide excellent Nitrate reduction.

 

[SilverCityReef]

it won't make the tank cycle any quicker. It's just the surface area needed to house the bacteria.
Do you have a build thread going?

I didnt expect it to cycle any faster, if anything, I was worried it would be slower based on what other members have mentioned. I'm just trying to figure out what it's worth compared to just using dry rock like I had planned.

 

[JasonK84]

I believe they claim greater surface area than even live rock so the benefit will be in needing less rock in the DT. I'm not sure where I read that but maybe others will. I cannot speak to the aluminum aspect as I haven't tested for it.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Found this old thread researching on how to use marinepure blocks/spheres to help jump start cycle in new tank.

I have a mature SPS/mix reef tank running for years with spheres sitting in the sump along with some small/med rocks. Of course good amount of rock in the DT, but the test here is if I can move 3-5 spheres into a otherwise new tank to help jump start along with maybe couple of the small/med rocks. Will use old WC water and maybe grab a couple cups of the mature sand as well. Will also throw in a large amount of chaeto, dirty sponges etc all in hopes of getting as much of the goods stuff into the tank. I've done mini tank transfers like this successfully in the past difference now is that I'm transferring in marinepure instead of the larger rocks.

Not expecting to fully stock the new tank right away, but hopefully enough to support a pair of clowns in the next 1-2 weeks.

 

[JasonK84]

Found this old thread researching on how to use marinepure blocks/spheres to help jump start cycle in new tank.

I have a mature SPS/mix reef tank running for years with spheres sitting in the sump along with some small/med rocks. Of course good amount of rock in the DT, but the test here is if I can move 3-5 spheres into a otherwise new tank to help jump start along with maybe couple of the small/med rocks. Will use old WC water and maybe grab a couple cups of the mature sand as well. Will also throw in a large amount of chaeto, dirty sponges etc all in hopes of getting as much of the goods stuff into the tank. I've done mini tank transfers like this successfully in the past difference now is that I'm transferring in marinepure instead of the larger rocks.

Not expecting to fully stock the new tank right away, but hopefully enough to support a pair of clowns in the next 1-2 weeks.

How large of a tank are you trying to get started?

 

[Saltyanimals]

Only 10g to help start a friend out in the hobby. Moving over about a 3 lb rock plus 5 marinepure spheres from a 75g tank. Everything was moved over this morning with half the new tank full of chaeto expecting pods to start seeding as well. Hoping to leave this running for a week before testing with some CUCs before a single fish. Ghost feeding as well.

 

[JasonK84]

Only 10g to help start a friend out in the hobby. Moving over about a 3 lb rock plus 5 marinepure spheres from a 75g tank. Everything was moved over this morning with half the new tank full of chaeto expecting pods to start seeding as well. Hoping to leave this running for a week before testing with some CUCs before a single fish. Ghost feeding as well.

That will be plenty. Last week I added 1 sphere to a 5 gallon fluval and dosed ammonia. Next day it was gone. I also started a 30 gallon with sump with 3 spheres. Dosed ammonia to 2 ppm and gone next day.

With as much as you added it’s probably ready now. Definitely won’t hurt anything to wait a week either though.

 

[pirate2876]

I’ve been using MarinePure blocks for several years in two tanks with...I think...good success. I have two 8x8x1 blocks in the 20L sump for my 40B. Only have 3 grapefruit size pieces of Pukani (maybe 5-6 lbs) and 50 lbs of live sand in the 40B.
So yes, MarinePure enables you to take a more minimalist approach to rockscape. Just be sure to have good flow across the MarinePure.

Same here