MarinePure Blocks...?

[Scrubber_steve]

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.

The company that has begun testing for the various strains of, & population size of bacteria in reef aquariums tested [if I remember corectly?) a new system of W.W.Cs, and found that just using the water from an existing tank is enough to kick start a new system because of the bacteria in the water column. Interesting stuff. I wish I could remember where I found this article; I would link it for you.

 

[canadianeh]

What if I want to go bare bottom? Is marinepur blocks are a must? Is there a formula of how much block I need to use?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

What if I want to go bare bottom? Is marinepur blocks are a must?

Not at all
A sand bed & marine pure just increase available surface area for nitrifying & de-nitrifying bacteria colonisation beyond the surface area provided by your live rock. How much surface area you need in total depends on your inorganic nutrient export filtration method(s) overall, how many fish you keep & ultimately how much you feed them, because organic nutrients in must = inorganic nutrients out.

Is there a formula of how much block I need to use?

p
Just one 8x8 block would be plenty for your reefer 250,

 

[Saltyanimals]

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.

That's a good use case there!!

I typically leave spheres in my sump to loan out and jump start tanks, but never really was able to test how quickly a tank gets ready for fish. My last jump start 5g nano was water from my DT, a good size rock and a cup of sand in otherwise new dry sand. Nothing else and was able to support 2 clowns right away. No bottled snake juice anything. I attribute that to the good size rock in only 5G to support the small bioload. Hence the test now with the marine pure in place of the rock just considering the high surface area of the spheres. I think the huge chaeto may even increase the jump start of some pods for biodiversity.

Threw some hermits in right away, but not expecting those to really test anything given their size. Maybe just to clean up chaeto crud.

So far I've been happy with my MPs. Been in my 65G for many years w/o issues and I'm running some sensitive SPS as well. I even have to dose nitrate to get it detectable, but I also have cheato and skimmer running so not sure how big a role the MPs play.. but I do have to dose nitrate.

 

[JasonK84]

That's a good use case there!!

I typically leave spheres in my sump to loan out and jump start tanks, but never really was able to test how quickly a tank gets ready for fish. My last jump start 5g nano was water from my DT, a good size rock and a cup of sand in otherwise new dry sand. Nothing else and was able to support 2 clowns right away. No bottled snake juice anything. I attribute that to the good size rock in only 5G to support the small bioload. Hence the test now with the marine pure in place of the rock just considering the high surface area of the spheres. I think the huge chaeto may even increase the jump start of some pods for biodiversity.

Threw some hermits in right away, but not expecting those to really test anything given their size. Maybe just to clean up chaeto crud.

So far I've been happy with my MPs. Been in my 65G for many years w/o issues and I'm running some sensitive SPS as well. I even have to dose nitrate to get it detectable, but I also have cheato and skimmer running so not sure how big a role the MPs play.. but I do have to dose nitrate.

I love marinepur! In my 120 fish only I’ve got 4 of the 8x8x1 plates, I box of spheres, and also 4 liters of pond matrix. I run my tank heavily stocked and no refugium. Only export method is my skimmer. Nitrates are undetectable. Phosphate is a different story.

I’m sure that the bioload of the tank the media is coming from plays a big part also. A heavily stocked donor tank will provide more bacteria per sphere than a lightly stocked tank.