Using old marine pure block

[burtonboy182]

I have some old marine pure blocks from my old tank. They have been sitting dry for 6 months now.

I have 2 of the 8x8x4 blocks. I wanna start a new tank and while doing the plumbing and rock structure want to get some biological filtration going.

I was wondering if I wanted to cure and cycle them could I just put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and powerhead and add some bacteria in a bottle and let it sit or would I need to add more ammonia or organic waste then what's already in the marine pure block.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I would fully rinse the block and then cycle the block just as you would live rock. So yes you would have to add a source for the bacteria to consume, wether a cycle starter, damsel fish or a dead shrimp or any of the other countless ways that have been suggested over the years.

 

[Mfreddy]

I'd be afraid to use it with the way my untouched block crumbles if you look at it wrong

 

[dealseer]

I'd be afraid to use it with the way my untouched block crumbles if you look at it wrong

Yours is defective. None of mine crumble.

 

[mcarroll]

Regardless of how you start the blocks, I would not suggest putting them on the tank until well after the tank has had a chance to mature on its own, corals are starting to grow in, etc. There's no need for them at the beginning of a good, basic reef setup. Plus they may compete with your live rock for basic nutrients – not a competition you want happening.

 

[burtonboy182]

Regardless of how you start the blocks, I would not suggest putting them on the tank until well after the tank has had a chance to mature on its own, corals are starting to grow in, etc. There's no need for them at the beginning of a good, basic reef setup. Plus they may compete with your live rock for basic nutrients – not a competition you want happening.

Why would that be? It would be like adding new rock to an existing tank.

 

[dowsetts101]

Why would that be? It would be like adding new rock to an existing tank.

Agree...I’d be interested to hear why...I haven’t setup my tank yet, but was planning on putting the marine pure blocks in from day 1...some live rock in the DT and marine pure in the sump.

 

[DarkSky]

Both tanks I've done and everyone I ever talked to suggested adding them right away. Be curious why you think they should wait.

 

[Gabaghoul]

I use Marine Pure blocks and had them in my tank from day 1 with no issues that I can see. Everything is doing fabulously.

 

[Kyl]

Mine turned into mush whenever it was touched, eventually it went into the garbage can. Good idea, poor execution (fragility of the media).

 

[Mfreddy]

Mine turned into mush whenever it was touched, eventually it went into the garbage can. Good idea, poor execution (fragility of the media).

I've contacted Marine Pure to ask for a replacement. I'll update when I hear back.

I hope they stand behind their product.

 

[BreakingWave]

Why would that be? It would be like adding new rock to an existing tank.

I think about it this way... As the ammonia comes out of the fishes and rotting things, it should first encounter the live rock. The surface will nitrify it, and the resulting nitrate will be immediately available to denitrifying bacteria inside the rock. If the biological filtration were mostly in the sump, it may be more likely for the ammonia to be nitrified by surface areas other than rock. The nitrate then gets released into the water where it's less likely to encounter denitrifying bacteria. That said, a small amount of rock or a Marine Pure plate in the sump will provide additional stability and refuge for pods.

Basically, you want to promote biological filtration where the action is happening, where critters are eating and pooping, cause that's the most efficient place for it to happen.

 

[siggy]

I have heard of long removed sponges, marine-pur and rock from an established system as being SEEDED with bacteria (low levels) to be placed into a QT tank when the need arises.
and I have noticed that marine pur gets soft or mushy after several months

 

[Forsaken77]

If you're starting a new tank, I would just get new blocks and seed them. Those things are so deep and porous that you could be having dead organics releasing from them for months by the time new anaerobic bacteria make their way all the way inside to take over.

I would also add it, seeded, in the beginning. There's plenty of nitrification to go around and being the rocks are in the tank, they're getting the most exposure regardless. Just make sure you don't over seed it or you'll have a bacterial bloom. Less is more with seeding it.

But you got a new setup. Why not start fresh? Or at least cut the blocks in half to release most of the dead buildup. If you wanna keep the whole blocks you already have, it would be best to have a powerhead blasting right into it to force the crap out in a separate bin. Just swirling water won't push all the old funk out. They could have old pieces of food or waste way inside the block.

 

[Forsaken77]

I have heard of long removed sponges, marine-pur and rock from an established system as being SEEDED with bacteria (low levels) to be placed into a QT tank when the need arises.
and I have noticed that marine pur gets soft or mushy after several months

Sometimes it falls apart. It's not a lot of them, but there definitely are some duds. The ones that really go to complete sand are the Brightwell blocks (at least the NO3 version).

 

[mcarroll]

Why would that be? It would be like adding new rock to an existing tank.

Agree...I’d be interested to hear why...I haven’t setup my tank yet, but was planning on putting the marine pure blocks in from day 1...some live rock in the DT and marine pure in the sump.

Both tanks I've done and everyone I ever talked to suggested adding them right away. Be curious why you think they should wait.

First some preliminaries: It's not the block per se. Waiting can't possible hurt anything if you're starting with a "normal" amount of live rock. Do a search for your block and "dino" or "dinoflagellate" to see the potential risk....it's not imaginary.

Most folks these days seem to be starting their tanks with dead dry rock. In a nutshell, your dead rock doesn't need any competition (e.g. bio-blocks) while you're trying your hardest to seed it with microbial life.

@BreakingWave hit on why that competition is unwelcome. Some of that microbial life prefers non-nitrate nitrogen (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, etc), or functions best that way. Some life competes very poorly for nutrients at low levels. Some of it depends on a big population of dissolved nutrient consumers for their food! All of those will be hampered on the dead "live rock" if they have to compete with a humongous bacterial population of nitrifiers and denitrifiers.

Also remember that outside of detoxifying ammonia, bacteria in a bottle is not in any way a useful inoculation of microbial life. If a tank is started this way (dead rock + bacteria in a bottle), the first really significant (i.e. diverse) inoculations might not arrive until the CUC or corals are added. This is why I encourage snails and coral as the first small additions to a "dead rock" tank, along with moving very slowly in stocking and keeping the tank nutrient-positive.

In a non-nutrient-limited system this is much less relevant as things just develop on their own – that's the magic.

But low-nutrient folks seem to be getting a lot less magic and a lot more (e.g.) dino outbreaks.

 

[DarkSky]

In a nutshell, your dead rock doesn't need any competition (e.g. bio-blocks) while you're trying your hardest to seed it with microbial life.

Seems like spacious reasoning to me. How is that much different than just adding more dead rock?

Aside from the fact it doesn't get light.

 

[BreakingWave]

Seems like spacious reasoning to me. How is that much different than just adding more dead rock?

Aside from the fact it doesn't get light.

It would compete if it were cycled in a bucket first.

 

[DarkSky]

It would compete if it were cycled in a bucket first.

Right, but so would a tank with a large amount of dead rock and low bio load. It seems people are drawing the wrong conclusion from the evidence - if you're going to have X amount of nutrient export, you should start with Y bio load.

 

[TbyZ]

Why would that be? It would be like adding new rock to an existing tank.

Use real live rock instead. You'll have the added benifit of some de-nitrification as well.
Plus no aluminimum leaching.