Cali Kid Corals

New 180g Waterbox with MarcoRock

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Wanderlust21

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So I found a video on YouTube about how to attach MarcoRock (MR) stones together without any ugly putty or epoxy. The process starts with grinding up fragments of MR into a fine powder via a mortar and pestle. You then press two pieces of MR together, dash a bit of that powder you’ve created onto the contact points of your two pieces and then drip super thin CA glue onto the powder. It creates an exothermic reaction that bonds the pieces together permanently with a stronger bond than the actual rock itself. The bonded seam is close to indistinguishable from the attached rock.

As an experiment, I had just received some old Tonga that had been recently bleached and I attempted to attach the Tonga to the MR using the same MR powder… low and behold, it bonded so strong I could lift up the 15lbs of MR by the holding the Tonga in the air. The MR powder also worked to bond two pieces of different rock together via that same exothermic reaction (and I’ve not heard of anybody doing that). Absolutely loving this method of aquascaping! Oh and yeah, to the people that will say I need more rock for my soon-to-be-had fish to hide in… I’ve got lots of other rock I will be adding.

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I really like the aquascape. I have used the same method, which works great. The only downside I can see is that mounting corals might become difficult with the left and right parts of the scape. Also, I'm not sure if you should be adding much more rock than that. I would recommend live rock to the mix; otherwise, this will be a slow process.
 
Alexander1312 said:
I really like the aquascape. I have used the same method, which works great. The only downside I can see is that mounting corals might become difficult with the left and right parts of the scape. Also, I'm not sure if you should be adding much more rock than that. I would recommend live rock to the mix; otherwise, this will be a slow process.
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So it’s a 180g tank and there is only about 90 lbs of MR in there at the moment. There is a 2-3” sand bed I suppose. But, I was led to believe I should have 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon. Is this not correct? I Really like how it looks at the moment and I wouldn’t necessarily want to add more rock to it but I figured it was best to do so. Regarding attaching corrals you do make a good point and perhaps that could be a reason to add some additional small platforms jutting out from the two outside structures. Corals are a little in the future for me though, I want this tank stable chemically first. I won’t be doing water changes often, if at all and I need to make sure I have a strong grasp on the chemistry requirements to do that safely before I add any sensitive corals. I have a LFS that’s willing to take a part of the rock I will be putting in and seed it with the bacteria in his tank for a while to help me get a bit of a head start with that.
I should also mention I have aspirations of getting a snowflake eel and I know they require a good amount of rock to hide in as well as a strong aquascape so they can’t knock it over.
 
Wanderlust21 said:
So it’s a 180g tank and there is only about 90 lbs of MR in there at the moment. There is a 2-3” sand bed I suppose. But, I was led to believe I should have 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon. Is this not correct? I Really like how it looks at the moment and I wouldn’t necessarily want to add more rock to it but I figured it was best to do so. Regarding attaching corrals you do make a good point and perhaps that could be a reason to add some additional small platforms jutting out from the two outside structures. Corals are a little in the future for me though, I want this tank stable chemically first. I won’t be doing water changes often, if at all and I need to make sure I have a strong grasp on the chemistry requirements to do that safely before I add any sensitive corals. I have a LFS that’s willing to take a part of the rock I will be putting in and seed it with the bacteria in his tank for a while to help me get a bit of a head start with that.
I should also mention I have aspirations of getting a snowflake eel and I know they require a good amount of rock to hide in as well as a strong aquascape so they can’t knock it over.
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The whole pounds per gallon of live rock was a pretty antiquated "rule" from the early days and Marco rock is pretty dense compared to ocean harvested real live rock. I wouldn't add much more, especially vertically. Your sand will have as much if not more surface area to harbor nitrifying bacteria. Good call with seeding some rocks at a LFS you trust, but if course be sure it's in a system that's pest and copper free.

Try to visualize corals you like and how they grow. Both @Alexander1312 and @derek_SR recently posted their before and after tanks and you can see how much they have grown in. The challenge will be flow and lighting (I can already see large gaps in coverage on the center structure).

Otherwise the look is very unique and I think the fish will like the right structure the most! Maybe even if you can drill some tunnels into the bottom part like Erin said, many like to sleep in caves or rubble zones.
 
The sand alone will have enough surface area to support your nitrifying bacteria. The rock/gallon rule is not (and never really was) valid. Use any rockscape you like knowing that.
 
The longer I spend in the hobby the more I think classic rock-pile bommies just make the most sense - for fish, for coral, for light, for flow.....

You have an awesome looking aquascape but any vertical rock creates a lot of challenges that have mostly been pointed out above! Just something to consider since you're still very early on.
 
As per the knowledge I have accumulated thus far, I recommend the following:

Use as little rock as needed to make the tank look as good as you want it, and to provide hiding spaces for your firsh - to meet your functional and visual objectives. Dry rock specifically will suck up a ton of stuff in the beginning and will later 'gift' this back to the tank when you do not want it (specifically phosphate). So less is more.

Focus on establishing a good sandbed (refer to latest issue of coral magazine), clean this regularly from all the precipitation which will occur, and consider replacing up to a quarter of it every year.

Add large leather or other easy corals in the beginning (toadstools etc) to establish a strong biome vs relying on the rock to do that. You can take them out later and replace them with nicer looking ones. You can add them after week one, and let them do the work, no need to worry too much about water chemistry at this stage.

P.S.: I would NOT not do water changes, as you seem to consider above. There are too many benefits from doing them. Frequency is debatable, not doing them is not good advice whoever has given that to you.
 
Wanderlust21 said:
I actually started with a biocide thats 8”x8”x4” before even adding sand. Supposed to have 23k sqft of surface area.
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if its the same as the marinepur bio blocks that 8x8x4 - it is known to leach aluminum in the tank. not only that, but its very fragile and can crumble over time. i had 2 of them in my rsr350 and icp did show elevated amounts of aluminum before removing them and going with the maxspec bio media 4x4x1 blocks.
 
I did my parameter testing this morning, just ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in order to test if it has been cycled. This morning, my ammonia is zero, my nitrite is zero, and (using the API test card) nitrate is between zero and five. Has it been fully cycled? I originally started with Dr. Tim’s one and only with the ammonia addition.
A week ago, my ammonia was .25, my nitrite was .25, and my nitrate was 10. I have very little algae growth, maybe a few spots here and there. My clown fish has been happily eating twice a day and swimming all around the new structures.
 
Probably fine to add more fish one at a time. I would keep lighting off or low to keep the growth down (the fish don't need anything more than ambient). Good time to add snails and an urchin maybe to keep things from growing.
 
Wanderlust21 said:
Do I need to quarantine the urchin or snails?
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This is a great article with many insights on to the subject in general. Written by @IOnceWasLegend.

Article series: the how, why, and whether-I-should of quarantine

Starting this off with a disclaimer: I think quarantine (QT), like many things in reefkeeping, is a matter of personal tolerance for risk and balancing your enjoyment of the hobby. This guide is not meant to be judgmental, or to argue people cannot have success in their tanks without QT. It’s...
www.bareefers.org


When it comes to quarantine some people quarantine everything fish, crabs, snails, and corals as well. I'm not sure as many go as far as quarantine for snails and urchins. Yet there isn’t a issue with doing it if you desire to. If they are in a clean tank just be sure you remember they will need to eat.


Check out the article it may help you decide for yourself which direction you wish to go.

Good Luck.
 
@Wanderlust21 Urchins are one of the few things that don't harbor cryptocaryon (ich) tomonts, just rinse them in old display tank water.

For snails, a lot of vendors keep them in fishless systems which lowers the risk of bringing anything in. You can't dip invertebrates in like CoralRX either unfortunately. Just up to you with your risk level.

The Marine Pure bio block issue that @jhuynh mentioned is very real, and another option are the Polyp Lab blocks which are pretty sturdy. But he's a bare bottom SPS guy and you've got sand so you probably don't need them unless you're trying to seed good fauna from other tanks.
 
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