Tufa's tank!!!

[tbittner]

That is typical during the cycle and it will pass as the rock cures and the bacterial builds up to process the nasties. When you do water changes, you'll export a lot of the food that the diatoms live off of. You can also just turn that light out on the fuge for a few days. Let things settle down.

That is a beautiful tank!!! Great aquascaping too!

[JoJo]

Your thread has come along really nice. how much circulation are you getting through your fuge, is there a chance you may need to add a PH to keep things moving?

[Dentoid]

Wow Robert, that looks great! Are you still fussing about the Solaris? You're going to love it! You'll be able to adjust the color at your whim. How cool is that!

[rmlevasseur]

heh, fussing is the perfect word. Everything else with the tank was a thoughtful but quick and easy decision for me. The Solaris has me worried. I'm waiting for the scoop from Michael!

Jo- I really don't know how much is going thru the fuge, as the feed is t'd off the main pump. Small powerhead might be a good idea. I have one and will throw it in - thanks!

[AQTCJAK]

Rovert that is beautiful cant tell were the galss & water mewet very nice.

Ok as for Solaris there are Zero available currently if you are looking let me know. I am on the list for cancelations so I could possibly get one. As Scott said you will Love it

[rmlevasseur]

Here's a few close ups of the rock for Marco-lovers.

[JoJo]

i've never heard of Marco LR, could someone inform me on it.

[boozeman]

Marco Rocks The finest aquarium rock available, base rock, live rock, reef rock, marco rock, reef tank saltwater fish, live corals, Marco rocks, Fiji live rock, Tonga Live rock

[rmlevasseur]

Marco is dry (dead) Fiji rock. Because all the coralline has died, it is usually white. However, it happens to be the most porous and best looking rock I have seen to date. It is very lightweight when it ships, so the price is very nice as well. I kinda wish I had gone ALL Marco as I love it so much, but then my tank prolly would have taken 6 months to cycle! (Of course, one could always buy live sand)

[lcstorc]

Glad to heat things are going so well.
Trust me. You have hitchikers. They may just take a while to come out. I have had stuff appear 6 months later when I had a tank with just rock.
We actually called the tank a science experiment because of the things still appearing after months.

[JoJo]

so the Marco rock is all dry(mean dead)? and you added LR to the tank as well to seed the Marco rock?

[rmlevasseur]

Yes Jo, thats exactly what I did. I went with 150 lbs of LR (although 50 lbs of that froze a little) and 60 lbs of Marco. I wish I had gone 150 Marco and 50 LR, and then maybe added some live sand. Oh well. The way I have it displayed most people do think it is primarily Marco.

[JoJo]

i was just wandering because i have 100lbs of dry rock i have stored & thinking of throwing it into the tank with about 60-80lbs of LR & a 2-3" of LS. so i should be ale to follow the same concept as you 're doing, what do you think?

[rmlevasseur]

Absolutely no reason you can't do that Jo. However, where did you get your dry rock? Did you buy it that way or is it old rock that you never used? Even dry rock needs to be cured. Michael on the boards claimed that his Marco was clean, but my experience is that while it looked clean my skimmer was still able to pull out tons of gunk from it. I cured it about 4 weeks in a tank by itself, but many will tell you Marco should be cured for a lot longer.
You also want to be careful about phosphates that may still be bound up in the dry rock. I suggest that you cure the dry rock in a separate tank, and add 10 lbs of LR to the curing tank. That way you can start seeding the dry rock but still may be able to "cook" out the organics and phosphates. I don't like curing LR in my main for fear that phosphates will leech into my sand.

[JoJo]

robert, thanks for the info. the rock is from my 90g, i tore it down because we were moving.