ebay Marco/dry Rock review pics etc

[jubjub]

i've seen this come up alot lately with people saying how good is this stuff blah blah blah i decided since im setting up a new tank i would pull the trigger and get some first off after using the Live.com discount thing for ebay (search nintendo wii) and click the ebay link and it will give you 10-15% off total purchase back in cash so 117+10 shipping after cashback for a total of 107.95 for 50pounds of rock (although mine came with 54 & 57 pounds) for a grand total of around 1.99$/pound shipped!.

First off this is hand made rock, and quite dusty. i dont believe it is pulled out of the ocean. seriously people lets consider saving our already dieing oceans. between tankers/wars etc i think the oceans are in bad enough shape as it is...

also between my two boxes of rock i would say i ended up with about 5pounds of rubble along with rest of the rock.

so with out further ado probably what most people wanted to see are the pics... these are pics from the first box, pretty much the same although the second box had some larger pieces in it.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/jubjubrsx/marco%20rock/miscfs024.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/jubjubrsx/marco%20rock/miscfs025.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/jubjubrsx/marco%20rock/miscfs028.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/jubjubrsx/marco%20rock/miscfs029.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/jubjubrsx/marco%20rock/miscfs032.jpg

in the end I ordered 2 shipments of this (100 pounds actually ended up being about 111 pounds total by what the fedex boxes said) took about a week to get here since it was coming from florida and im in northern california...

in the end I am quite pleased with the shapes and its fairly heavy compared to my fiji rock i have.

if anyone has questions feel free to pm me and i will answer you the best that i can.

[silentscream]

thank you very much for this post, I've been wondering about this marco rock as I'll be starting a build soon.

[Mouse]

I diddnt know Marco was in ebay. I got my batch a little over a year ago, a few pieces looked similar to yours, but most were not. Also the stuff I got was light as hell. Ill try and find a pic, or Ill just go take a pic of it.

[jubjub]

the pieces arent super light by anymeans the first box had 10 pieces as shown the pics so average weight like 5lbs each........but the second box the pieces were heavier prob like 8 big chunks so a little more

[spleify]

The marco I have is super light when dry but definitely gets heavier when wet.

For the record, IMO, that is not man made rock.

[stevedola]

marcorock is great stuff. ive used it in 2 tanks. i like the tonga shelf rock myself.

[ed102475]

For the record, IMO, that is not man made rock.

+1 Florida rock.JMO but rocks are dusty when dry.

[aaron1987]

If it didn't come from marcorocks' site, I don't believe it's his stuff. I could be wrong though. I ordered tonga live rock from him and it DEFINITELY came from the ocean, I was picking tons of urchins and starfish out of all the crevices. It was nasty, time consuming, and made for a foul (although surprisingly brief) cycle. That said, it's absolutely gorgeous rock, super porous and excellent shapes and I would not hesitate to buy from him again.

[jubjub]

oh this ebay rock is definatley marco rock...seller is marco.67 as well having links to his website on the ebay auction... but i just cant wait to get this rock in the tank going

[IridescentLily]

Wow, a review! Thank you.
I've read both bad and good things about Marco rock here and so I love your review of it.
Some say Marco rock causes the most horrendous amount of algae blooms, and others say it's the best rock they've used.
There seems to be no in between points of view with Marco rock.

[jubjub]

well....i think the people that have mass algae blooms dont really cure the rock properly.... i'd also be curious to see if they use ro/di water... what kind of salts they use etc...there's a ton of factors in algae blooms.

[ludnix]

What makes you think it's man-made rock?

[CoRPS]

It's limestone, the same rock people told me not to put into my tank saying that it'd leach calcium into my tank. Little to they know, limestone is actually a coral bi-product and how reefs are built.

It is very dense and heavy as opposed to other rocks.

[chimmike]

that looks exactly like the stuff I got from BRS recently. It's much heavier than my fiji LR, which makes me wonder how porous it is.

[CoRPS]

chimmike, limestone is VERY porous. It's just a very dense rock.

[runningstix]

definately not home made rock. My tank only has marco rock! I love it.

[Rustylugnuts]

Its all about the cycling. If you just throw it in the tank and let it go expect a nutrient soup that algae LOVES. I ordered dry rock from another source and did a few soaks in RO and had tons of crap come off. If you prep it right you'll avoid the worst of the algae bloom.

[chimmike]

I did let it cycle for a couple weeks in some saltwater, it's been sitting in my 75 cycling for a couple weeks now as well, no algae bloom whatsoever. I'm getting a diatom bloom on the dsb in the fuge merely due to the live sand I used.

It is really nice looking rock though.......I really like it.

[stevedola]

i personally wouldnt put an entire order of this or any rock directly in my reef. I always cycle it...i believe marc tells you that on his site.


its too easy to cycle rock, youd be nuts not to.