Won't the shipping time cause your eco-Live-Rock to have to be re-cured ?We have done tests putting our eco-Live-Rock in a cooler for a week... the results showed no off-smells or die off.So far we have not seen ANY rocks arriving with significant die-off... our experience is that you can place our eco-Live-Rock in your tank as soon as you get it. HOWEVER, it is very important to do a quick test to see if your particular rocks suffer significant die off: Simply sniff inside the box as soon as you open it. It should smell ocean-like, but it should NOT smell rotten. If there was a significant die off there will be traces of hydrogen sulfide (rotten smell). Fortunately, our noses are phenomenal at detecting hydrogen sulfide... if there is any, you will smell it easily. In the rare event that your eco-Live-Rock show significant die-off, you'll need to place them in a container with seawater (not in your tank), with a powerhead to create currents. Keep your rocks there until the rotten-smell goes away. This should happens in no more than a few days. How much rock will I get for my buck?... how dense is your rock?Our two-step process results in branching rocks with lots of crevices and caves. Unlike most man-made rock... our eco-Live-Rock is very light. The photos below show the size relative to a basketball as well as the weight of some of our rocks.
Are eco-Live-Rocks originally made from concrete?Yes. Our eco-Live-Rocks are made with some concrete (aprox 30%) ... however, most of the raw material is calcium carbonate (aragonite sand, coral fragments, shell bits of oysters, mussels, scallops and snails).The concrete used in the mixture is fully reacted. These rocks are fully "kured"... that is, the by-product of the hardening reaction of concrete (calcium hydroxide), already leached out of the rocks. Our eco-Live-Rock are 100% tank-safe. Were your eco-Live-Rocks kured in fresh water, like in a river or a lake?Our eco-Live-Rock are kured only in seawater.Are your eco-Live-Rocks cured or kured?"Curing" is the process where wild live rock is placed in a container with seawater and vigorous currents to allow the decomposition of "wild" sponges and other organisms that died due to transit from "the wild" and (most importantly) due to the extraction from "the wild". Many "wild" sponges and other organisms simply cannot survive in tank conditions and they are bound to die... The curing process allows dead matter to decompose and remineralize out of the rocks in an environment OTHER than you tank (because the decomposition process can cause anoxic conditions that may kill your fish/inverts). Live rock that comes from the ocean (wild or aquacultured) MOST be cured before introduction to an established tank."Kuring" is the process where rock made with a mixture of cement and aragonite (or other calcareous media) is allowed to leach out calcium hydroxide, which is a by-product produced by the reaction that hardens cement. The "kuring" process requires the submersion of the man-made rock into water (so that the calcium hydroxide can dissolve and leach out of the rock), which can be achieved by placing the rock in a river, lake, the ocean ...or in a container provided with frequent water changes. We "kure" our rocks in tubs with seawater (with frequent water changes). We use heaters, lighting and powerheads to recreate an aquarium environment... therefore when you place our rock in your tank, mortality of live-rock organisms is minimal or non-existent. In other words, our rock is both 100% "kured" and 100% "cured"... you can simply add it to your display tank upon arrival. Why is some of your eco-Live-Rock so black?Our Premium eco-Live-Rock is mainly covered by two types of encrusting algae: Coraline algae (the purple stuff) and fleshy greens... which can be dark green (almost black). Some Premium eco-Live-Rock have predominantly purple algae, some others have predominantly fleshy green algae. Both of these algae kinds are considered beneficial. How long will your eco-Live-Rock last in the saltwater before beginning to break down? How long has your oldest batch of rock been in a marine tank?The calcium carbonate fraction of the rock (~70%) lasts as long as the wild live rock... the cement part of the rock (~30%) lasts a lot longer.The following photos are of one of our tanks. 100% of the live rock is eco-Live-Rock (aragonite+cement... made with the traditional one-step process). These rocks have been in saltwater for approximately 10 years. The last four years have been in the tank you see in the photos. We haven't noticed any breakdown. In the water, they are tough as nails. Outside (in air) they weight more and they can break if you pile them too high or if you hit them hard... but then again... that is true for all live rock (wild or man-made).
Is your "Standard eco-Live-Rock" basically base rock?No. Base rock does not have bacteria and/or algae. Base rock is either dry or has been submersed in seawater only for a few days. Our Standard eco-Live-Rocks have been submersed in our grow-out tanks several months and bacteria and diatoms have colonized them... our Standard eco-Live-Rock are fully-functional Live Rock. |
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