curing live rock

[darklcd]

Hey all

I am not sure if this should be in here or on the advanced topic board but here goes. After finding a good deal on ebay I am going to get 50 lbs of live rock shiped to me reason being I have been told the person has good stuff and I can get it for about 3 bucks a pound insted of 8 to 12 here in town. The old thing is that it is uncured and I have no idea how to cure it at all. I have herd of it being done adn I here its not that hard I just have no idea how to do it and if anyone can help me out here it would really be great

Thanks

 

[ragman]

Get yourself a big plasstic bucket that you can put all the rock in and have it submerged. Put the rock in the bucket(yard trash cans work great) with at least 1 powerhead circulating the water, preferably spraying on the rock. You are going to cook this concoction for 3-6 weeks, depending on who you talk to, scrubbing the dieoff off the rock and doing water changes a couple times a week. You may also want to mix another batch of water at a SG of 30-35 to do a 1 minute dip of the rock before you put it in your tank, to help drive out any unwanted pests, ie. mantis shrimp etc. good luck

 

[NaH2O]

Do you know what kind of rock it is?

I agree with ragman, and suggest you to get a big bin of some kind. Either a big rubbermaid bin, or one of those livestock water troughs, add a heater (if temps are cooler than tank temp where you are), and some powerheads. If you have an extra skimmer, then I'd put it on there, too. Scrub anything dead or dying off the rock, and remove any decaying matter blasted off the rock from the powerhead from the container, as well. Your water should be mixed to the same specific gravity as the tank.

 

[darklcd]

it is 50 lbs of Haitian rock. and I also found another auction with fiji live rock that come cured I am just wondering which way is a better way to go price isn't really a concern there is about 30 bucks difference.

Any recomendations

 

[Holygral]

even fully cured rock will have to be cured again, it may or maynot take as long to recure, you will also want to cure it somewhere like the basement, garage or some other place where the smell won't brother you.

 

[darklcd]

any idea on a time or anything. I am just wondering how long it will take to get done cuse I really want tog et my tank ready for fish.

 

[Holygral]

It depends on the rock, it could be 2-6 weeks, so 3-4 will be average I guess.

 

[darklcd]

is there anything special that I should do with it I have never done this before and I am a little scared about it cuse I don't want it to die on me I am just not sure about it is all.

 

[Brenden]

Just set your tank up like normal. Powerheads, heaters, mix SW, etc. When the rock comes in got ahead and aquascape how you think you want your tank to look. Maintain temp and top off just like you will when the tank is established. In about 2 weeks check your levels or have them checked at the LFS. (NH3, NO2, NO3) When the NH3 and NO2 are both "0" do some water changes to lower the NO3 levels. Once you have the NO3 down and have experience keeping your tank stable you can slowly add livestock.

 

[Holygral]

Here is how I did mine about 6 months ago. Get a large cheap tub and place the LR in after scrubbing with a soft bristle brush to remove dead matter or what ever else is on it.. Fill with salt water to cover, a heater set around 70 and a power head for circulation. After the first week, check ammonia levels, it will spike and then come down. After ammonia levels start to come down, do a 75% water change and continue. Continue to check ammonia levels, when they are 0, start checking the nitrite levels. Change water again at about the 3-4 wk. range. When nitrite levels are 0, the make up a strong 1.030-1.035 salt mix and scrub your LR in it to kill/remove any hitchhikers. Put LR back in your regular salt mix for a day or 2 and recheck nitrites. It will then be ready for your main tank. After you place it you main tank, keep a close on water parameters as it may still get a small short spike. Here is a good article on the process, there are many ways to do it but they are all about the same. The article is about half way down. Good Luck, you will do fine.


http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/tank_cycling.php

 

[Brenden]

Just so you do not get mixed up....The way I told you cycles your tank as opposed to putting it in a tub. I would not do the strong SW dip mentioned above. What is the point of buying LR if you are just going to kill everything? If that it the route you want to go I would just buy some dead dry rock and cycle it with a shrimp. Much easlier with same results.

 

[darklcd]

I am sure that both ways work well but I have to say that I like the way that you said brenden. I don't have anything in my tank right now so I think thats the best way to go and just wait a little longer before I put anything in there. I just hope that adding the uncured dosen't mess with the rock that I have in there right now

 

[Krish]

I always cured my rock right in my tank, but best only on start up when there is nothing in the tank. If you plan to add more rock later then you will need a seperate container to cure the new rock so as to not cause another cycle in the tank so the fact that you do have some rock may prolong the cycle or cause another one depending on which stage you are at now with your current setup

 

[darklcd]

the tank has been running for the better part of 2 and a half years so all the cycles are over as far as I know but I don't mind waiting for a while to get fish in to my tank if its a better way to go thats ok with me. I just want a good healthy start to keep it going well for a while

 

[Krish]

Well, seeing the tank has been up that long and all is fairing well, I'd probably cure the new rock in a seperate container. I wouldn't want to risk transferring a parasite, aptasia etc into your tank that has been up so long. Better safe than sorry IMO

 

[darklcd]

thats sounds like a plan. I mean even if it is cured if thats what you recomend then I think that I should go that way and not risk it. It took me a while to get my tank going the way that is it and I don't want to have a break down.

I am just wondering in order to cure it in a baby pool or something like that I take it I need to whip up a bunch of salt water and at the price that I have to get salt here I think might be better just to have my tank recycle and go from there. A 55 gal bag of salt will cost me like 40 bucks so I am not sure what to do lol

 

[Brenden]

Is there anything in the existing tank other than rock? The LR you have shipped in will stink and cause a NH3 spike in your tank. If there is nothing but rock in the tank now I would add it. If you have inverts, fish, corals in the tank you will prob kill it with the NH3 caused by adding the rock.

 

[darklcd]

right now there is nothing at all in the tank but 13 lbs of rock and my sand bed. I mean theres a hand full of red dusters but thats all nothing that I think will get affected by it

 

[caribewolf]

I dont know if I did this the right way but here it goes. I placed my rock in a rubber maid dumpster. I did not wash it off or anything. Oh, it was live uncured rock. I set the temp at about 80 and put in two airstones plus a submersible pump that continuously pumped the water from the bottom of the dumpster and had it run back in on the top. I ran this for about two weeks. I took some of the old filters from my established tanks and threw them into the dumpster, water-rock mix. I felt that this allowed for the growth of a good bacterial population. My ammonia levels spiked like really high. Then I started my lights at about 4-6 hours per day. Its been about three weeks now. Ammonia levels are back to about .5 to 0. NO2 and NO3 off the charts. I am wondering if I put on the lights too soon. I am wondering if there is anything that I have done wrong and if so what can I do to fix the situation. Is my rock now dead because of the high ammonia levels. I have not done any water changes. I am considering turning off the lights and doing a 50% water change and continuing the cycle. What do you suggest.

Caribe