Cooking Base Rock?

[bheron]

thats good news for you hey now.

when i started my 75g tank back in jan 2004 i purchased 100lbs of live rock and....cured it right in the tank!!! what a mess. thought that was a good way to go. now, you can imagine how much buildup i have inside my rocks. if i hapen to brush by with a powerhead its a mass of gulk all over the tank! after beingin the tank and collecting other stuff and algae, these things are ready for a good ol cookout!

your situation seems much better.

 

[beachroadbum]

cook those rocks bryan!...whooohooo.... Doesn't it feel good to know that you will be in control of your nutrients? Its like waging war on detritus...except we have the secret to always end up victorious! then we get to sit back relax and enjoy our tank with whatever it is we like to light up...:smokin:

take care,
Jared

 

[Saltz Creep]

Bryan, if it's land based - mined out of the ground - it will be loaded in phosphate. Other than our beaches, Florida is famous for it's phosphate mines.

Bahamian land-based limestone is the lowest in phosphate, even lower than Fiji rock. That is why TBS and Gulf-view uses it instead of the cheaper native Floridian limestone.

 

[Reefmiester]

I have HIROCKS in my tank. From what I understand it came from a shipping channel that was cleared. I will admit it looks alot like clay and very dusty. I had to rinse mine several times.

 

[bheron]

Saltz Creep - cool chart! Never saw anything like that.

 

[trmiv]

That chart is from the reeferrocks site, right?

 

[Saltz Creep]

Yep.

 

[trmiv]

On the reeferrocks site, I noticed they have this:

http://www.reeferrocks.com/baserock/analysis.htm

"Everyday we're asked what our base rock is made, so we decided to let everyone know. Our base rock is fossilized coral reef or limestone. In Florida, the primary sources of base rock comes from the Florida Reef Tract and the limestone ledges off the Gulf Coast. The Florida Reef Tract, estimated to be 4000-7000 years old, has a base of calcium carbonate."


So is this a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Saltz Creep]

I don't know about their source of limestone, but it can't be lower in PO4 than Bahamian.

 

[trmiv]

Maybe Miami limestone? I hope it's something like that, with less PO4 than the fiji on that chart.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

I'd be interested in what they have to say too. I know the exact mine/quarry they get it from.

Thanks!

What do you make of there answer? Would you expect there rocks to have phosphate and if so will cooking them remove it?

 

[Bomber]

I guess people don't realize just how high 5ppm really is. .05ppm is usually considered past nutrification and way into eutrophication

yes Steve

 

[REEF-DADDY]

once again thanks enjoy your dinner!

 

[Bomber]

just for fun, The United States Public Health Standards limit for phosphates in drinking water is 0.1 ppm, and we will drink anything.

 

[trmiv]

So basically the base rock I have is junk unless I want to go through the labor and space intensive cooking process, which I have no room for.

F it, I'm going to use plastic rocks.

 

[Lager]

Live rock questions are pretty interesting to me, I dont get on here much,, had a question and found this thread..Can we all agree that the more pourus the rock is,, the more effective it is ??Only makes sense to me and to many others,, the more surface area you have,, the more effective it is, a Bio filter.. I have in front of me a piece of Florida rock,, it looks smooth to me,, just like a rock,, lets whack it with a hammer and chisel.. It broke in half,,what do I see?? Just a solid rock..Now let me take a piece of Figi rock,, Wow,, look at all the holes, when its all dryed out, this rock is really light!!! Lets cut it in half with the chisle and hammer,, Itjust broke apart,, I didnt need to whack it with the hammer,, Look at all them holes!! Marshall Island rock now,, Looks pretty holey to me,,hammer time,, wow full of holes again?? A Lil light goes off in my head,, Im thinking surface area??So do I want round non pourus rocks that are hard to place in any sort of interesting pattern or Pourus Rock that has interesting shapes so I can build ledges and caves??Then you have the other interesting question about Live Florida rock that might have critters that I dont want in my tank to be start with??Once you get it set up,, its hard to tear down ?? I perfer to know whats in my tank.

 

[Teremei]

Glad I bumped into this thread because I am going to buy 60# of reeferrocks base rock for my new 90. I have decided I am going to cook all rocks before I put them into my tank. Even the ones on my current tank.

Just a couple quick questions. I have 2 rocks which have corals on them and I can not take them off without severely hurt them. If I cooked ALL of my other rocks, would these 2 small/medium sized rocks ruin all of my hard work of cooking my other rocks? I mean I know my other rocks will still be "open" by cooking them, but will not cooking a few of your rocks still be ok?

next question, which is the best thread about how to cook rocks for a rock cooking newbie like me?

lastly, where do you guys order your pods, worms, feather dusters, and all of the other critters you are basically killing on your rock. If they aren't coming from your rock, where do you get yours?

 

[dead beat reef]

The Reef Tank Onwers Manual by John H Tullock. Goes into
great detail about cooking rock and to this day this manual
still helps me in my day to day reef maint. Copyright 1990.

 

[Teremei]

I'm going to be ordering 60# of base rock from reeferrock. I trust you know what you are talking about Bomber. How many weeks should I cook this rock, and is there any way to tell that I have succesfully released the phosphate?

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6289047#post6289047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Teremei
and is there any way to tell that I have succesfully released the phosphate?

Use a test kit and test every so often...