Cooking Live Roack
- Thread starter scubadoo2
- Start date
firecrackerbob
New member
havent personally done it, but it can have its place as a last resort way to get your rock clean... once LR gets saturated with nutrients it can take a long time to allow all of it to diffuse out of LRs porous stuctures. cooking does this by removing it from the nutrient source and allowing time to do its thing to clean out the rock.
"cooking" can be used as part of a overall tank clean up strategy to remove excess nutriens- read you have a major algea problem- and want to take some more drastic measures to get it all cleaned up. this path to doing so would generally entail removing some or all(if you have backup cured LR) of the rock and putting it into another container with a lid and doing intermitten water changes untill much of hte nutrients are removed.
keep in mind though that unless you are changing other habits- feeding of your critters, how you skim, adding a fuge, ect- that you will just wind up back at the same place.
oh anoter obvious use for this is if you are picking up LR from another reefer or its uncured and want to make sure that you dont get any bad things along with the good- pests, killer shrimp and the like....
cheers
E
"cooking" can be used as part of a overall tank clean up strategy to remove excess nutriens- read you have a major algea problem- and want to take some more drastic measures to get it all cleaned up. this path to doing so would generally entail removing some or all(if you have backup cured LR) of the rock and putting it into another container with a lid and doing intermitten water changes untill much of hte nutrients are removed.
keep in mind though that unless you are changing other habits- feeding of your critters, how you skim, adding a fuge, ect- that you will just wind up back at the same place.
oh anoter obvious use for this is if you are picking up LR from another reefer or its uncured and want to make sure that you dont get any bad things along with the good- pests, killer shrimp and the like....
cheers
E
ur just put the rock in a bucket with some saltwater and power head and let it mix in a dark place for a month or how ever long it takes to get rid of the algea.
Gordonious
Active member
I really don't like the term this hobby choose for it, but it is what it is. Most people use the term when they are just putting the rocks in a dark place.
I have received free rocks in the past and actually poured boiling water on them to turn them back into base rock. I had plenty or good rock and these free rocks contained flat worms, bubble algae, aptasia and more.
I would caution that you make sure almost all light is kept off the rocks if you use this to remove algae. There is one member of the DRC who has used this in the past to remove a nasty nasty algae only to have it show up again.
Jon
I have received free rocks in the past and actually poured boiling water on them to turn them back into base rock. I had plenty or good rock and these free rocks contained flat worms, bubble algae, aptasia and more.
I would caution that you make sure almost all light is kept off the rocks if you use this to remove algae. There is one member of the DRC who has used this in the past to remove a nasty nasty algae only to have it show up again.
Jon
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
I am cooking live rock as we speak. I put about 100lbs in a big container, powerheads and a heater and let it sit for about 3 months. I just checked on it and all the algae and aptasia is gone. Worked wonders for me, so now I can put it in my 120 safely and just add a few pieces of good liverock and I'll be set.
About 13 years ago I moved to a small apartment in Philadelphia. My rock went into 2 - 55 gal drums with an airstone in each one located in my parents basement. About once every two months I topped off the drums with fresh water. Lids were loosely on. The rock sat there for about two years - absolutely no light.
Once put into a tank with light, algae, small duster worms, even those pea sized snails and bristle worms started showing up. I was amazed. It didn't even kill the calupera that return.
Isn't life amazing.
I wouldn't recommend it as a form of sterilization. It that is what you are looking for, put it in the oven. `
Once put into a tank with light, algae, small duster worms, even those pea sized snails and bristle worms started showing up. I was amazed. It didn't even kill the calupera that return.
Isn't life amazing.
I wouldn't recommend it as a form of sterilization. It that is what you are looking for, put it in the oven. `
Gordonious
Active member
I'd rather use bleech and fresh water then putting it in the oven. Unless I was playing a mean prank on a friend that was out of town. Wouldn't want to stink up my house.
martinfaimly
New member
you could also use a large pot and boil them for about 10 minutes
Gordonious
Active member
Recommend you don't plan to do so in a pot your wife uses and pick a day when she hasn't invited her parents over. lol
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
I've heard actually "cooking" liverock can be VERY hazardous to your health. I would just put it in the dark for a few months, I got rid of all my algae that way.
Gordonious
Active member
That has failed to work for several people though.... Did you read what alprazo said? Ken has tried this several times in the past and algae has reappeared.
Jon
Jon
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
Yep, but it has worked for me. You also can't just cook live rock that has algae on it and expect it to not come back if your tank isn't properly maintained. Algae isn't because of the rocks, its from bad water quality (excessive nutrients/phosphates) also can be caused by old lights and low flow. If you cook live rock and put it into a healthy aquarium where everything is in check, it works great, has for me in my experiences.
I think that cooking the rock will only work if the rock has always remained in low nutrient water.
I purchased my rock in '88 from someone that was breaking down his tank. These were the days of LPS/softies and 55 or 65k lighting. In those days, I used inefficient skimming with O3 but never had r/o. The well water had 50 ppm nitrates and phosphates were foreign to me.
If your rocks spent a good amount of time in high nutrient water, like mine did, "cooking" as described above is not the answer. With the returnb of light, algae will continue to grow until these nutrients leach completely out of the rock.
It took excellent water quality, lots of GFO, and time (> 1 year) before the battles with algae disappeared. Life without light was definitely not the answer in my case.
If your rock has not suffered from chronic nutrient excess then a "cook" may control the acute flare.
my $ 0.02
I purchased my rock in '88 from someone that was breaking down his tank. These were the days of LPS/softies and 55 or 65k lighting. In those days, I used inefficient skimming with O3 but never had r/o. The well water had 50 ppm nitrates and phosphates were foreign to me.
If your rocks spent a good amount of time in high nutrient water, like mine did, "cooking" as described above is not the answer. With the returnb of light, algae will continue to grow until these nutrients leach completely out of the rock.
It took excellent water quality, lots of GFO, and time (> 1 year) before the battles with algae disappeared. Life without light was definitely not the answer in my case.
If your rock has not suffered from chronic nutrient excess then a "cook" may control the acute flare.
my $ 0.02
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
Good water quality is definitely the key. I am not saying if you have an algae problem, just cook your rock and you'll be fine. It will come back unless you solve the problem of why the algae appeared in the first place. I am just cooking rock I got from another RC member which was covered in bad algae. So I cooked it for a few months and in my tank it is as good as new.
tat2tillidie
New member
why not put it i a barrell with just freshwater for a few months
Gordonious
Active member
It would come out black and the smell would probably knock you out. All the live stuff would die off and out the oxygen and a bunch of other technical chemical stuff would happen. It actually would be very bad in two weeks time let alone a few months. It would for sure kill off everything you would be trying to get rid of, but it would probably take a couple months worth of water changes on very smelly rock to bring it back to the point where it was usable.
Partially speaking from experience there.
Jon
Partially speaking from experience there.
Jon
tat2tillidie
New member
bleach it then
