Cured live rock...

M

marcom12345

Member
So I'm setting up a new 75gal reef. My question is.....

My local fish store has already cured rock.... 1000's of pounds of it.... If I buy it and drop it in my tank.... What do I need to do or be concerned about?

Do I still need to cycle for weeks? Just monitor paramaters? If just paramaters... Which ones?

Anything I should be sure of in my tank before getting the rock?

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Depends upon how "cured" the rock really is. Many stores have bins of cured rock that they cycle rock through, and you can end up with some that isn't fully cured. So, drop it in your tank and watch your ammonia and nitrite levels.

Depending upon what has been in the curing tank, and how long the rock has cured, you may have to add livestock slowly to give the bacterial populations time to grow in response to the livestock you add (or, if it's a fresh cure, with lots of die-off in the tank and high ammonia levels, you may have a sizeable bacterial population from the get go). Easiest to add one or two fish and monitor your levels (ammonia and nitrite initially, then nitrate, and keep steady pH, temp and salinity (add calcium and alkalinity if you're going to keep corals)), to ensure you don't get a spike, then add more stock if your ammonia/nitrite levels remain zero.

Kevin
 
marcom12345 said:
I do plan on getting corals but figured I'd get things a bit stable with fish first.



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Click to expand...
I think that's a good idea. I would probably give it about four to six weeks at least to monitor the nitrogen cycle after you add fish, before I added any Coral.

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Typically when you buy cured live rock from the local fish store there is no cycle as the rock already contains all the needed bacteria to quickly process toxic ammonia into its lesser toxic forms..
The reason they sell that is so that you can buy a tank, rock,water,fish,etc... all in one shot and take it home and set it all up and not need to wait to cycle a tank.

It would be very uncommon to need to wait when starting with locally sourced cured live rock..
You can add fish,etc... right away..

I would however recommend waiting on corals until you are sure you can provide a stable environment for them.
 
mcgyvr said:
Typically when you buy cured live rock from the local fish store there is no cycle as the rock already contains all the needed bacteria to quickly process toxic ammonia into its lesser toxic forms..
The reason they sell that is so that you can buy a tank, rock,water,fish,etc... all in one shot and take it home and set it all up and not need to wait to cycle a tank.

It would be very uncommon to need to wait when starting with locally sourced cured live rock..
You can add fish,etc... right away..

I would however recommend waiting on corals until you are sure you can provide a stable environment for them.
Click to expand...
I agree on waiting on coral. I don't mind waiting :)

Thanks on the rock question everyone, it's kinda what I figured. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a mini-cycle or something lol

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marcom12345 said:
What is Dr Tims?
Click to expand...

Dr Tims sells numerous products..
The sell "bacteria in a bottle" as well as ammonium chloride which is a surfactant free ammonia source and various other products.
https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/
The statement to use dr tims needs some clarification about which product they were recommending you use..
But we can assume its the ammonia from the "make sure it processes" comment..

IMO you are just wasting your money adding anything to cured live rock in the bins at the LFS.. They are already cycled/cured/ready to go..
But I understand that some people want that extra blanket of security in life ;)
Adding ammonia will just potentially increase your nitrates but will give you that warm fuzzy feeling if the ammonia is processed in 24 hours or less..
waste of money though IMO..
 
mcgyvr said:
Dr Tims sells numerous products..
The sell "bacteria in a bottle" as well as ammonium chloride which is a surfactant free ammonia source and various other products.
https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/
The statement to use dr tims needs some clarification about which product they were recommending you use..
But we can assume its the ammonia from the "make sure it processes" comment..

IMO you are just wasting your money adding anything to cured live rock in the bins at the LFS.. They are already cycled/cured/ready to go..
But I understand that some people want that extra blanket of security in life ;)
Adding ammonia will just potentially increase your nitrates but will give you that warm fuzzy feeling if the ammonia is processed in 24 hours or less..
waste of money though IMO..
Click to expand...
Oh I see... I already have some pure ammonia from cycling my two freshwater tanks. :)

This LFS isn't a chain they are a high quality fish store that I trust fully.

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Depends on the place you get your LR from. One LFS by me has "Live Rock" in a big plastic bin with no skimmer and murky stinky water... knowing that I would think you will experience a true cycle.

Another LFS by me has Live Rock in a nice big bin with clear clean circulating water and a large skimmer running. This rock smells clean and fresh and looks great... I picked up 20lbs to re set up my nano set up with new Live Sand and never experienced a cycle. Days later I added corals from SPS to LPS and Softies and I have not experienced 1 death and my tank is now 5 weeks old. Everything is growing great and looks great. I also carried over all my fish (5 of them) my hermits, snails and cleaner shrimp and nothing died or ever had an issue.

Mind you I have set up many tanks over my years so I know what to look for when picking rock. But if you can find a place with true cured healthy live rock and you have a tank with all the right equipment and good new live sand I doubt you will experience a cycle.
 
So if it's cycled already and I put it in my tank, but don't get any fish for a week or two.... Do I need to and anything to keep it cured?

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Absolutely not. Bacteria have been shown to live well over a year with no food source. just keep it wet and warm and water moving so it doesnt stagnate.
 
marcom12345 said:
So if it's cycled already and I put it in my tank, but don't get any fish for a week or two.... Do I need to and anything to keep it cured?
Click to expand...

If you get the rock just put it immediately in saltwater and keep a powerhead running.. Thats it..
Never hurts to have some sort of water circulation to prevent stagnation..
 
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