Curing dry live rock

B

BlackTip

Active member
I am getting 300lb of dry Fiji rock. I am planning on brushing and rinsing them thoroughly with garden hose, then put them in a large container with a powerhead for couple of months to cure.

Can I use RO/DI water only, or do I have to use salt? Adding salt doesn't make any sense to me.

Can I keep the container outside on the porch? Temp right now are 30-40f.
I can put them in the garage with a heater, if I have to, but I need to use the space in the garage.

Thanks,
 
Dry live rock has dead organic matter in them. Those organic matter need to be cured, before they can be put in DT.

My tank will be not be ready for at least couple of months, so I am taking this time to get the rock ready or near ready.
 
In that case if it's possible make a temporary tank to seed them up. By the time your tank will be ready you will have cured live rock.
 
That is right:

BalckTip said:
Dry live rock has dead organic matter in them. Those organic matter need to be cured, before they can be put in DT.

My tank will be not be ready for at least couple of months, so I am taking this time to get the rock ready or near ready.
Click to expand...

the idea is that the organic matter that is trapped inside the rock rot and dissolve. In the best case would have bacterial action.

In any case this is my cure process in a small scale. In the picture you can see the setup that I use to cure dry live rock from a old aquarium. First the rocks were washed with pressurized water and then dry in the sun for a few weeks.



I used water from waterchanges of my current aquarium. For about eight weeks the system was running. I did weekly waterchanges, but before each I shake and brush the rocks, then siphon the container and replaced all the water.

As container I used a modified old sump and place a powerful circulation pump to recirculate the water. I always kept the container covered to prevent light and the temperature ascended up to 100 F.

Finally the rocks look as follows, beautiful :):

 
Not all dry rock has dead organic matter in them. I have 30 lbs of dry rock in my nuvo 20g aquarium and after 4 weeks I still got no ammonia spike at all. It was super clean and there were dead coral inside but they had already completely broke down. I had to add raw shrimp to cycle my system. Then added coral and fish and there all doing fine
 
Depending on how clean the rock is you may need to add in something as stated above. You will need saltwater and the temp should be around 75-80 degrees. I would bring it in and put a heater in the tote with the power head. just my 2 cents
 
Will it will need to cycle one way or the other. Freshwater won't help unless you are setting up a freshwater tank or trying to leach phosphates from the rock.

Heater, powerhead, and salt. 1.021 is fine
 
I want to cure the rock, and not necessarily cycle it. Rocks will be cycled in the tank when the tank is ready. Right now, I want to get rid of as much organic matter as I can. This is Fiji dry live rock. It is full of organic matter.

I don't know what difference salt in water will make? My concern is fresh water bacteria can grow in fresh water, and then die off and release phosphate when I place it in the tank. Again, if I don't need to cycle the rock right now, why do I need to keep the temp high?
 
Keeping it in the water does nothing bad for the rock, and possibly something good. No reason not to. Fresh water and you're just rotting away the organic matter (make sure to do several 100% water changes), keeping it warm will just speed that up.

Keeping it in salt water and you might also be partially cycling your rock from the ammonia spike that will be produced by the process, which might reduce your cycling time when you add it to the tank.
 
I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to use salt, you are starting a saltwater tank. Water changes aren't going to remove a lot of phosphate as it will be bound in the calcium and very little in the actual water. It makes no sense to me to use fresh. I know some people do at first but I just don't see the point. Why not use all those nutrients to get a strong cure on the rocks so when you do put them in a tank they are ready to go and live.

This is how I cure the rock you have. I've done it several times over now. If you want to get the nutrients out, water changes isn't the easiest or most cost effective way to do it. I suggest giving this a few minutes of your time.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145395
 
Thanks for the help guys.

The reasons I prefer to use fresh water right now are I am not setup yet for salt water mixing and changing. I don't have the equipment yet, and most importantly the space.

I will be using my garage in the upcoming weeks to build my stand. I rather have the rock rot outside. But, it is cold right now and it is impossible to use water heater outside. Current outside temp is 30-45F. Is this temp too cold for the process to take place?
 
Yes, it is. Water freezes at 32. You don't need equipment or space for saltwater mixing. You put the water, the salt, and the rock in the tub.
 
I'm with tkeracer619... I'd follow his curing process. If there is a lot of dead organics on it it will take awhile, and it will stink, and you need to remove the junk it leaches out (through heavy skimming) You'll want to keep the water warm to keep the process going as fast as possible, if you aren't running it at 60+ degrees not sure the bacteria will grow rapidly enough to break it down. 75-80 degrees would likely be ideal temps to cycle it asap. If you try your method 2 months from now I think you'll still have nasty rock.
 
I too agree with above comments. Cure it in temperature appropriate saltwater, yes it may very well stink, at least for the first few weeks, but it will cure and likely reduce your cycle time when you're ready. I had success with this method curing dead, live rock.
 
BalckTip said:
I am getting 300lb of dry Fiji rock. I am planning on brushing and rinsing them thoroughly with garden hose, then put them in a large container with a powerhead for couple of months to cure.

Can I use RO/DI water only, or do I have to use salt? Adding salt doesn't make any sense to me.

Can I keep the container outside on the porch? Temp right now are 30-40f.
I can put them in the garage with a heater, if I have to, but I need to use the space in the garage.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

What exacly do you mean by "curing"? What are you trying to achieve?
 
I disagree with the replies above and here's why. When curing dry rock there's no point in using salt water. The reason you initially cure the rock in fresh rodi water is to not waste all the salt that'd be required for water changes. Secondly, the purpose of curing the rock with fresh water is to leech out the organics and this can be done in fresh just as much as salt.

Conclusion: cure the rock in fresh water wait till the ammonia/nitrates level off and then seed the rock with live rock to start the cycling process.

The only + I see with using salt water is being able to use a skimmer to do less water changes when curing the rock but either way the water needs to be replaced so all in I don't see a diff
 
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