Curing live rock in the tank

[Waxxiemann]

Hi,

I have a 90 gallon tank and a 60 gallon sump. The tank is filled with sand and salt water.

I also have a skimmer installed and ready to go (AquaC EV 240). I want to cure a small amount (10 lbs) of live rock in my tank.

My question is; do I have to do large water changes during this process or is it better to cure it in a small bucket? I am getting conflicting info from different sources.

From what I understand I can just rinse it (the rock) in salt water to get any initial die off and pests out and then just stick it in my tank (heated) and run the skimmer and this should cure the rock as well as begin the cycling process. Is this correct? Is there other steps I should take?

Thanks!

 

[Snowboarder2757]

IMO I would just stick the LR in the tank, (probably what you plan on having in the tank). This helps the cycling process speed up. When I started my tank I just threw in the uncured LR and let it do its thing cycling my tank. But definatly run the skimmer.

 

[Waxxiemann]

Ok sweet, thanks for the advice, thats what I'll do!

Peace.

 

[brownsugar]

Im a newb

But yeh i cycled with both cured and uncured rock

Just put into my tank and waited a month.

I didnt however have enough die off to start the ammonia cycle so i ended up using a 7 day bacteria cycle from a bottle

I left my skimmer & lights on didnt do a major water change.

It worked for me yeh i found alot of different opinions when i first started out but yeh there never is a certain way.

Mine probably wasnt the most effective method but it got the job done.

Also wear gloves especially with uncured always filled with nastys be aware of mantis etc & there is no such thing as guarantee of mantis free rock lol found out the hard way

 

[bertoni]

If you have the energy, doing some water changes might help if the tank shows much ammonia. I would try to keep it at 0.5 ppm or below, but that might not be feasible if the rock has a lot of die-off. Lower ammonia levels should help keep animals on the live rock from dying.

 

[Waxxiemann]

Thanks people.

I don't mind doing the water changes, but it's $125 canadian for a bucket of salt ... thats about says it.

Again, Thanks everyone for the help.