curing live rock opinion

[jumpincactus]

Well I am really getting stoked. I am ready to purchase live rock and begin curing. I would like some opinions and experiences others have used curing their own rock. I have read that it is best done in a vessel other than the show tank. My tank is empty with no live stock. How many of you have cured your rock in the show tank and not in separate containers.

Can I do it in the main tank and skip the extra step.? Is this ok to do or am I looking at possible issues taking this route. Moe, Delbeek and Sprung all suggest using a separate area and then adding to maintank after curing 30 days or more.

All input is welcome.

Thanks

 

[moumda]

I added 1/2 my live rock and all my sand, waited until my ammonia, nitrite and gotten to 0 (about a month), and then added the second half. If you're getting the type of rock that comes wrapped in newspaper it will shed a good amount. If you're getting rock locally or getting it shipped to you in water it probably won't be as bad. If first type I would really consider seperate contains so you don't add quite as much detris to your tank. JMO.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

i cured my rock in a separate contaner as die off will occure and is much easier to clean the dead stuff off the rock in the container rather than cleaning your tank of it.

 

[Dan Thrash]

i'm curing 22lbs of rock now for my 12 gal nanocube in a separate container. i got the rock yesterday and went to Walmart and bought an 18 gal container with a lid to cure the rock in. i was stoked too, as this was my first bunch of rock and it was pretty cool. the rock had some huge bubble algae wedged in a hole that i ripped out and some other algae around, so i'm hoping that keeping it in the container with the lid will eliminate the algae.

 

[MBuck]

Alot of people cure their LR in the tank, just don't put your sand in yet....that way it will be easier to vaccuum to dtrius off the bare-bottom rather than off the sand!! Have fun!!

 

[galveston_guy]

If you are getting uncured rock I highly recommend curing it in a seperate container, possibly outside, or in a garage. I put my 100lbs of live rock in the tank to begin curing but had to move it outside within a few hours because the place smelled like...well...it smelled really bad. The only problem I see with that though is that the ammonia spike gets so high in such a small volume of water that a lot of the life that came in on the rock died off eventually. After a few weeks though the smell subsides and that is when I added it back to the tank. And yes, wait until after the rock has cured to add the sand and aquascape.

 

[jumpincactus]

Wow thanks folks. Looks like I will go with a big rubbermaid trash can. My issue right now is after visiting two of the LFS that deal with reefs in my town the LR they have is very barren looking. Almost no coralline at all. As I am perusing the online sources I am wondering do you actaully get rock that looks the way it looks on the storefront websites. I am really stressing on making a decision on who's rock to get. I need about 130 lbs and as you all know it aint cheap. I need to know that what I am getting is going to be worth the expense. I do understand that with time the coralline will come but I just dont want to get burned......

 

[Swanwillow]

great plug here: pacificeastaquaculture

but, there are three ways to cure rock, and since this is more or less the question asked, here ya go!!!

A) cooking... least amount of life left on rock, what you get when your done is rock, bacteria, and sometimes coralline algae. to do this, you place the rock in a big ole tub, put it in a dark place, and forget about it until theres no ammonia. If you don't have a dark place, covering the tub with wood, blankets, etc can also be done. I believe this is done with a powerhead and heater also

B) 'normal' cycling: medium amounts of life. Put the rock in the tank or a tub, ambient room lighting, sometimes some lights. Heater and powerhead, wait til its done cycling. there ya go

C) light cycling (this is what I do, and I advocate) most life: either in tub or in tank, with FULL lighting that you want on it when your done. Water changes when ammonia gets high: at least once a week, more often every other day, 50%. continue through with the rest of the cycle.

pros for each:
A; no nasties, hitchhikers to worry about
B; easy, can be done best in tank
C;get A LOT of hitch-hikers, which IMO is good, others is bad.

cons:
A;no life left on rock-no macros, no corals.. nothing
B; can get mantis, some bad algaes
C; if it was on the rock, it likely lived: mantis, algaes good and bad, crabs, all sorts of stuff...

 

[SharkBait916]

Actually, it depends on how fresh the live rock is.

I have a 12 gallon JBJ nanocube where I used very fresh Marshall Island live rock that got delivered from the Marshall Islands to my local airport within a day or two. When it arrived there was no foul odors...it smelled like the ocean and had lots of coraline algae, crabs, and plant life. I rinsed the rock in some premixed salt water to get any of the loose sand, etc off and placed it into the tank to cycle with a regular lighting cycle. Also placed live sand in at the same time. There was minimal die off of plant life and lots of purple coralline algae on the rock. Within a week i was able to add a few snails and hermit crabs. I didn't have much of an algae bloom at all. After the third or fourth week, i started adding a couple of clownfish and zooanthids, etc.

 

[PatMayo]

jumpincactus,
I know of a real nice reef store if you want to get cured rock It is in Tacoma. I got some really nice rock full of colorful coralline. I'm sure they would sell you uncured as well. I think you have seen my tank. All the rock in it came from this store. I think it's great.

If you go with uncured I would do it in the garage or your house will stink!! Not very pleasant.

Regards,

Pat

 

[sruiz]

I am actually new to the hobby. And I have heard that you can put the live rock and cure it in the tank, it will help with the cycle. Many people would rather cycle a new tank with rock instead of using fish to cycle.

 

[PatMayo]

If the live rock is already cured chances are you will never have a cycle. Mine did not. I actually took the rock out of my 46 bow which was only up for 5 months, but that rock was fully cured as well when I put it in the 46, and moved it to my 90. The only time you will get a cycle is because of the die off on the live rock if it is uncured. One rock is cured the nitrifying properties of the rock takes over your ready. You don't need fish at all with live rock.

The live rock has the bacteria on/in it once it is cured and you don't need fish as you stated.

Did that make sense? By curing it out of the tank it keeps the tank cleaner, there is lots of crap that will come off that rock and you have to get it out of the tank someone. Most siphon use a skimmer and scrub the crap off of the rock. It takes lots of scrubbing. But you have a mess in the tank and it's hard to do that in your house especially if the tank is on carpet.

Regards,

Pat

 

[Swanwillow]

the fish thing... there is no reason to use fish to cycle a tank... if you even cure the rock in bins, and leave the tank empty while thats going on, THEN place the rock in the tank, the tank will have enough bacteria in it when the rocks go in to start lightly stocking.

 

[sarduci]

Or, if you have the tank filled with water and all adjusted, while you are curing the rock, toss in a cokctail shrimp. Let it decompose, and that will cycle your tank just fine. It's a good way to do it if you buy base (dry) rock, so that you can start getting it populated with bacteria before you live rock even gets in there.

I did my entire tank with dry rock and a single cocktail shrimp. No live rock needed.