Curing your DIY Live Rocks

[Schadiest1]

a great way to cure your rocks is to put them in the back of your toilet, provided you don't use any chemical tablets back there. this way you don't have to keep doing water changes.

 

[Hedonist]

Reefers can be so ingenious!!! Watch me do this, then forget



Denise

 

[Driftwood]

Just think, everytime you flush you are using that much less water too...

 

[jacksonsmom25]

I take it the water its in doesn't have to be declorinated?

 

[Schadiest1]

using the back of the toilet is just like using regular tap water, both ways have worked fine for me.

 

[smtarr]

How ingenious! Did anyone make any extra rock for me? Jason, Denise, etc? Hope you did. Looking forward to my new tank. My new home is to be delivered June 5th, should be able to occupy it by July 4th! As soon as the 265g is up and running, and CYCLED I'll have a tank tour. Maybe August or September. Can't wait but going to be real busy till then. Florida was GREAT and found the nicest LFS in Naples. One of the owners Don was sooo nice. Says he'll frag, attach and box corals himself. Able to view specific frags online and he'll overnight them. I'll post the specifics when I finish unpacking. Good to be home but really miss the sun and warmth. Wore shorts yesterday to try to keep what little tan I have and nearly FROZE!! See you all soon. Sue

 

[JackRent]

Please tell me you are kidding about the toilet. Someone please explain the idea of "curing" in fresh water.

 

[Schadiest1]

it's no joke. curing the rocks is the process of letting the rocks release all of the excess chemicals in the cement that would raise the PH in your tank. Curing takes roughly 6+ weeks to fully "cure". Using the toilet is constant water changes. If you were to soak the rocks in buckets, you'd have to change the water every couple days. This way the water change is simple.

 

[bunsenburner]

Here are some pictures of the cave rock I hastily put together at the meet.

It has 3 concerete feet and sits like a tripod. There is also a cave with a larger entrance in front and the small side entrance is barely visibile in the top picture.

The bigger front entrance is shown here

The main cave entrance is shown here. The entire rock is about 8 inches across. The cave looks like the sort of place a firefish would hangout? Some of the black sand effect an be seen as well. Not bad for a first time ever. You could make some really cool things.

 

[Paul B]

It does not matter if you cure in fresh water or salt. You are just trying to rinse some lime out of the cement. I usually cure in fresh water unless the piece is too large and I put it under my boat (in salt water)
This piece is three feet long and my toilet tank wouldn't do. I was thinking of putting it in my jacuzzi but my wife had other plans.
:eek1:

 

[Schadiest1]

Matt, that rock looks pretty good. Is the 'test' mixture holding pretty strong?

 

[bunsenburner]

I thought Paul B's looked real sweet.

Mine looks like a real strong rock. May try and drill a few holes using a cement bit to make recesses to make frag placement a bit more snail proof. Less plastic bits and more oyster would have looked better.

 

[Paul B]

Here is another one. These PVC rocks are also hollow.
Paul

 

[xinumaster]

Why not use the sw you removed from your tank during water change to cure your diy rocks. That is if your do weekly water change.

 

[Schadiest1]

I use water change water to do the final cure on my rocks. After the rocks are done with the fresh water cure, I do 2 more weeks in used saltwater.

 

[jacksonsmom25]

what differance does it make, when you do the change over to saltwater? does it add anything benefical to the rock?