Live Rock Stinks Doesn't It?

[Tobman]

My LFS is recommending I use uncured live rock (i.e., cure it in my tank) to save money and to develop the N cycle in the tank. My tank is in our living room and if it stinks, even if only for 2-3 weeks, my wife isn't going to be happy, nor I really. LFS says, no it won't smell in the water and with a cover on the tank.

Should I believe him?

 

[hangles]

Depending on what dies it will smell to high heaven. you can count on that

 

[Tobman]

That's what I figured, might need an alternate plan, like putting in cured live rock.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

you're not gonna smell it if its in the water tho. At least i never have. I dont even smell it in the uncured lr tanks at the lfs, and that rock smells like POO when you take it out lol. I'd go uncured if money is an issue. It really doesnt smell when its in the water, specially after you caean off all the junk on it.

 

[jeffbrig]

It's all a question of what's on the rock, and how well it was transported. It's possible to get LR that won't smell at all, even uncured. I bought fresh aquacultured rock, and it never smelled, and I never had ammonia over .25ppm. On the other hand, heavily populated LR that's been in a damp box for a few weeks can smell so bad that it runs you out of the house.

If you need to go uncured to save money, consider stashing a few rubbermaid bins in the garage or on the patio for a few weeks to cure it. Just rig up some powerheads for water movements, and throw on a skimmer if you can..

 

[jmack]

The stench filled my whole house but i was curing it in a rubbermaid tub (about 20 lbs in 17 gallons). My husband moved it to the back porch after the first night.

 

[Waxxiemann]

When fully cured it should smell fresh no?

 

[ACBlinky]

Fresh uncured rock with little dieoff or fully cured rock doesn't smell bad, it's things like dying sponges, anemones, coral, worms etc. that stink.
The LFS is right, the rock won't smell nearly as bad once it's underwater, but you will still be able to smell it when you get close to the tank. Once the cycle is over your tank will smell clean. You'll know when it's fully cured -- the human nose is as good as any test kit when it comes to ammonia

 

[fantastic4]

This is any easy one!

trust me, 100% live rock aka "fully cured" does not smell at all -- only ocean like smell.

If anything is decaying then you have smell -- like rotten eggs.

If your are curing in your tank, then you will want to run excellent filtration to remove decaying matter. This may or may not smell depending on your setup and your house HVAC. In my case I always run canister filters (big ones with tons of filter floss when I'm curring and skim skim skim, the skimmate will smell for sure, so depending on your skimmer you may or may not have smells for ever).

It's like the ocean, go to a lagoon pick up a rock and smell it. It smells exactly the same when curred.

 

[DSMpunk]

If there is a lot of sponge die-off then it will smell horrible, possibly for weeks. I would get cured rock.

 

[MCary]

You can reduce the smell by running carbon.

 

[REV]

I never researched this... But I was told you could speed up the process a bit by raising the temp a bit. My rock was fully cured live rock - 2 day ship - so it had some die off. I ran my temp at about 84 and added Cycle. My ammonia level was undetectable at 4 days!! Believe it or not... I don't know about the whole cycle as far as balancing everything. I waited another week before introducing livestock. Ran skimmer also, and it pulled a lot of "gunk" out. Just eat fried food for dinner and smell up the house with something else... :lol: