Live Rock

[dustins]

I'm starting a reef tank and am new to the hobby. I was wondering that if nothing is in the tank yet, do i still need to cure my live rock? If so, what would be the best way to preserve the life on it and can i do it in the tank? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Dustin

 

[mg426]

If you have nothing in the tank, you can cure in the tank. to preserve the life try and keep it wet/moist and get it in water ASAP.

 

[c_stowers]

I would still cure it in a bucket/rubbermaid. There is going to be alot of detritus and gunk that comes of the rocks as they cure that you dont necessarily want in the tank.

 

[IslandCrow]

I cured my rock in my tank without any problems, but I can almost guarantee you'll get some responses that strongly advise against it. I guess it probably depends on how much die off you're going to have on the rock. If there's a bunch of dead stuff on the rock, I'd scrub all that off at the very least. The secret seems to be good skimming and lots of water changes. Keep your protein skimmer going 24/7. I actually didn't do water changes when I cured mine, but I think it led to algae problems later and that was with only about 15-20 lbs of rock initially. One other option you may have if you're getting your rock from a LFS is they may be able to keep it in their curing tank for you. That's what mine does. I pay for it, he tags it, and I come back in a few weeks when it's cured.

 

[dustins]

Thanks for the input. Since it isnt much more work i'll probably cure it in a rubbermaid or something similar. thanks again.

Dustin