Well here's what's up. I am working on buying 100lbs of once live now dried fiji rock from NC. The plan is to buy it and place it in a curing vat until I get the 90G that I am working toward (6 months or so) but was wondering if you guys have any suggestions as to equipment needed (besides Power head and heater) and the process it's self (to do WC's or not to do WC's) and what type of light if any is needed? My thought is to get it and let it cure in the vat at work in the basement. Suggestions? Thanks.
re-curring live fiji rock
- Thread starter rnhrtfan
- Start date
coralreefer
No Pistons
Since it's dead rock I'd be worried about the decayed organics that are now bound in the rock.
I'd hold it in a container with a power head and heater but no light. Basically "cook" it.
You'll find the rock will start to "shed" the dead bacteria phosphates etc. Keeping it dark will encourage the rock to be bacterial driven vs algae driven. In other words the bacteria will consume excess nutrients/organics not algae.
You could just blow the rock off like Mary suggested and siphon the detritus frequently. Depending on how "dirty" the rock is you might want to clean it up with water changes (true "cooking"). When you notice detritus buildup in the container dunk and swish the rock vigorously in the dirty water then do a 100% water change. Eventually bacterial turgor will clean the rocks and you'll notice a marked decrease in detritus.
If it were me I'd also seed it with a couple pounds of live rock.
thanks ladies for the help. the idea is to get it place it in a container in the basement with a heater powerhead and skimmer and basically let it "cook" until I am ready for it (6 months or so). periodic water changes if needed and it will pick up minimal light from outside through basement windows or I also have a spare 3' flourescent fixture from an old tank that I could use if need be. but it sounds like for most of the time I am better off just letting it pick up the outside light and not anything to promote algea growth.?. deffinately was going to add some live rock to seed it but should I do that from the beginning or wait a little while for that?
coralreefer
No Pistons
Ideally you'd cook rock in complete dark. Ambient light is ok but no supplimental lighting is needed or wanted. IME you'll either need to blow off the rocks any syphon the detritus frequently or do regular water changes, dunk and swish first, until the rock stops shedding. Otherwise it'll just stew in the all the gunk you're trying to get rid of. With rock cooking the most important part is exporting what the rock sheds. The more you can export quickly the faster it will clean up. Once you can go a couple of weeks with minimal shedding your good to go.
If you're planning to seed the rock anyway I can't think of any reason to wait.
coralreefer
No Pistons
Nope.
I have recured rock and purchased uncured rock to cure it myself. To make things easier it would better if you can get the "tub" or container raised off the floor to make it easier to siphon the detritus off the bottom. The water will get scumy and there will be all kinds of junk falling out of the rock. I prefer to use a empty aquarium so I can see what is going on. I put my heater in and 2 powerheads and an air stone in bottom of tank, I've never had a skimmer available to use on rock, I'm sure it would help! The junk/decaying organisms bubble out and you can siphon off bottom. Swish the rocks like Amy said and roll them over and put back into tank. When you 1st put the rock in the container you will need to change water frequently- on uncured I changed 50% of water every 2-3 days. As it cures you will know by looking at rock and water when to do a water change. I waited until the rock was in good shape before I seeded with "live rock". Then I started feeding the rock! Last time I did rock, (Oct. 06) I cured 250lbs. of tonga branch. It stunk really bad for about 2 weeks and lots of junk emerged from it! The rock turned out real nice and is now fully covered in coraline. I would do that again just to get the variety of coraline color!
hope this helps!
hope this helps!
