Rock cooking, it does work.

[tsquad]

Re: seanT

Re: seanT

Hey I don't know the first thing about cooking anything, much less rocks! I have to say however, I had a similar hair algae problem, I find that adding corals to your tank, and I dont mean one or two babies like I saw in your pics. I mean your rock had no coral whatsoever on it, around it or afixed to it. I found that adding large colonies of corals and especially xenids, and soft corals will absorb the nutrients at least in my tank it did, for whatever whacky reason it completely stopped my hair algae, and I did the same things you did, sea hare, turbos, emeralds, tang, etc... didnt do crap. I first scrubbed the rock, did a massive water change (changed my di resin, and sediment filters) stil had hair algae, then I added large colonies of xenia, zoos, etc... alage disappeared nearly next two or three days.

Just a observation, million factors could have been the cause, maybe I switched my aftershave that week, and my tankmates loved it.... no clue, not a scientist but common sense and what I've read tells me the coral were competing with hair for nutrients.

interesting concept though

You had a nutrient problem. Xenia and other such softies rely strongly on nutrients, which is why they grow so well in "dirty" water. That's why they don't grow very well in primarily SPS tanks, tanks with no nutrients. The corals were more numerous than the HA, and absorbed all the nutrients to grow, causing the HA to die off.

 

[SeanT]

Ok,
Had a little dinner and I feel better.
DitchPlains2, the question that should be asked is "WHY did you have an algae outgreak?"
The answer is stored up nutrients.
And whereas it is true that some corals will utilize a portion of these nutrients from the water column, in effect, the nutrients are still there.
I totally agree that many soft corals are extremely tolerant of these conditions.
However, Acropoids are not.
I advocate the rock "cooking" to not only fix a problem a reefer may have in regards to phosphorous leeching out of the rock work spurring on algal outbreaks, but as an "ounce of prevention, preventing a pound of cure" as well.

If I could take a ride in the "way back machine" to years ago "cooking" my rocks would have been the second step I took in my reefing career. The first being actually buying the rocks.

Sean

 

[cidory]

Sean I now have 2 tubs of rocks cooking away, I too was tired of fighting algae and nutirents. My BB conversion last spring helped but didnt solve the problem. As I removed rock today there was clearly loads and loads of junk on the bottom. Siphoned all up and changed some water , tank is sparkling clean now. Thinking about a closed loop now that the tank and rasing the rocks off the bottom to keep crap suspended as much as possible. My only rget is I didnt do it sooner or last spring

 

[SeanT]

My only regret is I didnt do it sooner or last spring

Mine too.

 

[KH971]

Will rock cooking eliminate zoanthids, I have 3 rocks that have been covered in brwon ugly zoanthids.

 

[NorthernCF]

The brown ones can be tough... it takes some time. But, yes

 

[barryhc]

Ok,
Had a little dinner and I feel better.
DitchPlains2, the question that should be asked is "WHY did you have an algae outgreak?"
The answer is stored up nutrients.
And whereas it is true that some corals will utilize a portion of these nutrients from the water column, in effect, the nutrients are still there.
Sean

If the nutrients are still there, then why, "in effect", did the algae "recede"?

> barryhc

 

[Siffy]

He already answered that. In the post you quoted. "Some corals will utilize a portion of these nutrients from the water column". The nutrients are still in the crap rotting inside the pores, nookes, and crannies of your rocks. The ENTIRE point of cooking your rock is to remove that junk from them. Adding something that will temporarily uptake nutrients faster than algae isn't a solution. Basically, it's winning a battle but losing the war. The algae may lose the battle for a short time after adding xenia but it'll end the war. Now, after rereading his addition to this thread, I've come to the conclusion his post doesn't belong in this thread.

SeanT,
Is there another thread active on RC right now that deals just with Rock Cooking? The problems, experiences, etc of just it and not other things like "Well, instead of putting your rocks in the oven, you could try this...." type of posts. It's sad this useful thread (along with at least 2 others on the same topic) is now 11 pages long and takes quite a while to read but only probably a 1/4 of it is ultimately relevant.

-Will


Maybe the mods will give SeanT a thread he can mod himself somewhere allowing him to delete irrelevant and off-topic posts.

 

[barryhc]

The extraordinary accelerated growth of DitchPlains2's corals he had after changing his aftershave produced a shaded region which enveloped the nuisance hair algae and thus suffocated it of its primary needed resource: Light. SeanT, think that's a good explanation?

Relax Siffy. I see how careful you are of these precious resources.

Corals in general, use nutrients, and more corals are better than less corals. Adding corals to solve a problem really does not seem like a solution. ( a "xenia filter" in a refugium maybe )

Having lots of corals in general is most likely a benefit. This might have some effect on when or how often rock cooking might become necessary.

> barryhc

 

[Chrash236]

Well, Today was the day I removed all of my rock so I could start cooking it,

Things I learned

1. My tank had a ton of gunk behind the rocks, ie build closeloop, and place rocks on legs, for no dead spots.

2. My skimmer is removing around 1 gallon an hour right now.

3. My corals in my sump are for sure dead, after the mag 9 stirred the whole tank up, water is still not clear,

4. Can I powerwash the rocks to speed this up? Humm post and see what people think.

5. I hope this works, used 50 gallons of new salt water today, note to self buy more salt, 3 buckets should do it.

6. What would happen if I just replaced all the water in my system with three day old salt water???

7. Would it be cheaper to drive to the coast and shake my rocks there for a week? could be a fun trip too!!

Random thoughts although curious on the powerwashing of the rocks?

Wish me luck

Chris

 

[barryhc]

Well, Today was the day I removed all of my rock so I could start cooking it,
Chris

Things I learned

1. My tank had a ton of gunk behind the rocks, ie build closeloop, and place rocks on legs, for no dead spots.

>> place rocks on legs, no dead spots! > The most overlooked "feature" in effecient aquascaping!

2. My skimmer is removing around 1 gallon an hour right now.

3. My corals in my sump are for sure dead, after the mag 9 stirred the whole tank up, water is still not clear,

>> filter socks in your sumps overflow compartment, or anything else with fine filtration ( canister, floss, whatever ) and change very often, like every 3 hours.
Many of those corals could recover "eventually" if you get them into some clean water.

Best of luck! > barryhc

 

[SeanT]

4. Can I powerwash the rocks to speed this up? Humm post and see what people think.

Chris,
This would kill the life on the live rock.
To speed it up swish and dunk vigorously to get as much out that you can each time.
Sean

 

[NorthernCF]

Power washing uses very little water. I know some folks PW up here. I doubt enough would soak in to kill everything and would go a long way to get the crud off the top. I think the key would be just to hit the spots that really need it. JIMO

 

[NorthernCF]

Power washing uses very little water. I know some folks PW up here. I doubt enough would soak in to kill everything and would go a long way to get the crud off the top. I think the key would be just to hit the spots that really need it. JIMO

 

[Chrash236]

Chris,
This would kill the life on the live rock.
To speed it up swish and dunk vigorously to get as much out that you can each time.
Sean

What I ment by powerwashing was to hook up a large pump 4000plus gallons and have it run over the rock do you think that would speed up the process, Funny I bet you thought that I would have my Powerwasher hookup outside blasting away at the rock with 4200psi LOL

 

[NorthernCF]

That would deffinatly help. I use a mag 18 right on the rock and a old tooth brush.

 

[SeanT]

What I ment by powerwashing was to hook up a large pump 4000plus gallons and have it run over the rock do you think that would speed up the process, Funny I bet you thought that I would have my Powerwasher hookup outside blasting away at the rock with 4200psi LOL

Yes, that would help out.
And yes, I thought you meant a power washer because so many people think that is a quick shortcut.
Sorry.
Sean

 

[NorthernCF]

I still think a power washer isn't that crazy if you use it judiciously.

 

[SeanT]

I think it can do more harm than good.

 

[graveyardworm]

I just started cooking some of my rock in preparation for my new tank. This stuff is all real LR from LFS, I have some stuff that I made myself awhile back, I cured it, and it spent some time in an old setup of mine growing coraline and other algeas. This stuff has been outside for about a year since then. Do you think I could cook it along with my real stuff so that it could develop a bacterial population or would this be a waste of my time?