Rock cooking, it does work.
- Thread starter SeanT
- Start date
Mostly Curiosity
Mostly Curiosity
I know that this thread isnt PUSHING anyone to do this, but doesnt it seem killing off all your rock is a dramatic stage to a simple solution. I see the logic in it, but what is the difference in buying dry bleached rock from a shop, then waiting twice the amount of time to establish your tank, then finally getting your animals into it. I can probably see it for a new system then doping from an established system to speed things up a little.
What I did was simple, and I keep sps, leathers, more importantly 7 Clams, and there is 1 fish, zenia, Zoo's, Neo's, sun polyps (yellow and black). I had a problem with algea blooms from my hallides being on more than 8 hours, so I just pumped in more of a cleaning crew, jacked my PH to 8.4 steadily, and started to run my Halides for 8 hours, 4 hours in the morning, and 4 in the evening. Every since then I have not seen Hair algea at all, and the "Film" on the glass only has to be wiped off once a week.
Mostly Curiosity
I know that this thread isnt PUSHING anyone to do this, but doesnt it seem killing off all your rock is a dramatic stage to a simple solution. I see the logic in it, but what is the difference in buying dry bleached rock from a shop, then waiting twice the amount of time to establish your tank, then finally getting your animals into it. I can probably see it for a new system then doping from an established system to speed things up a little.
What I did was simple, and I keep sps, leathers, more importantly 7 Clams, and there is 1 fish, zenia, Zoo's, Neo's, sun polyps (yellow and black). I had a problem with algea blooms from my hallides being on more than 8 hours, so I just pumped in more of a cleaning crew, jacked my PH to 8.4 steadily, and started to run my Halides for 8 hours, 4 hours in the morning, and 4 in the evening. Every since then I have not seen Hair algea at all, and the "Film" on the glass only has to be wiped off once a week.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
Just to follow up on my previous about placing some older home made rock into my cooking tank, I just was checking it out and found that my dog has been um peeing on it. So I think I'm just gonna chuck it out, unless you feel otherwise.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
Not peeing in cooking tank, peeing on a pile homemade rock which has been outside after tearing down an old setup.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
My cooking tank is one of those 35 gal Brute trash can, with 2 rio 600 for circulation, a heater, and yes a cover. I have a second brute can which I will transfer my rock into, then back and forth every week until its done.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
I've given it some thought and I think what I'm going to do is place the man made stuff into the barrel of used cooking water for a couple weeks, it should have lots of bacteria in there to break down any nutrients, and that way I wont risk contamination or spiking ammonia with my currently cooking rock. Then after a that time I'll move it in with the good stuff to finish the process.
Siffy
New member
Why would you put a rock that's essentially nutrient free in water whose column is deliberately nutrient rich (due to the cooking already preformed in it)? I say essentially, because it may have some slight nutrients already on it due to ammonia from the dog urine. The only reason you'd get an ammonia spike in the cooking process would be from adding lots of raw base nutrients or more likely by killing off nitrobacters. But yeah, try to get rid of the dog pee (straight ro/di and good sunlight maybe?) before adding that rock to the cooking culture.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
The pee on the rock already has a strong ammonia smell, so I thought dropping it in with my already cooking rock would be like putting straight ammonia in the barrel. So I thought by putting it in the old water first then the bacteria could work on the ammonia and break it down. The reason I want to cook this homemade rock is not to remove nutrients or algea but to establish the necessary bacteria so that it doesnt instantly become a nutrient sink when placed in my display tank and eventually lead to impossible algae blooms, which is my previous experience with this rock. Currently my 90 gal tank is mostly homemade rock, and even though I change water regularly with good RODI and feed sparingly I have valonia which covers everything. I have spent many many hours trying to remove it but it just grows back faster than I can remove it. If I take a turkey baster and blast it at the rock huge clouds of detritus come out of little pores everywhere the valonia just seems to compound this. So I'm hoping that by cooking the rock first I can establish a bacterial population prior to placing the rock in the aquarium and avoid the algae which I have already experienced. Does this make any sense? It sure looks good on paper but I dont know.
causeofhim
New member
Quick question:
I have been cooking my rocks for a few weeks now. When I do the swishing of the rocks between Brute swaps, could I just use fresh RO water? I have been using saltwater but seems like a waste of salt. I go through a lot of water in this process and seems like saltwater would not be needed.
I have been cooking my rocks for a few weeks now. When I do the swishing of the rocks between Brute swaps, could I just use fresh RO water? I have been using saltwater but seems like a waste of salt. I go through a lot of water in this process and seems like saltwater would not be needed.
causeofhim
New member
Many people do a freshwater dip with some delicate corals w/o a problem. I wouldn't think a freshwater swishing would be a problem with liverock I am cooking.
bheron
Active member
Hey Sean, great thread. I started off on Bombers thread and came here. I'm completely sold on the idea and am in the process right now. One question, that doesnt seem to have been asked before, and I read the whole post, so I'm sorry if it has....
Q: How do I know my rocks are done cooking? Check the pop up thermometer?
Q: How do I know my rocks are done cooking? Check the pop up thermometer?
graveyardworm
Premium Member
bheron, you read my mind I was just about to ask the same thing. I tossed in a piece which is literally covered in bubble algae to see how long it takes to kill it. Its been a week and a half in complete darkness, and the stuff is still green.
NwG
New member
It can take a LONG time... I cooked mine for 15-16 weeks.. And they still had a small amount of stuff comming out of them.. Really there is no answer.. You will know by the amount of stuff they shed when swishing and dunking when they are ready... I would remove as much algae as possable during the swish and dunk times.. The good thing is you don't have to worry to much about popping the bubble algae when your swishing.. Just be sure to wash them good...
Happy cooking!!
nate D
Happy cooking!!
nate D
tgunn
Active member
bheron said:
Depending how loaded your rocks are with phosphate, it might not be a bad idea to monitor the phosphate level in your cooking tub.
The rock I cooked started off releasing lots of phosphates into the water. Each week the amount seemed to stay the same until finally near the 6th week it started going down considerably until finally it registered near 0.
At the last swish/dunk the rocks were still able to give off a bit of crud, but nowhere near what they did initially. Some would say I should've waited longer until they came out perfectly clean, but I did get rid of the PO4, and that's mostly what I was aiming for.
Tyler
