Rock cooking, it does work.

On a side note I have had some rock sprout aptaisia that had been previously free of them for over two years. The only major change was a much higher nutrient level. That's not to say they can't live in cleaner environments, but they certainly seem to like filth better.
 
Hey Sean I found your thread on Dr Rons forum and followed it for its short life cant say that I didnt see closed thread coming oh well. There were some interesting things pointed out there about rock cooking that I really hadnt grasped yet. I still have my rock cooking preparing for my new set up and after follwing some discussion that Ron had going I was beginning to question whether or not I was doing the right thing with my rock and even now still have some lingering doubts.

Is there any way to set up an experiment to somehow prove that there are no ill effects when LR is "cooked"? Currently I have four 10 gallon tanks sitting around and would be willing to try to set something up to compare cooked vs uncooked rock. Being alittle low on funds at the moment I would like to keep it as simple as possible. Would this experiment even be worth it? I'll wait for any suggestions and add what I can and see if we can put something together. Some questions to answer what kind of equipment, how to ensure rock is equal from start ( would four different pieces work, or should we split one large one?), lighting (would standard 10 gal fl fixtures suffice?), set up BB and SB tanks?
 
I don't think that would be worth it.
The only experiments you could do easily would be to test the PO4 of the rock "cooking" tub at the start and end of your "cooking" time.
Also, the visual test, where you can see the pods, sponges, worms etc still on the rock but no algae.
You could test for ammonia after you put rock back in your display.

The thing is David, noone has ever stated what it is that this/these mysterious, mythical organism(s) that supposedly die during "cooking" and "kill" your live rock are.
We are supposed to guess the origins of these fantasy lifeforms.

I am too busy enjoying algae free rock. :)

Sean
 
Did any of you have majanos in your rock when you started cooking it? I'm wondering if a 3 month stint of cooking would kill off Tulip and Majano anemones due to absense of light.....
 
Yeah it does seem like it would be a huge task probably beyond my ability to show what existed before and then after, and then there would be a long term study to see what happens. Perhaps the testimonials of people doing it will have to be enough. Too bad there isnt anyone with expertise and time to get it done properly, and show something more conclusive other than the algae was there before and now its gone.

BTW I just finished cooking my LR and moved it to the sump in my new set up until I'm ready to place it in my display.
 
I did have alot of aiptasia and some majano when I started, I just took my rocks out after almost 3 months and there doesnt appear to be any left. Time will tell. Also had bubble algea which appear to be completely gone, however I did check and remove these as I saw them during the cooking process.
 
Glad to hear it...Something to keep in mind for the future...Bastages :-P

8543MajanoRC-med.jpg
 
Tryign to figure out how long this is going to take. I am on week 8 or 9 and the rock is still dumping detritus.

Do I have to wait until all the detritus stops?
 
Those of you that ran the main tank rockless while the rock was cooking.

When your rock was ready how did you add it back to the tank? Did you use 100% new water in the tank? Will that hurt the corals? Will the tank cycle?
 
Rob I was hesitant as well to add rock, but as I was told everything that causes a cycle is gone from your rock. You can add a small piece of rock from your main tank to "re-populate" bacteria into your cooked rock for your own oiece of mind. I did that added my rock all at once with no problems. I made sure to change my socks everyday for about 2 weeks
 
Your cooked rock should be fully cured and covered with bacteria. It should not cause a cycle because of that as well as having less (the whole point of cooking it) dying matter on it. There's nothing you should have done to your rock while cooking it that would kill any bacteria, as they are not photosynthetic creatures.
 
WOW,I just finished reading this thread.It took two days:eek2: I have to say that I am very intrested in the cooking thing.I just set up my 75 reef several months ago with 150 lbs of premium LR and a SSB.I wish I would have read this first.I am convinced that this and the BB technique is what I would prefeer after a lot of thought and reading.I am not going to tare down my system at this point and do any of these things anytime soon but I will watch closely to any exsesive algee problem due to Phos.I do baste my rock every other day and the sand bed and the amount of Dit is amazing and I hate it.I have a lot of flow and several fish but I would love the look that is acheived with cooked rock and a BB................I have a couple questions....First one is=If I buy some large base rocks from www.reeferrocks.com for my planned 210 fowlr tank would that rock have to be cooked rite away ? or do I have to get that rock going and establish some bacteria on it first before cookin?I know I read a little about this in this thread but am still a little confused about the base rock cooking.I would be adding some LR to that tank as well to seed the base.I want to have plenty of bacteria for the large fish I want and that tank will have a sand bed and refuge with sand and LR to make sure there is enough Bacteria to handle the load I want to hit it with.I dont want a FOWLR tank to have a BB because I like the look of the sand too much for a FOWLR.However I do like the BB for the reef for cleanlyness and the ability to trap the dit in the water colum before it can become harmefull amonia.....I hope yall understand my Questions here.Thank you for this great thread.I am a believer :D
 
New dry rock? Yes you should seed it with something, live sand/live rock. I'd suggest throwing some (50lbs) from your already running tank in there with the new base rock. That'd get you started in a cooking rotation (of your current tank's rock) and seed the new rock in 1 step. After 2-3 months you'd remove the cooked rocks and place them back in the tank and take some more out of the tank and add it to the cooking/curing culture. 2-3 more months and that rock along with the base rock you had to cycle should be done. That'd leave you with 1/3 of your existing rock left to cook if you went by SeanT's earlier suggestions to do 1/3 at a time if you're cooking rock from and established system.
 
Well I am going to leave my reef tank the way it is for now because its just now getting settled in so to speak.I may address that as a swap to cooked and BB at a later date....Bomber...how long and how should I seed my base rock before cooking it along with the live rock?Can I just mix the base and Live rock in rubbermade plastic bins with propper temp,water movement and water changes?How long will this take? Then do the cooking rite?:)
 
so how do you COOK the rock ... ????? i am curing lr at the mo in the garage .. is that the same ??????? dark and water changes ???
 
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