Sure it'll stink, but how badly is the question!

[hyperfocal]

Curing liverock, in-tank, in the living room. How bad an idea?

 

[Amphiprion]

Hard to say. It depends greatly upon how much life (and consequently, debris) is on the rock when you receive it. It may be nothing or it may just be the worst stench you have ever experienced.

 

[Ploppers]

My rock smelled bad until I put it in the water. Once it was in the water it was barely noticeable.

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6649464#post6649464 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ploppers
My rock smelled bad until I put it in the water. Once it was in the water it was barely noticeable.

same here. i had my tank in my bedroom when it was first set up. i used uncured rock, and it was super smelly out of the water. once i put it in the water and let the room air out for about half a day, i couldnt smell anything. i dont have a real good sense of smell though.

 

[gil716]

I had 2 week cured rock in my tank. 2-3 weeks into it, my living room smelled like the local pier during low tide. This only lasted about a week or so. Not sure what changed.

 

[jay24k]

It won't smell bad if you do it right imo. Get a big honking skimmer and it should be fine.

 

[kingtoad]

I had live rock curing in a trashcan at my apartment. Stunk up my whole apartment. I almost wanted to gag a couple times.

 

[dunedinbruin]

Cured 70 lbs in my new tank in the living room with the protein skimmer running. Smell was only noticeable during the water changes when the level was low.

 

[RandyP]

Cured my last batch in house in a new tank, the rock was "Fresh" meaning it still had all macro plant life and sponges on it when shipped.....About ran me out of the house the first 4-5 days after it was tanked...wow it smelled bad......I had almost forgotten how bad uncured rock could smell.....That was a good reminder not to cure it in house anymore.......I had the widows open, candles burning...you name it....lol......

 

[crazyfingersmike]

Rock curing underwater doesn't smell unless you aren't maintaining the water. Do waterchanges as normal, and you won't smell a thing.

 

[MiddletonMark]

Ditto on the w/c, skimming.

Just depends on what rock, from where.
I've gotten LR from the LFS + online that was nicely cured, no stink. And fairly fresh, without stink.

And fairly fresh, that reeked to high heaven. IMO a lot depends on how quick it got to you, how long it was out of water, etc.

 

[cato]

I used my skimmer and activated carbon, cured it in my tank in my livingroom. When you walk in my front door you walk into my livingroom an I never noticed any bad smell.

 

[cougaraug]

my wife almost made me axe the tank right there. Het question any time I want to buy anything new is, "will it stink up the house again?"

 

[diver.mike]

I'm curing some rock similar to RandyP's, which I just dropped in my 12 G NanoCube on Tuesday, It smelled bad in the box, and it smells bad in the tank, but is slightly less offensive.

I have a couple of additoional questions:

1. I want to use the rock to cycle my new reef tank. Should I still do water changes as crazyfingersmike advises, or let it be as other sources profess?

2. The tank is very, very cloudy. I can hardly see the rock that is closest to the aquarium glass. Is this normal? I put freshly broken and rinsed LR rubble in the first two sump chambers too, so maybe this has someting to do with the cloudiness.

Thanks.

 

[schristi69]

I just did some and didn't have any stink. I did water changes about 2-3 times a week and sucked up as much of the dead gunk as I could with each change. Lots of cyno now I think. Looks like maroon velvet all over the place.

 

[RandyP]

Divermike I did close to 100% waterchanges on my rock the first 4-5 days as my tank looked the same as yours (can we say pea soup)......After about the 5th day the smell pretty much went away and it cured nicely

 

[ACBlinky]

I cured 65lbs of mostly fresh LR in my tank. The first few days stank, then the smell died down a bit for the next couple of weeks. Then, like schristi69 I had a horrible cyano outbreak but it didn't last long with macro to outcompete it and lots of water changes to reduce nutrients. Overall not bad, and I have a VERY good sense of smell (the entire time my husband didn't notice a thing).

OTOH, the LFS where I work weekends recently got a fresh shipment of rock that STANK. It was in a large tank in our 'marine room', a round room in the centre of the department that has tanks all around the outside. It stank up the entire fish room, and going into the marine room was an experience in gagging. I never, ever need to smell that again!