Live Rock: To Cure or Not to Cure Alone ...

[Playdope]

Hey all,

I am facing a decision that I was hoping those of you with more experience could help me make. I am getting ready to add 130 lbs of LR to a newly setup 100 gal tank I have... but there are two options...

The local place cures the rock by putting it in a tank with some powerheads, and lets it sit for about a month... this stuff goes for $4.75 per lb.

The same place said I could buy the rock uncured from him for $3.98 per lb. and do the curing myself in my 1 bedroom apartment on the patio/deck in a 50 gallon trash can I have. Will this trash can be large enough? He said I shouldn't need to scrub anything off or do water changes (he said water changes would make the cycle just take a lot longer.... he said to just keep the rock in the trash can with powerheads for about a month until the rock starts turning purple again. He said at first it may have some white fungis looking stuff on it, then some brown on it, then it would start turning purple. I have a hang on Aqua C Remora skimmer that I could try putting on the trash can, but he said I'd be emptying it every 30 min.

The Premium Figi rock is the same in both options - from Walt Smith. I just can't decide which option to go with. This is my first reef tank, so I have never had live rock.

What are your suggestions for my position?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[Kevin Lloyd]

You are going to too much trouble. If your tank is brand new, then just throw all that rock into your new tank, along with live sand and let it cure on its own that way. Have your powerheads, protein skimmer, and filter all up and running. The filter needs all that bacteria that happens when rock cycles like that. I just did the same thing with a brand new 90 gallon tank and everything is looking great. Also, you may want to look into one of these websites like Gulf-View.com or Tbsaltwater.com and see what their rock looks like. They have pics and if it looks much more colorful than what you are seeing at the local petstore then I would definitely go with the website. I got mine from Gulf-view.com and the rock is fantastic. It goes for $2.99 lb then add about $100 for shipping. That will work out the same as the $4 something a pound your looking at and the rock is great stuff. The guy from Gulf-View, Dale, is great. He'll walk you through everything you need to know and take good care of you. He pulls the rock out of the ocean at 7 Pm the night before and ships it overnight. It got to my house by 11 AM. That is pretty good time. But like I said, you are going through too much trouble with the garbage can plan. Just toss all that stuff in your tank and let it naturally cure and cycle. Good luck.

 

[monkeyboy]

He said I shouldn't need to scrub anything off or do water changes (he said water changes would make the cycle just take a lot longer.... he said to just keep the rock in the trash can with powerheads for about a month until the rock starts turning purple again. He said at first it may have some white fungis looking stuff on it, then some brown on it, then it would start turning purple.

Sounds like this guy doesn't have much of a clue! :?

Depending on the source of the rock, it may require a bit of scrubbing to remove any blatantly dead debris (sponges, plant matter, and other stinky decaying unlucky travelers). Methinks that the guy you talked to got live rock curing mixed up with cycling a tank. Doing water changes on uncured rock (remember, uncured means the rock contains dead, decaying organisms, hence the 'white fungus stuff') is mandatory as the ammonia and nitrite levels rise as the dead items decompose. A protein skimmer will reduce the amount of water changes, but with the small volume of water you plan to cure in you'll need to do waterchanges to keep the water parameters in check. If the ammonia and nitrite levels are allowed to rise unchecked, they will indeed again drop, but during this period many critters that would have survived will now be dead, producing more ammonia.

So, the 'hands off' approach of just tossing in a couple of powerheads (don't forget a heater!) can do more harm than good, wiping out much more life than you need to. Since this is likley how he does it in the store, i would purchase the rock uncured (or find another store with more experienced staff) and do it yourself, doing water changes as your test kits demand. I'd use the AquaC, and clean it daily as alot of skimmate will be produced (indeed you will need to clean it more than this, but it's the best way to preserve life on the rock). If there's no sand or anything in the main tank, cure it in there!

And about the rock, Fiji rock is consistantly loaded with lots of dead organisms, so keeping the water quality under controll is a must. I'm personally not a big fan of this rock, since much of it comes in as rubble, and the majority of the time i've unpacked it at the shop it's been absolutely loaded with death (crushed urchins, etc). The only plus is that it's cheap, occasionally colorfull, and readily available.

 

[Anonymous]

I wish I could find LR here for under $6.99 a lb.

 

[Playdope]

Well, curing in the main tank sounds much easier, because yes, this is a completely new setup.......... but ... a few concerns.... I am in a small 1 bedroom apartment. Just how long and how badly will the stuff smell? Will the whole apt. be consumed in a potent rotten egg smell? How long? Need to tell the Mrs. just exactly what to expect if I decide to do that!

Jon

 

[krullulon]

Well, curing in the main tank sounds much easier, because yes, this is a completely new setup.......... but ... a few concerns.... I am in a small 1 bedroom apartment. Just how long and how badly will the stuff smell? Will the whole apt. be consumed in a potent rotten egg smell? How long? Need to tell the Mrs. just exactly what to expect if I decide to do that!

Jon

my 4 bedroom 2 story house was uber-stinky for about a week when i cured 120lbs of rock... but then it was fine.

 

[fujianboy]

I wish I could find LR here for under $6.99 a lb.

You close to flushing, NY? Fishtown on northern boulevard has them for $3.99 a lb.. in terms of coralline algae growth and other stuff on it, it's kinda bare.. so you could either use it as base rock or if you have existing rocks with coralline, you can seed these.. nevertheless, they should still be alive with bacteria and what not...

they often have some very cheap fish there.. purple tangs for 29.99, algae blennies for 6, ocellaris for 7, tomato clowns for 5, yellow tangs for 14, snowflake eel for 7, pysch mandarin for 7, blue tang for 13.... you can tell i've been there often.. =P

http://www.fishtown-usa.com/index2.php

 

[monkeyboy]

pysch mandarin for 7

YESSS! Finally, mandarin's affordable for the masses!!! :roll:

 

[Playdope]

Oh wow, nevermind on the apt. curing then. I need to do it on the deck or buy it already cured. Is it worth putting up with that death smell in the 1 bedroom apartment just to use a skimmer when curing??

The other option is getting like 2 - 30 gal rubbermaid tubs and putting them on the deck. I have an aqua c remora hang on i could use on one of the tubs, but no other skimmers that would work on the other one. My display tank skimmer is a Euroreef CS6-2, but thats a submersable skimmer as I'm sure ya know so... thats no good.

Jon

 

[monkeyboy]

Oh wow, nevermind on the apt. curing then. I need to do it on the deck or buy it already cured. Is it worth putting up with that death smell in the 1 bedroom apartment just to use a skimmer when curing??

The smell can be curbed by passing all air that comes out of the skimmer through some activated carbon, but you shouldn't let the skimmate accumulate to the point that your whole house stinks! Just clean it regularly, you've got a good skimmer, use it! It will be well worth the aggravation, which would be a lot less than dealing with rubbermaid tubs outside. Either way just make sure that you keep the temperature stable and the ammonia and nitrite very low by whatever means necessary.

 

[pcragg]

Your LFS was right about one thing, your Aqua C will have to emptied every 30 minutes or else nasty skimmate will run all over your floor. I modified the collection cups on mine with tubing so it automatically drains into a 5 gallon water jug. I recommend you do the same.

When I tank cured all my rock, I had to empty the 5 gallon jugs every few days.

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

You are going to have to use the skimmer, one way or the other. The dead organisms are going to decay, no matter where you cure the rock. I purchased a really large rubbermaid tub, something like 50gallons or so, and cured all my rock in my garage. I too have a remora pro, and used it to keep the water from becoming toxic.

The other concern you are going to face is the temp of the water in the tub if you cure your rock outside. It works both ways, too cold and everything can die, too hot and you get the same result. Make sure if you cure the rock outside to keep the tub out of direct sunlight and preferably in a cool spot. Make sure you use a heater for any cold nights.

Now, that being said, has the store owner showed you any samples of the uncured live rock? If not, make sure it's not bare and boring when he gets it. The live rock at my LFS is very bare of any life, and has almost no coralline algae on it. For me, it was worth the trouble of curing the live rock from a online retailer since it had tons of life on it.

Peace,

Scott.