curing live rock

[DAN-O]

i have some live rock that was stored in some buckets when i shut my last tank down. i am trying to cure the rock in a 55 gallon tank but it seems like nothing is happening. i have had the rocks in the tank for about 10 days now and there is no ammonia present in the water. the water is crystal clear
and there is no foul odor at all. am i doing something wrong?

 

[Killerdrgn]

Is it in salt water or fresh water? And was it dry when you stored them in buckets?

 

[DAN-O]

they are in salt water now. when i broke my tank down i just put the rocks in a bucket and they were there for about 6 weeks. the rocks on top were dry but some of the rock on the bottom were still a little damp.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Did you check on them every day for the 10 days and where are they located? If it's in a very well ventilated area you might have missed the smell. But if you want to 100% make sure you have it cycled you could toss in a cocktail shrimp into the tank and let it rot some. Then check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. If they immediatly comes back to 0 then it should be good to go. Or you could just have defective/old test kits.

 

[DAN-O]

i am using mardel test strips and i tested every other day, about four times in the 10 days. should i throw in a cooked cocktail shrimp or a raw uncooked shrimp.

 

[Killerdrgn]

i think either way, as long as it rots.

 

[Tim]

Go with raw.....

 

[basiab]

If the rock was clean then you really will not get a cycle and no ammonia. The way it cycles is that dead stuff from the rock rots and creates ammonia and that gets the process going. If there was nothing dead or dying on the rock then there will be no ammonia created. So you have to create the cycle by placing something in the tank that will generate ammonia.