How bad is the smell of curing LR in a tank?

[Anonymous]

How bad is the smell of curing LR in a tank? If I cure the LR in the tank itself running the pumps and skimmer.

Will my house still smell of low tide? I am talking about curing mail ordered LR.
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[Anonymous]

You can't smell it once it's under water. But that box of rocks is going to stink badly once you open it.

Louey

 

[melas]

yeah the box reaks a bit. . . so does this mean you are going to chuck your algae ridden live rock/ sand and start over??

 

[Anonymous]

I think I have no choice.

Sad thing is waiting another 6 months to get corals again and all the corals I have now will be donated to the LFS.
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[melas]

it will all be worth it in the long run! so where are you going for live rock?

 

[Anonymous]

Dont know yet. Trying to find some good stuff this time. I dont even know how much to get either.
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[Anonymous]

You can't smell it once it's under water.

LIAR!!!!!!!

When I started up, I did 90lbs of kaelini from Dr Mac & Sons, and did this very thing. I couldn't stay in my living room for almost a week due to the smell!

 

[ChrisRD]

You can always try putting your rock in the dark for a couple of months as some had suggested on other threads. To me, it seems you'd be accomplishing the same end-goal, only cheaper and quicker, and with less smell...

 

[Anonymous]

I thought about that but if this LR is really infested. How do I know its all gone after sitting in the dark for months?

When I tear this down I dont want this to re-occur. I am already fgoing to loose hundreds of dolars on corals that I have and when I have to start purchasing corals again.
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[Anonymous]

If you do a lot of water changes to keep the ammonia level below 0.5ppm then you'll barely notice any odor.

Be sure to pull off all visible sponges and anything else that looks half dead. Ironically, you'll end up with more sponges if you rip them all off the rocks.

 

[Anonymous]

I figure I will empty the tank - Bleach all the equipment and rinse.

I will add some sand this time as well. Not sure if before or after the LR is cured.

The only other possiblility for me is to maybe cure the LR at my parents house in their garage. Problem is I have no RO/DI there.

Can I cure the LR in tub without water changes? Then when the LR is ready transport it to my house and put in my tank? This way I can keep the corals I have.

If I need to do water changes, will it be bad if I use tap water for the curing?
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[melas]

if i were you i would hold off on sand until you get through the initial cycle and everything is all clear. i would do that in case you have any problems with algae or cyano. no sense messing up pefectly good sand! when i set up tanks, i put the live rock in and let it go for a few months then I put the sand in once the ammonia and nitrites are history.

As far as using tap water for water changes i wouldn't do it. who knows what metals (copper?) could be absorbed by your rock not to mention what it might do to all the little critters that are living on it. just buy a few plastic gas cans and fill them up at your house. they work well for transporting 5-6 gallons of water. just make sure you really rinse them well when you first get them. also make sure nobody ever puts gas in them!

Definitely keep the corals you have! What about taking your current live rock and putting it in a smaller tank or plastic tub and put your lights and filters on that for a few months?

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely keep the corals you have! What about taking your current live rock and putting it in a smaller tank or plastic tub and put your lights and filters on that for a few months?

That would leave the tank with the LR cycling with no skimmer of flow.
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[melas]

hmmm. . . you'll be short a skimmer either way then won't you? you don't have any reefer buddies up there who could keep your critters in the interim? i'd make room in my tank for them but i'm about 3 hours away in PA.

 

[ChrisRD]

You don't necessarily need a skimmer on a temporary holding vat for corals (not much bioload really).

You could pull the corals off the rocks that you want to save and set them up on eggcrate in a temporary holding container (filled with tank water so you don't have to acclimate). Throw in a few powerheads for flow and put your lights over it. That would leave tha main system pretty much intact, sans lighting.

At that point you'd be free to try letting the rock sit without lights for a while, but even if you want to sell it/trade it in and replace it, you're free to use your system to cure the new stuff. If you go that route, I agree with Melas about holding off on the sand until most of the crud is out of the new rock.

I still think if you got some good herbivores in there like maybe an urchin, some Mexican Turbos, a conch, etc. that it would finish off your algae problem.

 

[Anonymous]

I Can I cure the LR in tub without water changes? Then when the LR is ready transport it to my house and put in my tank?

If you're going to do that then just use dry rock and forget about live rock.

Curing the rock by letting the ammonia level climb high is, in my opinion, why a lot of live rock leeches PO4 and other nutrients. If you kill the critters inside the rock then, well, you have a bunch of rock with dead critters inside it.

 

[Anonymous]

Chris,

All the LR is covered. It appears that even though I have a Tunze Stream, 2 maxijets and the 790 GPH return is not enough flow to heep the stuff off of the LR. The LR keeps spewing/feeding the Cyano and red hair algae. Maybe I just dont get the whole thing. I dont know.

Guy

What dry rock are you talking about? How do you get the dead rock to become live then?
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[Anonymous]

Rob, why don't you just save yourself an assload of trouble by buying live rock already cured?

Uncured rock, to be cured properly, needs regular waterchanges, heavy skimming, and good quality carbon. Your house WILL reek for weeks, by the way, no matter what you do.

You can minimize the stench, like Guy says, by keeping ammonia levels as low as possible...waterchanges every 2nd day should do it. And open windows! :lol: The waterchanges will also help prevent some die-off from high ammonia levels.

Dry rock is the white base reef rock that they sell in pet stores, usually quite cheap, in the dry goods section. If you load up your tank with base reef rock, and put live rock on top, the base rock will become "alive" over time. Many people use this trick to save money on rockwork.

 

[Anonymous]

Unleashed? How do I know that the LFS "Cured the LR right? $10 a LB is bad as well.

I bought all "Cured" LR from the LFS the first time and this mess happened.

The thing that could have made the LR go bad was I had it in my 46 with Natures Ocean live sand. When I moved everything to the 58 I used Southdown that I cured in the tank by itself for 6 weeks befoer movign the 46 stuff into it. Maybe that killed the LR and I was doomed from day 1 with the 58?
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[Anonymous]

Rob,
I think your making things too hard for yourself! I know I've offered twice to let you borrow a skimmer and so has someone else. You've also been offered someone holding your corals. Why not take us up on it?

Cooking the old rock isn't that big a deal. Curing the new rock isn't that big a deal, or starting fresh with base rock isn't that big a deal either nor is ordering the right animals for algea removel on line.

Take people up on their offers to help.

And just an FYI for those who don't know, live rock isn't "live" because of what animals are living in and on the rock, it's the bacteria in the rock that makes it live. Sheesh, even this ijit gets it. :?