yeah 90% of reefing is keeping the microscopic critters in line and happy! I would just get new live rock from a decent place, put it in the tank sans corals. run the skimmer hard, lots of water changes, and when things level out put a coral or two in and see how it goes. i would definitely pitch the old rock or maybe use it as a decorative garden piece.
Considering it I really dont want to ship the corals in fear of them gettign damaged and more stressed, so I would have to find a local to take them.
Not sold on the coooking yet. If this rock is infested or loaded with matter it will probably just come back again. I dont want the smell in the house.
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Home insurance Forum
Rock is shipped out of water. This means that the animals in and on the rock, will probably die or are already dead. Curing means to store the rock, either in the tank, a bucket or rubbermaid container with water to let the die off happen. You do not want it to happen in an already established tank, but it is ok to happen in a new system. You then skim and do water changes to keep as much life on the rocks alive. Cooking the rock is basicly the same thing only the rock has already been cured and has been in the system for some period of time and is usually full of phosphates and unwanted algeas.
how much do you need? i have some that is covered in purple coraline, no algae, tank has 0 nitrates. . . i have a bunch that is algae free with some coraline, again no nitrates in the tank (i have two tanks. . . one is coral-centric , the other fish-centric
I am skeptical about buying more critters to clean the algae since everything else I have done as failed.
Just priced out some critters. Looking at $50 for shipping. I called a bunch of LFs's and no one heard of mexican turbo's and none have urchins.
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lost season 5
Just priced out some critters. Looking at $50 for shipping. I called a bunch of LFs's and no one heard of mexican turbo's and none have urchins.
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lost season 5
Rob, nicely cured live rock should smell good. Like a well-kept tank smells.....oceany. UNcured rock smells like dirty workboots and makes your nose revolt. Lift a piece up and SNIFF it. If it smells bad, choose another piece. Most decent stores will separate their rockwork according to it's level of curedness. New stuff is usually kept in a separate container while it cures, and a GOOD store will tell you how long it's been curing for, and what level of risk it has, give or take.
To ensure the health of your live rock when you transfer it from the store to your home, you can ask the guys to pack it in IO buckets with water and lids. This will keep the bacteria alive until you can get the stuff home and transferred into your tanks.
Ideally, when adding new rock to a tank, you should use common sense. If the only live rock available to you at the time smells a teesny bit, then you can add smaller amounts of it to larger systems and check your ammonia levels daily. Sometimes even the BEST stores can be caught in the middle of a live rock cure. Ask them. If your LFS sucks, I feel for you. But at least you can minimize the damage by making sure the rock you do buy is dealt with properly. If you really don't trust your LFS, then always put your new live rock into a large bin for a week with a skimmer and some powerheads. Test the water for ammonia. When all parameters are reading safe, you can use it in your tanks.
Buy the rock that smells the best, so you have the minimal amount of work before you can use it. And good luck
To ensure the health of your live rock when you transfer it from the store to your home, you can ask the guys to pack it in IO buckets with water and lids. This will keep the bacteria alive until you can get the stuff home and transferred into your tanks.
Ideally, when adding new rock to a tank, you should use common sense. If the only live rock available to you at the time smells a teesny bit, then you can add smaller amounts of it to larger systems and check your ammonia levels daily. Sometimes even the BEST stores can be caught in the middle of a live rock cure. Ask them. If your LFS sucks, I feel for you. But at least you can minimize the damage by making sure the rock you do buy is dealt with properly. If you really don't trust your LFS, then always put your new live rock into a large bin for a week with a skimmer and some powerheads. Test the water for ammonia. When all parameters are reading safe, you can use it in your tanks.
Buy the rock that smells the best, so you have the minimal amount of work before you can use it. And good luck
This is an already long thread but I'll throw in my 2c anyway for what's worth.
Keep in mind that the "end result" may depend on what you want. If you want your LR only for its filtering capability then you can buy cured from LFS or keep it in the dark. If you're like me you may want to keep as many animals alive, including photosynthetic (algae, corals, etc.). At least my LFSs are doing a very poor job at curing LR - it's reallly dead except for corraline and bacteria.
As you may guess from the answers you got the LR may smell. It depends a lot on how it comes. My first batch smelled a lot (pretty bad!!). My second one had practically no smell.
I think that active carbon helped with the smell of my first batch (can also be a coincidence).
One piece of advice - jump start the process before the LR is in: throw in a piece of shrimp every day for 2 weeks before the LR comes. This way the LR comes to a healthy population of bacteria (make sure there is a surface for them to stay, say a sponge/filter/ etc.) and will have a much smaller cycle (if at all).
Good luck,
Mihai
Keep in mind that the "end result" may depend on what you want. If you want your LR only for its filtering capability then you can buy cured from LFS or keep it in the dark. If you're like me you may want to keep as many animals alive, including photosynthetic (algae, corals, etc.). At least my LFSs are doing a very poor job at curing LR - it's reallly dead except for corraline and bacteria.
As you may guess from the answers you got the LR may smell. It depends a lot on how it comes. My first batch smelled a lot (pretty bad!!). My second one had practically no smell.
I think that active carbon helped with the smell of my first batch (can also be a coincidence).
One piece of advice - jump start the process before the LR is in: throw in a piece of shrimp every day for 2 weeks before the LR comes. This way the LR comes to a healthy population of bacteria (make sure there is a surface for them to stay, say a sponge/filter/ etc.) and will have a much smaller cycle (if at all).
Good luck,
Mihai
If you are staying BB then IME cooking the rock isnt something that can be skipped with or without new live rock. Either way it is filled with detritus and will shed in a BB system for some time, causing N03 problems for months.
Curing it in the DARK with just a powerhead is fine, as this way it becomes bacterial and the detritus is pushed out of the rock. You should open the bin and shake the rock off every few weeks and change the water in the bucket. If you do it right then after a few months the rock will be completely clean and only have small small amounts of detritus left in it. The rock wont shed and detritus wont build up so fast, so no n03/p04 problems. It also gets rid of any aiptasia, marco algeas or any other pest that may be on the rock.
Otherwise your BB tank will suffer for many months, even with new LR. You can always go DSB but that system is far from perfect as well.
JMO
Curing it in the DARK with just a powerhead is fine, as this way it becomes bacterial and the detritus is pushed out of the rock. You should open the bin and shake the rock off every few weeks and change the water in the bucket. If you do it right then after a few months the rock will be completely clean and only have small small amounts of detritus left in it. The rock wont shed and detritus wont build up so fast, so no n03/p04 problems. It also gets rid of any aiptasia, marco algeas or any other pest that may be on the rock.
Otherwise your BB tank will suffer for many months, even with new LR. You can always go DSB but that system is far from perfect as well.
JMO
i believe that's quite an assumption. i've never "cooked" my rock (or even heard of doing so until getting on this site) and have never had hair algae at all. I just run the aquarium with no fish, low light, and a lot of current and very strong skimming for a few months until you see the levels pan out. i agree with Mihai that putting the rock in absolute dark is probably not necessary or even desireable. "Cooking" will definitely be an end to faunal diversity. when i got my last shipment of live rock a few years ago i found a tiny polyp that looked like a beehive on the rock. turns out it was some kind of green favites. today its about 6 inches across. i've also inherited numerous polyps and seaslugs from my rock.
Ben":2n9s6pdz said:
I agree with Ben - it will be clean. Ask yourself if this is what you want. I know you're scarred by your recent algae problems, but there are many of us (say around 95%) that didn't cooked their rocks and have no hair algae either. For me the goal of curing the rock myself was to preserve as much of the original life as possible (and I think I'm doing OK at it). If you want really clean rock I'd say to go with dry base rock (much cheaper and very clean) and just throw in 1-2 pieces of true LR - the 5 pods and 5000000 bacteria on those 2 pieces of LR will colonize the rest and you'll probably get what Ben said (clean rock) with half the price and pain...
JMO
M.
I didnt say that no cooking = hair algae, just more maintance on a already high maintance Bare Bottom system. Do you run BB or SSB/DSB melos?
I was reffering to a BB system not any other type. The idea with BB is a more sterile, system where rocks constantly leaching detritus out will cause a N03 problem, this isnt true with other types of systems that use refugiums or sand to reduce N03.
I was reffering to a BB system not any other type. The idea with BB is a more sterile, system where rocks constantly leaching detritus out will cause a N03 problem, this isnt true with other types of systems that use refugiums or sand to reduce N03.
i had bare bottom tanks for years and never had any problems with algae. only in the last 2 years have i started using ssb's. the key to barebottom tanks is removing the detritus on a weekly basis. also having good flow and adequate "ventilation" in the rock helps make removing detritus very easy as well as preventing it from collecting under the rock. when i set up my rock work i make a "house on stilts" with only a few pieces actually touching the bottom of tank.
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