curing marco rocks

[wimby]

Hi I have been curing marco rocks since thursday the 29th of september the ammonia is really really high and I was wondering what the white filmy stuff is that is on the rocks it comes off easy and is very slimy feeling I have 2 powewrheads in there and some of my sand from another tank and some live rock as well looks as if the silmy stuff is coming from the wholes in the rock it is just so weird I don't know if I should do a complete water change and rinse therock off or what any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[KathyC]

Are you curing them in a tank? A skimmer would be a good idea..need some way to get the crud that is dying off out of the water. A water change will help.

If you rinse the rock off try & use rodi water to do so.
Why didn't you cure them in another container separate from your current rock & live (?) sand? The ammonia is likely going to kill off anything that was previously alive.

 

[vanceny]

I would scrub them and do a water change. Try to get out any dead matter before changing the water and make sure to swish them around. If you're not curing them in your display tank then I would use this as an opportunity to do a water change and use the tank water for the rocks.

 

[House of Laughter]

Wimby,

marco rock is basically dead colonies from all over the world that washed up onto a beach somewhere.

I have had great success with the following method:

fill tub with rock and RO/DI - run it with pump and heater for a week
Second week, completely empty the bucket and fill with RO/DI water again
Third week, completely empty the bucket and fill with water change water if you have it from your system. If not, then fresh salt water.
Forth week - second round of salt water - completely empty the bucket and fill with water change water if you have it from your system. If not, then fresh salt water. Add skimmer if possible.

Week 5 - add to your system.

Each time you take the rock out of the bucket, swoosh it around in the water to dislodge any dead animals or gook stuck in the nooks and crannies.

That's how I do it - not that it is "right" but it works for me.

House

 

[wimby]

I have them in a tub so no skimmer is availible i do put my water chnage water in there and there are some worms and stuff moving around i have seen them its just weird white filmy stuff on the rock as for the sand and live rock i put in there it was from a 12gl cube that i have had set up for awhile i took the fish and coral out in may and put them in a different tank so it has been running with the rock and sand since then its like crushed coral and just 2 peices of rock that i didn't like the shape of and i need to do mods to the 12 gl so i threw all the stuff in the tub with the marco rocks i will swoosh the rocks and all get rid of that crappy water and start all over again with water from my water change i am in no hurry to put these rocks in my excisting tank i was just wondering what the film was i looked it up it is die off thanks for the help

 

[nycmat]

i am curing them. he reccomends that you cure them. i have had a bunch of hair algae come up, took it out and scurbed it down, got rid of it, then i just cured it in tank with skimmer. need that like kathy said. mine is a new tank though

 

[wimby]

Well I don't have a skimmer available it is in my tank unless my tank could go a little bit without the skimmer there are 5 small fish and some coral in there when these rocks are done when ever that will be I will be redoing my 45gl I'll just clean them up when I do my next water change and use the water change water like I said I am in no hurry to redo the tank it's killing me to wait but I will

 

[wimby]

Hi ok yesterday I did a complete water change on the rock and used some of my tank water for this change as of now the ammonia is .25 which is the second color on the chart so far so good hope that helped the rock out and that I will soon see a nitrate spike Thanks for everyones help

 

[jf2381]

Usefull thread. I'm going to get a few #'s at the NJRC swap. He suppose to bring about a ton of rocks.

 

[wimby]

It is just beautiful rock I can't wait to redo my tank with it and ammonia is almost zero woo hoo :lol2:

 

[wimby]

Hi just thought I would fill you all in on my rocks Ok ammonia almost zero nitrite well its a pretty purple color and nitrate looking like a pretty orange color both are very high starting to get some brown on the top rock that the light hits the most I sure hope this doesn't take to much longer