Curing Live Rock In Tank?

[Gwynhidwy]

I am setting up a 155g. I've found some rock that I like, but it isn't cured. Will curing the rock in the tank cause me problems down the road? I've always bought cured rock before and the idea of all that dieoff in there makes me nervous.

[Thinslis]

I am also setting up a 150g and my rock is now all dead after I broke down my old tank. I bought some plastic bins at Lowes and I just put all my rock in them with a power head and a heater in each one. I'll do some daily water changes and with any luck a lot of the die off will come out in the bins and when I get it to the new display tank in a week or two it will be mostly ready.

That is my plan anyway, their may be better ones, besides I hear that its going to stink pretty bad during the curing proccess.

[clavery]

You can cure the rock directly in your tank - it's just going to take some time for your water parameters to stablize before you can start adding livestock. Do frequent water changes and test your water - I would wager to wait 2 - 3 months if you have the patience to realize stablize the tank.

[Thinslis]

Here are a couple pics of the rock.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/pokinu_EQ/New%20Tank%20Build/DSCN0597.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/pokinu_EQ/New%20Tank%20Build/DSCN0596.jpg

[Lotus99]

The rock I bought was supposedly uncured, but the tank cycled in 3 weeks. Of course, this isn't typical, but it can happen. I think it's fine to cure in your display tank.

[cd77]

Two weeks for me too with uncured (cycled using live rock) plus I used bio spira (a product that is frequently debated over online). The LFS employee and I did a lot of scraping on a number of the rocks. I imagine that good circulation and filtration helps, but if you can cure it -- then cure it (http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=59) .

[Thinslis]

Step 2 of their curing process for in tank, no live stock contridicts step 4... Auquascape in step 2 then scrub periodicly in step 4?!? LOL sorry just found that to be funny.

[cd77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10688394#post10688394 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thinslis
Step 2 of their curing process for in tank, no live stock contridicts step 4... Auquascape in step 2 then scrub periodicly in step 4?!? LOL sorry just found that to be funny.

Yeah, their "Method B" for no-livestock tanks would be a pain in the ***, as you'd be constantly re-aquascaping. Use Method A (if you go by their guide) regardless of whether or not you have fish if you're going to cure. Again, I didn't cure my rock -- but I did choose carefully though who knows what is decaying in them-- but it looks like all you're really doing is keeping the little critters alive while waiting for the effects of the dead/dying stuff to go away. Get a bucket, bring it up to 80's, circulate the hell out of it, scrub the bad stuff off every so often, and empty/re-fill occasionally until your Amm/Ni are zero or so it seems.

[audio101]

That curing guide just gives me a headache. Just cure it in your main tank, you can tell how much die off will occur by the what's on it and how it smells.

[N8ster]

And, iuf you have skimmer, start running it. It will help get all the funk out of the water.

[Thinslis]

wow, the rock pictured above has only been in the water for about 12hrs or so, you should see how nasty that water is already! It will be ready for a 100% water change at the 24hr mark.