cured live rock and uncured live rock. . .

[Skerp]

Hey can someone please clear this up for me and tell me what the difference is between the two? I think uncured rock is rock that still smells bad and that's the kind you are told not to purchase at your LFS. But I am not sure. . .Also how do these two relate to cycling a tank? which should you use? And if you do accidentally buy uncured rock(the kind that smells bad) how do you cure it? Also if i buy dry base rock or make my own rock, which of the two should i use to seed it? I'm assuming the answer to most of these questions is the same, I just don't remember which is which and the major differences between the two.

Thanks in advance! :)
~Skerp~

[muttley000]

I would treat all rock as uncured until you know for yourself! Cured rock means that all of the dead stuff has been removed and good bacteria is established on the rock. The smell test is good, but there could be recently dead things on the rock that haven't begun to decay yet. Never put new rock in your setup unless you have made sure in a separate container that it is OK, or that you know for a fact it is OK. I personally would put it through a full quarantine unless it came from a tank that I knew was disease free.
HTH,
Matt

[jchase1970]

If your LFS sells cured and uncured then they should have 2 separate tanks or rock, a uncured tank that they are curing rock in before they put it in with the cured rock. If your LFS sells only live rock then when they get rock in they just add it to the rock tank and you can bet they are adding uncured rock to the cured rock and any rock coming from this tank should be considered uncured and cure it a week at home just to watch the levels in it to see if it has cycled or not. You wouldn't want to put something in your tank that could set off a cycle.

[KafudaFish]

Cured: has gone through the cycle
has experienced die off due to shipping
can handle the biological load of your tank because the bacteria have been established.

Uncured:
is fresh rock from the ocean
is or will experience die off
cannot handle biological filtration yet

Both can be used for a tank but the uncured will take longer. The cycle length depends on the amount of rock and the die off.


Uncured is cheaper than cured because it has not been sitting in storage somewhere.

Is one better than the other? Yes and no depending on what you are wanting it for. If you are wanting as much diveristy as possible than uncured maybe the way to go but if you are in a hurry, have the cash and want a place for corals to attach cured rock will work.

Also just because it is cured does not mean you won't experience a cycle once it is in your new tank.

[Sugar Magnolia]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165224
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=196454

Happy reading!! :D

[Sisterlimonpot]

Uncured rock isn't bad rock, it's just that uncured. Meaning that if you add it to an established tank you will incur a cycle (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates). And you don't want any ammonia in an established tank.

Buying uncured rock may save you some money when you're setting up your tank. Just keep in mind that you are going to have to go through the entire cycle prior to adding any livestock.

Cured rock is just that, it has already cured and is teaming with beneficial bacteria. In the content of buying cured live rock, you must understand that you will encounter die off during the transportation of the rock from one tank to the other. Limiting this time will allow for minimal die off and quite possible never see a cycle (it'll be too quick). But if you leave it out of a tank for a long period of time it will become uncured live rock and you’ll have to start the process all over.

HTH

[KarlBob]

When divers pull rock off the sea bottom, it's often covered in sponges, algae, hard and soft corals, anenomes, etc. Most of this stuff cannot survive the shipping process, and lots of it is chopped away on the spot. Rock is heavy, therefore expensive to ship. Water is, too. Nobody's buying the water at the other end of the line, so most places don't ship it. Rock is usually shipped damp, not wet, and exposed to air.

By the time a piece of rock comes out of the shipping crate, only the hardiest things have survived. Anything else that was still attached when it went into the crate is dead or dying. We call this uncured live rock. Responsible re-sellers will place uncured rock into a large container of water with a powerful protein skimmer, and leave it there for weeks before selling it. When all the dead stuff has been processed, and the rock has re-built healthy populations of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, we call it cured live rock.

{Nit-Picking} Adding uncured live rock to your existing tank will disrupt the cycle that is already running in your tank, but it won't cause a nitrogen cycle to occur. Here's why:

When we say a tank is cycling, we mean that it is establishing a nitrogen cycle. When we say that the cycling process is finished, we don't mean that the nitrogen cycle in the tank has stopped. Far from it. We really mean that the cycle is well-established and running smoothly.

So, saying that adding uncured rock to your tank will cause a nitrogen cycle... is ridiculous. The nitrogen cycle is already running, and it will keep running. Tossing a bunch of ammonia-releasing dead organic matter into the tank just throws the cycle out of balance. There's more ammonia than the current crop of nitrifying bacteria can eat, so they reproduce wildly to catch up. A little while later, all the excess nitrate they've produced reaches the denitrifying bacteria, and it's their turn to play catch-up. Eventually the ammonia level drops, a bunch of bacteria starve, and the populations shift back into balance. {/Nit-Picking}

If you want absolute maximum diversity, look for rock that is shipped immersed in saltwater. It's expensive, but you'll probably see things that rarely survive damp shipping. At least one of RC's sponsors, Tampa Bay Saltwater, ships aquacultured rock in saltwater. There may be others.

To cure uncured live rock, put it in a container of saltwater, hook up the best protein skimmer you've got, and wait. If there are photosynthetic organisms on the rock that you want to keep, put a light over the container. If not, don't bother. A couple of water changes and weeks later, the ammonia and nitrite levels in the container will drop. When nitrite is zero, and nitrate is real low, you've got yourself some cured live rock.

[Skerp]

Thanks you all very much for clearing this up for me. So when I start a tank I will use Uncured LR in order to cycle it. . . Also I read somewhere that before you use uncured rock to cycle a tank you should get a scrub brush and try to remove all the dead organisms, is this true?

[zeroeffect]

I got rock from the lfs that came in a box of 50lb dry cured rock. How long will it take for this rock to change into LR? can anyone tell me?

[hayes_101]

from what I was told it will take up to 1 year in a well established tank. corect me if I am wrong I am new to this as well

[Sisterlimonpot]

Thanks you all very much for clearing this up for me. So when I start a tank I will use Uncured LR in order to cycle it. . . Also I read somewhere that before you use uncured rock to cycle a tank you should get a scrub brush and try to remove all the dead organisms, is this true?That almost comes down to preference. You can scrub it off to prevent a high ammonia spike. but at the same time you don't want to scrub something off that you may want.

[808Rob]

[QUOTE]To cure uncured live rock, put it in a container of saltwater, hook up the best protein skimmer you've got, and wait. If there are photosynthetic organisms on the rock that you want to keep, put a light over the container. If not, don't bother. A couple of water changes and weeks later, the ammonia and nitrite levels in the container will drop. When nitrite is zero, and nitrate is real low, you've got yourself some cured live rock.
/QUOTE]
Now i'm confused as well. Uncured LR will have dying organisms on them that will spike parameters in tank (understand that) but LR contains mostly coraline algae and is'nt that what we all want (right). Coraline algae also needs Zooxanthellae algae to survive which needs proper light and water quality right? So how does the LR survive in just a container?

[Doc's_reef09]

always cure the rock. it will mess ur cycle up bad. i didnt know this and bought rock my first tank that was up and running and killed everything cause it spiked so much. i put in 80lbs worth also.

trust me i WILL never do that again.

[808Rob]

I've had a FO tank for about 8+ months now but have only introduced uncured LR about 3+ weeks now. I've had nigh nitrates and some cyano prior to introducing the LR and since about 4 days after putting the LR in my tank, the nitrates have dropped down to about 20 ppm(which is still high). About a week ago my nitrates went up again but then down again, since yesterday to just below 20ppm. The cyano seems to be back again but it's not covering everything. Is my tank cycling with the uncured LR in it???
If so, do I just ride it out or should I take action??? I've been using AZ N03 but my bottle is about out and no one sells it here... sucks to be me....

[808Rob]

always cure the rock. it will mess ur cycle up bad. i didnt know this and bought rock my first tank that was up and running and killed everything cause it spiked so much. i put in 80lbs worth also.

trust me i WILL never do that again.

Did it kill the LR you bought as well?

[muttley000]

sucks to be me....

How bad can it be given your location:lmao:

I would just ride it out at this point

[Jenessa_anne78]

I didn't realize like rock had to be cured. My nitrates have been sky high for the past couple days. Should I take my rocks out or will that cause more damage?? My tank has been set up with fish for months but just now started having problems with alge and my nitrates. Help!!

[gone fishin]

Should probably start a thread, but I will try to help.

Have the fish been in the tank the whole time?

what is your ammonia levels?

If your getting nitrates then your rock is processing the ammonia and nitrites.

[machodik]

Came across this posting.

I also encountered this isseu, last december I bought 50 kgs of live rocks and replaced all my old rocks then I got a high nutrient No3 (50-100 ppm) , PO4 ( 0.52 -0.58 ppm) using salifert and Hanna kits respectively.

Now, i can not bring down my nutrient although I keep dosing Kz zeobak and zeostart and sponge power as regular regimen.

will I be able bring down this high nutrient? i have been advise to have 50% water change but I am wondering in case some decay things attached to the rocks will keep decomposing and water change just remove the nutrient in the water level, so it may be unending process of high nutrient back and forth? or perhaps water change make the beneficial bacteria to overcome the lesser nutrient level due to WC?

[leviburns89]

Has lanth. Chloride been brought up in this thread yet?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[JimON]

Hi everybody. I am in the setup process of a new tank, so let me see if I got this right. If you have an established tank, uncured live rock is a no-no, as it will throw off the established cycle and possibly harm inhabitants. On the other hand, if you have a brand new tank, and want to have as many critters as possible, (understanding there might be some undesireables that need to be dealt with), one could cycle the tank with the uncured live rock. In my case, 90 gallons with a 24" sump that I will also add LR/LS to, and 12" fuge, as long as I go through the full cycle with the uncured LR, I should be OK?

[JimON]

Bumping for a little help on my question?:beer:

[sde1500]

Assuming your definition of uncured live rock is rock directly from another tank or the ocean into yours then yea, you're fine. You'd be fine if it was even added to an established tank. Die off would be minimal and the established tank could manage it.

[JimON]

Thanks, SDE1500, but no, I am thinking I will buy it at my LFS. OK to cycle with that?

[sde1500]

Thanks, SDE1500, but no, I am thinking I will buy it at my LFS. OK to cycle with that?



No issue at all

[JimON]

OK, cool. Thanks!