What is the difference

[JMorris271]

between cycling a tank and curing rock. Curing and cycling both live rock and dry rock. I thought they both were about throwing a piece of shrimp in the water so they stink.

[webslinger]

You could cycle a tank with cured live rock or with a shrimp.

[JMorris271]

So how do you cure the live and dry rock?

[Secondsbest]

Cycling a tank means establishing the bacterial colonies required to handle the systems planned bio load. Curing rock is the process of "resetting" rock and cleaning the dead life from it before it overwhelms the system it will be placed in. Curing also removes built up nutrients, in the form of algae growth and heavy bacterial film, that we may not want to add to a system. I believe both can be done simultaneously if new live rock has just enough dead/ dying matter on it to kickstart the cycle of a new setup, but many prefer to keep those nutrients out of a system. It it important to cure decaying live rock before adding it to an established system though!
Edit: I probably shouldn't say resetting as that is more along the lines of conditioning, or cooking old live rock. Curing has more to do with cleansing of the dead and dying life as a result of shipping or other causes without trying to eliminate the diversity of the rock.

[JMorris271]

I have dry rock coming in tomorrow. Can I wash it first with tap water and then move it to a brute filled with salt water and a pump or use sw for both.
I do have a RODI unit but not hooked up yet.

[Secondsbest]

There's no telling what's in your tap water. A rinse in a little store bought distilled or RO is fine though. The rinse is just to get the dust/ surface contaminates off. The salt water soak is to cure any dead matter on live rock that was dried. If it's dry rock quarried from land, be prepared to deal with some phosphate bound in the rock. It's nothing catastrophic, you just may have longer periods of cyano or pest algae outbreaks. The SW soak will start the cycle while you set up your tank. Just add some pure ammonia or a piece of uncooked shrimp to the dry rock SW bath.

[JMorris271]

We have a well which we use for a 10,000 gal koi pond. I have filled and topped off for about 12 yrs and never lost a koi except one by a blue heron. That bird had a $280 lunch
Do you suppose it would be safe use this to do the initial rinse?

[jerseygurl]

We have a well which we use for a 10,000 gal koi pond. I have filled and topped off for about 12 yrs and never lost a koi except one by a blue heron. That bird had a $280 lunch
Do you suppose it would be safe use this to do the initial rinse?

Fresh water fish can live in sewage, if you look a salt water fish the wrong way they die. In other words...no.

[JMorris271]

I need to get my RODI up and going then. It will produce 90 Gals a day. I don't want to pay Walmart .96 a gal for 75 or so a gal to rinse rock.

[Secondsbest]

The quality of your water table determines the safety of its water. I had well water while living in southern Appalachia. My cousin who works for a water works tested it for me, and my water had far fewer dissolved solids than the water (before their additives for corrosion control, fluoride, chlorine...) her company supplied to the public. In my fresh water tank, I was able to run ATO water straight from my household lines, and I had to buffer my water or PH would swing wildly. I don't think I would try that with SW, but it would be fine for rinsing rock and aquarium supplies.

[JMorris271]

I'll grab a sample tomorrow and get it tested. I haven't had it done in several years anyway.

[JMorris271]

I just received 100 lbs of dry rock. As dry rock has no dead or dying organisms on it would be fine to begin the cycling process eg. ammonia or shrimp at this time?

[JMorris271]

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