Curing Pukani Rock

[chubble]

I purchased some Pukani rock from BRS and am currently curing in a tub with heaters and pumps.

Can I add Stability to help speed up the curing process or is better recommended to just wait for the whole process to take place on it own?

[Chopper65]

Did you do anything to the rock before you put it in the tubs?
The pukani I got from them was pretty dirty and smelly. I pressure washed it real good, then gave it a bleach bath for 24 hours, then gave it all a muriatic acid bath for 25-40 min.
I then pressure washed it good and its been sitting out to dry for a few days now.

I was told it was good to go in the tank but I dont have my tank yet. Was also told it would be ok to put in tubs with saltwater heater and pumps and no light until my tank was ready, so thats what Im going to do in the next cpl days.

I think you can add a product like Prodibio or Bio Spira to help things along.
Im new at this as well and Im sure someone will chime in soon.

[CrayolaViolence]

If you want to speed it up, ad a skimmer. That's about all you can do. I've never bleached or acid washed any rock. I just give it the time it needs in a tub with circulation. I'd wait at least a week before adding a skimmer though, and do a 90% water change. Get rid of the worst of the gunk then start over with fresh saltwater, or as much as you can. The skimmer should get pretty active. You usually know it's good to go when your skimmer is no longer up taking a lot of crap.

[chubble]

Did you do anything to the rock before you put it in the tubs?
The pukani I got from them was pretty dirty and smelly. I pressure washed it real good, then gave it a bleach bath for 24 hours, then gave it all a muriatic acid bath for 25-40 min.
I then pressure washed it good and its been sitting out to dry for a few days now.

I was told it was good to go in the tank but I dont have my tank yet. Was also told it would be ok to put in tubs with saltwater heater and pumps and no light until my tank was ready, so thats what Im going to do in the next cpl days.

I think you can add a product like Prodibio or Bio Spira to help things along.
Im new at this as well and Im sure someone will chime in soon.

I did not do anything like that. When i talked to BRS they said just do what I am doing, just didnt know if there was anything I could do to speed up the process.

[Hoopster81]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145395

[ktownhero]

I did not do anything like that. When i talked to BRS they said just do what I am doing, just didnt know if there was anything I could do to speed up the process.

And I wouldn't do anything like that, your process is fine. People act like Pukani is going to destroy their whole tank, their house and their family.

Just let it cook for a few weeks and throw it in your tank. Worry about more important things that don't involve working with dangerous chemicals. All you end up doing is destroying good looking rock and save yourself maybe what? A month or two of what your tank would have done naturally anyway? And at what risk? Harming yourself or your tank? I mean think of this logic: people soak Pukani in acid and bleach because they are afraid that, due to its porosity, it is holding phosphates deep within. I mean *really* think about how flawed that logic is. To get rid of a chemical that, at worst, might cause some temporary algae, they are embedding chemicals in the rock that are guaranteed to 100% kill everything if they ever get stuck and later "released" from the very pores they are worried about in the first place.

*Sigh* I digress. It's just something that rubs me wrong because success in this hobby is fundamentally all about patience and letting things run their course. And yet so many people get steered awry, particularly in regards to dry rock.

[Chopper65]

Just because its not the way you do things doesnt make it wrong ktown. The rock I cleaned was pretty smelly, very dirty and tons of dead critters on it. I didnt destroy my rock, I simply gave it a good cleaning. Working with the "dangerous chemicals" isnt a hard thing to do if you take the proper precautions. Work outside, wear gloves and a mask and dont get it on you isnt that hard to do.

Im not skipping steps or cutting corners to save time. I still plan to cure my rock in warm saltwater a few weeks and go through a cycle in my tank. I wasnt telling chubble to do what I did, I simply asked if he had done anything to his rock beforehand.

I felt that with as dirty and as many dead critters were on my rock it needed more than just soaking in bins a couple of weeks.

[ktownhero]

Just because its not the way you do things doesnt make it wrong ktown. The rock I cleaned was pretty smelly, very dirty and tons of dead critters on it. I didnt destroy my rock, I simply gave it a good cleaning. Working with the "dangerous chemicals" isnt a hard thing to do if you take the proper precautions. Work outside, wear gloves and a mask and dont get it on you isnt that hard to do.

Im not skipping steps or cutting corners to save time. I still plan to cure my rock in warm saltwater a few weeks and go through a cycle in my tank. I wasnt telling chubble to do what I did, I simply asked if he had done anything to his rock beforehand.

I felt that with as dirty and as many dead critters were on my rock it needed more than just soaking in bins a couple of weeks.

I didn't mean to imply it's "wrong". I just think it's a lot of effort and danger for essentially no benefit in the grand scheme of things. And I feel like it's the first response you see in every thread about Pukani. People need to know that those of you that perform these acid acrobatics are in the minority and there are tens of thousands of successful tanks with Pukani (and other dry rock) that never did that.

I know what you mean about the organic material and smell, the Pukani I received was like that as well. I just threw it in a brute for about 3 weeks while I built my tank and then put it in the tank. Tank cycled beautifully, and the decaying material gave constant fuel to the bacteria. There's still visible organics coming off of it, but I'm still waiting for my first bit of algae. And I mean that as-in I'm eager for my first bit of algae to show up so I can get a CUC lol.

[Chopper65]

When I got the rock I had no intentions of doing the acid bath. I sat for hours picking dead stuff out of it and I know I didnt come close to getting half of it. After I did the acid bath and neutralized it, i was amazed at the amount of stuff in the water I poured out. Ive worked with the acid before on concrete so I knew the precautions to take. I just felt in my case it was a better way to go. My rock has been drying for several days now and as soon as I get salt Im putting it in the brute cans for a cpl weeks.

The link Hoopster quoted is a good read as well.

[ktownhero]

When I got the rock I had no intentions of doing the acid bath. I sat for hours picking dead stuff out of it and I know I didnt come close to getting half of it. After I did the acid bath and neutralized it, i was amazed at the amount of stuff in the water I poured out. Ive worked with the acid before on concrete so I knew the precautions to take. I just felt in my case it was a better way to go. My rock has been drying for several days now and as soon as I get salt Im putting it in the brute cans for a cpl weeks.

The link Hoopster quoted is a good read as well.

I'm glad it worked for you and if I offended you in some way then I do apologize. I have a tendency to come off more gruff than I intend when I write.

All I'm saying is that I don't think this is the first suggestion that should be given to people when they ask about curing dry rock. And that's not directed at you specifically, it's just a pattern I've noticed in my own research. There's always someone at the top of these threads recommending this extreme measure. It's driving a nail with a sledgehammer IMO.

[Chopper65]

No offense taken at all

[ktownhero]

No offense taken at all

:beer:

[Hooloovoo]

I've been curing mine for about three weeks now. Mine came in quite smelly and full of dead critters (mostly rock-boring sea urchins) like Chopper65 said, but I elected not to use any bleach or acid. I figured the dead organics would just break down and provide bacteria food to start the cycle. I am curing in salt water out on my patio, so the smell was not a big issue for me, and it went away pretty quickly anyway. I have an old MJ1200 PH for circulation and an old Mag 3 pumping water through a filter sock that I rigged up to be suspended above the curing tub.

I also stuck my skimmer in there to start breaking it in while getting rid of some of the excess organics. My phosphates were really high to begin with, but I got that down to nearly undetectable levels by dosing lanthanum chloride. Ammonia is still at 1.5 ppm as of the last time I checked, and I was just barely detecting any nitrite. I'm thinking of going ahead and doing a big water change this weekend.

[tkeracer619]

Love Pukani but I strongly recommend using a Hanna 736ulr phosphorus checker before putting the rock in a tank. Confirm that the phosphate is low and that it stays low before adding it to an aquarium.

Some people have had mixed results with acid washing pukani. It is pretty fragile rock and could possibly be damaged by the acid as well as just exposing fresh rock ready to leach phosphates. Some have had success.

Lanthinum Chloride is very easy to use while curing the rocks and will precipitate the phosphates that are free in the water columb. As you can see in my thread that was linked above the rock will leach phosphate back into the water for quite some time. Deal with it now, not after you put it in the tank.

I'm currently running an "experiment" with LaCl while curing 1000lbs of dead live rock. It is very telling but I am probably at least another month or so away from posting my setup and results.