Thoughts on curing times for rock?

[Brian]

I'm thinking of adding some rock to my system, but I'm not sure if I was to go with cured LR or dry rock. I'd like to do dry rock, mainly cause I've found a few nice pieces of the stuff around, but my main concern is curing time. Can I just toss it in the system as is without too much effect, would cured LR be better for this...? There's about 150 lbs of rock in there now that's been in place for the life of the system and then some.

 

[Ba19Ma88]

If you have that much LR already in the tank go with the dry/base rock it will color up soon enough and on th e+ side it's alot less $$$$
Bruce

 

[Brian]

I'm not worried bout the color and life on the rock, I'm more concerned that dry rock would need to be cured as well. I can't think of why but I have heard that in the past...

 

[thenine]

Base rock - I would give it a good rinse and scrub in a bucket of RO water, but other than that it should be good to go, and it will save you a ton of money.

 

[Ba19Ma88]

The curing of dry rock is more to do with stuff you may pick up on the beach that may have been "live not to long ago"

I agree with thennine a good scrub and in you go....as long as it is Base rock. If was live not long ago you can soak in in bleach for a while then leave in sun for a few days to a week I woudl then soak again in plain ro water to be safe and then leave in sun again just to be safe.

 

[NateHanson]

Some people have had slight nutrient spikes with Marcos dead rock, so I'd do it with caution. I think as long as you're not adding 50 pounds all at once there won't be a problem. Do it 20 # at a time to spread out any possible die-off, and I'm sure your tank's biofilter can handle it.

Nate

 

[Brian]

That's what I'd heard too Nate, that's what worried me (not about Marco's just in general). Trouble is the pieces I'm looking to add will be BIG show type. Guess I'll just take it slow and monitor it closely... Thanks

 

[NateHanson]

I think you'll be fine Brian. You've got so much mature rock in there that I doubt the very small amount of decay from the dry rock would cause any problem. I'd just spray it clean with a hose, and put it in about 20 pounds at a time.

I added about 15 pounds of Marco's rock to my 120g total system a month ago, with about 80 pounds of mature rock in my tank, and there was no effect from it.

 

[~Flighty~]

I wouldn't expect a problem. With the big pieces I would soak it in a tub of water overnight and then spray it with a hose. More for the dirt and dust and stuff that can be inside all of the little holes. That dry rock is fantastic.

 

[scavdog]

Treat the rock like the bare bottom folks on RC are. The "cooking" of live rock seems to rid the rock of a large amount of detritus. The process takes over a month in some cases, but folks claim amazing results in the reduction of p04 and such.

For those of you unfamiliar with the process, it does not have anything to do with sticking your liverock in an oven.

hth,
Joe

 

[scavdog]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=437342&highlight=cooking+liverock

 

[MarkO]

Not sure about the rock Marco sells, but I just picked up 25#'s of "dry" rock from the LFS (cost was more than what marco sells it for but I'd kill myself to do that commute this weekend). The dry rock seems to have been pulled from the ocean and dried (no cleaning). So I scrubbed as much dead crud off of it with a wire brush and have it curing in a 20 gal tank. Ammonia is reading 0.50 ppm, so I'm expecting a bit of a cycle. Hopefully the 5-10#'s of live rock I've placed in the curing tank will speed things up.
I'll keep you posted.

 

[marco67]

What I've found with the dry rock we are selling/using is that while very clean looking, it still has the remains of organics dried inside caves, nooks, crannies etc... after about a week of soaking this stuff starts to come loose. It looks a lot like leaf mulch. I'm not sure if it actually spikes any reading or if it's just messy, but either way I'd give it al least a week soak followed by a good strong powerhead rinsing before using in an established tank.