Cycling dry rock

[customclimates]

I am looking for some select pieces of dry rock; preferably the cherry picked Marco Rock for my upgrade in a few months. If you do not have a spare skimmer or light what is the best way to cure it from now to then? In a new tank this was easy to sit & wait it out. Not quite sure how to go about it at this point.

 

[smithcreek]

I cured mine for about 6 months in a garbage can with no light, a couple powerheads and a backpack skimmer. After the main funk was gone, about 1-2 months, I started putting about 1tbs of fish goo in a week. After 4 months the rock was able to completely cycle all the food I was putting in. Nitrates were at zero. It's the only rock I put in the 92, nothing from my previous tank. The tanks been up for 3 months or so and from day 1 the nitrates have been zero, and that's with a fairly high bioload built up pretty fast.

 

[customclimates]

What if you do not have the skimmer? This may be a very simple & a real newbie question but instead of reading first on the net I figured I would go direct and just put it out there.

 

[customclimates]

PM sent to smithcreek

 

[S Hunter]

You can just do water changes.. i did mine in a 30gal barrel 1 power head, no light no skimmer and did a 2 gal water change per week for 2 months.. i did start it off using water from my main tank..

 

[abwalker]

I think the thing to remember is that you aren't trying to save any life on the rock--there is none. When you cure live rock with a skimmer and light the goal is to let stuff thats going to die, die, and do you best to maintain a healthy environment for the stuff thats going to live. We did just fine with curing Marco rock in a big tub with buffered "used tank water," a heater, and a bunch of power heads. Periodically, I changed most of the water and at that time I swished the rocks really hard in a separate container to remove any soft stuff. Once the water quality was good in the tub, I changed the water once more, and dropped in a couple pieces of established rock, and a few clumps of cheatomorpra with hopes of establishing a pod population in the absence of fish.

 

[smithcreek]

dropped in a couple pieces of established rock, and a few clumps of cheatomorpra with hopes of establishing a pod population in the absence of fish.

I put a small piece of live rock in the garbage can on day one and the pods survived and multiplied. Pods were a large part of why I put food in. It was definitely nice to put the brand new rock in the tank and see some very large pods roaming around.

 

[Dave McReeferson]

Like Shawn said, it can be done with water changes in lieu of a skimmer. I also used water from a water change on the display to get it started. I added some sand and took some pods from the display a few times to get that rolling as well...