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Cooking and Curing Rock....
So, to keep with the title, over the last few months I have been acquiring used rock when the price was right, I have on average paid $1/lb. sometimes it was live and sometimes it was dried, it has sat on my back porch in a Rubbermaid until yesterday. You see we are moving in August and I will need the rock soon.....
I'll go through my cooking first and the curing second... Cooking: Yesterday I filled the Rubbermaid and 2 buckets with water and put the rock in. I wanted it to soak and see what I could get off before I start the process. By shaking the rock and with some light spraying with the hose I did get a bunch of gunk off the rock. It still had a bunch of old dried algae though. Once it had soaked (12-18hrs) and been rinsed I put it out to start drying again. I ran over to RONA and got a jug of Muriatic Acid (20% hcl). http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pse6424f75.jpg Today, I got started, it took me about 4 hrs to get this all done but I'm finished. I took the Rubbermaid and filled it 2/3 with water, and then fit in as much rock as I could - fully submerged @ 2/3 full. Then I added 1/2 of the jug of Muriatic Acid. It really started to foam and bubble - this last about 15 - 20 minutes. I gave it a full hour though to make sure that I had been able to use up all the acid. (I had to rebath the one end of a rock - visible sticking up in the pics - the old algae on it was suborn) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps7021abec.jpg http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps6fb6e6f5.jpg Then I took out each piece of rock and washed it again under the hose with the jet - lots of force. I was happy to see that 97% of the crap on the rocks was easily hosed off. I was also liberal with the water to ensure that anything left over from the acid bath was washed. Then it went into a bucket of fresh water to soak until the next piece had been hosed off. After the bucket it went to rest and dry in a pile. http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pseac09d0a.jpg I did all the rock this way and cycled it all through two full Rubbermaid baths of Muriatic Acid. Now I have a pile of rock thats about 2' tall and 1.5' wide. http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps9d211f28.jpg http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps5304c30a.jpg Next... (I'll reply to the post with some pics of the bleaching ....) Tonight I'll grab a jug of bleach.... I'll get a 1:10 ratio of bleach water and get the rock in there soaking. I'll let it soak for a day or so and then take it out and rinse it off and then resoak it in a normal water bath (with a powerhead). I'll let it soak until I cannot small bleach anymore, then run the garden hose and replace the water & let it sit for another 2 days. It should be bleach free at that point. I'll probably need to do this twice to get all the rock through.... Then.... (I'll reply to the post with some pics of the cycling ....) I'll put rock into the Rubbermaid and use old tank water to start the cycle on the clean rock.... Curing: I was fortunate to get a bunch of live rock from Tobysmurf. So, not knowing what he kept his params at, I have decided to cure it. I have filled a 10gal (size of 2 salt buckets) full of his live rock and added my old tank water to fill it to the top. As well I have added a powerhead, heater and air bubbler, lastly, a thick black garbage bag over the top to eliminate light. It has been running for 2 days and stinks terribly!!! Its working... http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps5f1b1e44.jpg I'll do another water change on my tank in a few days and use that water to replace water in the curing bucket... I'll keep doing this process. Come 3 weeks I'll check the params (PO4 & NO3) and see if it has cured.... ------------------------ I have come to realize that rock is a sponge for what is in a tank (PO4 and different types of algae). When you get someones old live rock you should consider it saturated in PO4 and covered in bad algae. The processes above should work to eliminate these problems. I am always amused to see people selling their old live rock for the same as new store prices when its saturated with PO4 and algae spores..... the buyer is caught cooking or curing it and running a heavy batch of Rowaphos to ensure its good. to go.... The same goes for sand.... |
just curious, why did you do the acid first? I sort of always thought the bleach would be the first step, but now that I think about it I realize I don't have an explanation for why I always thought that lol.
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Cooking:
Its in a Rubbermaid with some bleach just resting... http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps854bd985.jpg Curing: Quote:
--------------- Well, update, the curing rock really, REALLY stunk for a few days and when I took off the black garbage bag, this is what I saw... weird eh? (anyone know what that white stuff is?) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps53432d88.jpg I don't now what the white film on the top was but it stank - so I scooped it all out and dumped it.... I took out all the rock (shook it all off, and tried to clean it a bit), it was dark grey in color with some slime (algae) still on it.... http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps69b68446.jpg Then I replaced the water with some fresher tank water (did a water change) & put the rocks, power-head, heater and air hose back in.... Couple of more days and we will see what happens... it is still in the dark, to hopefully kill any algae on it and not provide light for more to grow. In the mean time if I can continue with the water changes I might be able to get rid of the NO3 and PO4. Obviously by the smell there is die off happening and if I dont have enough O2 it is the anaerobic bacteria doing the bulk of the work creating the terrible smell..... don't know if its the die off or anaerobic bacteria .... maybe both |
why is there so much die-off? Wasn't this rock live from a tank? Did it spend too much time out of water?
And that crap on the top looks like a very, very serious case of what develops on the surface of ponds when they've got a water fall and too many dissolved organic compounds. Was it foamy or was is gelatinous? If it was gelatinous, it was probably a biofilm of bacteria, if t's foamy, it's DOC froth, much like the foam that collects in your skimmer cup. In either case, a strong indication of decomposition |
PS, you're going through all sorts of trouble sterilizing and preparing a bunch of other rock, why not do the same with this stuff? Aren't you just risking introducing pest algae to your pristinely cleaned new rock when you put them in a tank with this stuff?
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That white stuff is mold. There is still a lot of organics rotting inside that rock. It will take awhile for all the organics to leech out.
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I am thinking it will be a few weeks until its cured..... |
lot of work, but nothing you have done is what is referred to as "cooking" live rock, you just acid washed it, bleached it and are curing it.
but good description of what you did. Steve |
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I am by no means done yet. The acid wash was to remove PO4 on the outside of the rock & the bleach to kill everything. Then I'll start it cycling and changing water to try to remove bound nutrients. For my rock thats in the tank water already this process has also just started and we will see how it ends up. There are more water changes on the horizon... Since I'm not cooking it, what to you is cooking your rock and don't try to convince me to put it in the oven.... :mrgreen: |
Myka wrote a good write up on cooking live rock.
See here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44859 |
Thought I'd post a little update...
Thanks for the information from the other threads. My endevours are not yet complete.... Bucket that is curing... Doing well, no fowl smells & no more mold on top. I have been dumping the water and replacing it with my old tank water whenever I do a water change. Most of the visible algae is gone, just a bit of green hair..... its still in the dark with a heater, power head & an air stone. I put in 4 small crabs to start munching on whatever is edible in there. I'll be doing a water change tonight so I will see how its looking farther down towards the bottom of the bucket as well as the parameters. Cleaning and cooking rock... As you initially saw I dunked it all into a Muratic Acid / water bath. Then the rock was subjected to two soaks in a bleach bucket. First soak was 2 cups of bleach and 2-3 days, followed by a rinse and another 2 cups with another 2-3 days of soaking time, then it was rinsed and soaked in water for about 5 days. No more bleach smell and it all came out onto my table top. (I'll probably need to run a dechlorinator when I start it in a new tank due to the possibility of residual bleach) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps09156610.jpg I have now started the same process for the second batch of rock. http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps217a3611.jpg It'll take a few days but by the end of the month it'll be complete. Once its all done then the rock is ready to start cooking. I will have to decide if the rock I am 'curing' is going to be clean enough to run in a tank or if it will need the acid / bleach / cooking treatment first. We will wait and see. |
So, little update....
August 10.... For the rock that was curing I have been regularly changing the water out with my old tank water. My tanks params are usually about P04 <.1 and NO3 of 20-50 depending on my last water change. Initially My air stone wasn’t working right so it had a bit of a fowl smell (aerobic vs anaerobic) - but burning NO3, the initial PO4 after soaking with this rock was 1.0 !!!! After changing the airstone out for one that worked the fowl smell has gone away and and after a few water changes my saturation on PO4 is 0.5 so, we are on the way. There is no visible algae on any of this rock any more. It has been under a black thick garbage bag - no light. For the rock that I cleaned and an going to bake.... it has all been acid washed and bleached. It has also been dried and is just waiting in boxes.... |
I bought Pukani rocks, Tonga shelfs and branches from Eli, Fiji Reef Rock while I was in Calgary. I'm following his direction to curing the rocks.
>> Curing process >> this is well a recipe for curing dry rock from fijireefrock.com >> as I have been testing for the last few month with it not to bore you with the different techniques let get started with what I found works as best and shortest timing possible.Please feel free to add or discuss any view for any type of dry rocks curing on this post to help everyone,... >> >> Played equally with all the 4 types of dry rock (Pukani,fiji premiun,Tonga shelf and Tonga branch) in different styles of vats. >> >> 4 vats containing separatly each type of dry rock >> 2 vats with mix of all types of dry rock >> >> lets talk about the 4 vats 1st >> all 4 vats where setup in the warehouse with tap water and salinity of 1.24ppm temperature between 82 and 84 degree with couple of power heads for circulation. No water change or skimmer at all.Total darkness with only ambient day light. >> let it sit for a week and tested for ammonia witch was over 8 believing much higher test readout. >> XX Over skimmed my reef system from home then added roughly 2 cups of fresh skim-mate to each vat on day 7. >> Kept checking for tap top off every 4 days and testing ounce a week... >> On week 3 tested 0 for ammonia witch I thought too early then tested with couple kits and still readout at 0 yes the water had a yellow tinge to it. >> From that time until now I still feed the rock with fresh ski-mate as I do not want to kill the nytrifying bacteria and still readout at 0. >> I then decided to bring couple hundred lbs to add to my fully loaded system that contains roughly 500lbs of old live rock. >> Placed some in the sump and some in the display with no issues going on 3 weeks now and amazingly no algae or diatom outbreak.(my lighting consist of only royal blue spectrum LED with only 2 hours of whites a day. >> >> Conclusion 3 weeks in the dark with nothing more that growing nitrifying bacteria and seeded with skimmer bacteria ready for a system. >> >> 2 vats curing in my home next to my main system one vat directly plumbed to my sump and the other vat on its own. >> >> 1st vat directly to my system >> Nothing special besides making sure in the dark, the temperature is at 82 degree and one power-head for circulation.Oh yes about 140lbs of mixed dry reef rock in that vat. >> I kept adding HC-GFO and carbon to my system nothing more. Testing ammonia witch gave a reading of .25 for day 3 to day 6.Every day after that readout of 0 ammonia 3 weeks ago.The rock is ready for main system. >> >> Conclusion after I suggest and to be on the safer side 10 days of a ratio of 3lbs live to 1 lb of mix dry frock it is safe to be used on a system. >> >> 2nd vat 100 glns sitting near my main system >> About 100 lbs of mix dry rock in the dark,one power head temperature of 82 degree no skimming salinity of 1.24ppm >> after 3 day tested ammonia of over 8 as I suspected. >> I would remove every night remove one gallon of the vat water place it in my system and replace it with water again from my system. >> Did that for 10 days as on day 8 ammonia readout of 0 kept testing everyday different timing and always got readout of 0. >> Now I replace 2 gallons of that water with main system water ounce every week and keeping all that rock for my new build >> >> Any and all dry rock need cycling time and patience takes a very important role in this as I seen people buy my dry rocks place it in a system and have it cycling with full lights on as it will be loaded with algae and have much longer curing process of ugly green rocks to go through. >> >> There are lots of different methods for curing the dry frock but I found the above to be most effective. >> >> I don't recommend using any additives to try and speed up the curing process as I always believed the natural way tops all. |
Aug 12....
I took an old tank (60-65 gal) and put it up on my workbench and put in a pair of powerheads, filled it with water and got it running - with a working air stone. Then I put in all the cleaned rock. Due to the possibility of residual bleach I also put in a bunch of Prime. http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps55c6b805.jpg Then today (a day later) I put in the rock that I was curing....... (on the right side - darker) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps712fbc28.jpg Now I'll let it run for a few days and change out some water, my garage is usually dark which will help decrease any unwanted algae growth..... My goal is to get all the rock cycled and see what the PO4 is..... If I need to run ROWA then I will, but a few H2O changes should lower any residual PO4. My last residual test on the curing portion of the rock was PO4 of 0.5. |
Well, this thread will take a bit of a change. It has been about prepping rock, but I moved my tank yesterday - THAT IS A PITA...... and HEAVY... made me want out of the hobby and my wife thinks I am absolutely crazy.
Anyways here is a pic of it strapped into my truck.... I'd have taken more pics but my camera died. All my coral and fish in bags and buckets would have been a few great pics but... http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps5bc8c692.jpg Last night I got enough of it up and running that I could go to bed. I had 4 fish die yesterday - I should have added them in first instead of last. The rest of my fish made it. Even "Side-Ways-BOB" my fish that had a stroke or something and only turns in one direction and will bump into rocks, ect (that was last month). Here is a pic of everything this morning with a few lights on. I am refreshed to see the corals coming out with the light and the fish swimming around. I was forced to use my rock tank as I was out of space and my tank was too murky to get it all in last night. My Tank 50 Gal - back up and running... http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscaaf661e.jpg Rock Tank 65 Gal http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps6b782bf5.jpg I have done one water change already and there is another on the way. Two 20% water changes today - so 40% (+/-) changed today should help if there were any water issues. I am also running a heavy load of Rowa to clean up the 'rock tank'. Don't want any outbreaks now that there is a light on it, there is a bunch of established live rock in there though so it should be good. It looks ugly but its all alive and well.... I need a new tank and will start a New tank build soon. Both of these tanks are running in the garage so it all needs into the house before it gets to cold.... |
I didn't go through any of this trouble to cure my pukani. But then again, I did let it cure for 10+ weeks. 80 lbs in a 44 gallon bin with a heater, power head, occasional water changes with bacteria, a sealed lid. After ammonia read zero, treated for a couple weeks with agent green, phosphate gone. Done.
Any rock that starts dry and dead should be able to go through this process easily. But I'm a noob and don't know much. |
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Personally, I didn't want to mess with potentially harmful chemicals, so I just picked off all of the organics I could see, and did a few soak in RODI/dry in the sun cycles to clean the rock and leach phosphates/metals without losing any rock mass or using harsh chemicals. A bit more work and longer process, but to each their own. |
I have recently setup my new 80g tank, here is the new thread....
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...850#post916850 |
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