LR in the dark
 

How lond is too long to have LR without a light. I'm not looking to eraticate any nussance algea, just wondering as I am tearing down my tank and if the lights go before the rock I don't want to wreck the rock.

there is no "too long" imo... ive been cooking my rock for 2.5months in the dark now. The rock looks fantastic! super clean

So if i am looking to kill a bunch of algae romoving rock and storing in the dark for a few monthes will take care of this ? all i need is an air line and watermovment. filter? i would plan on using this rock again.

I suppose that depends on what light requiring organisms are trying to live on the rock. Certainly, at some point all algae will die...which is the entire reason why some people leave LR in the dark for long periods of time.

I would assume that a few days won't hurt anything. Every plant/animal has to be able to tolerate at least 12 hours of darkness per day, right?

would these organisms not still reproduce on the remaining and new rock untill i could switch out the rest of the rock?

Sure..yes...assuming that the old rock has a reproducing example of EVERY thing on the rocks that are being "cooked". By that argument, you might as well boil the rocks to ensure they are completely clean. At that point though, I wonder what people paid for when they purchased "live" rock.

I suppose the idea behind cooking the rocks is an attempt to selectively kill only algae. Of course, the problem is really that you have no idea what you are actually going to kill along with the algae.

Finally...I don't think it matters how clean and algae-free you get the rocks, if your tank conditions are such that algae wants to grow...it will.

I'd say you're gonna hurt the "good" algaes like coralline in probably about 3-5 days. Feather dusters and etc about 10-14 days. You won't "wreck" the rock though as long as you keep a heater and a good powerhead going in there. I know someone who has stored rock for almost a year that way, just "fed" it a pinch of flake food once a week, and it was good to go when it was put in the tank.

how much light would the rock need to flourish ? if its minimal then i would have a light on for an hour or two a day. i havent been able to get my algae under control totaly since set up 6 monthes ago. i find if i leave the lights off for all but 2-4 hours a day it goes away slowly. i am worried to try this again however due to the ddition of bubble coral. the torch coral did OK last time.

Anything Please and Thank You.

Still trying to figure out what RODI is and how i get it. I know its reverse osmosis and de Ionised but is store bought enough culligan?

el guapo if you get the unit I think it's gonna be alot cheaper than buying water you can aquire the unit on ebay.ca search under rodi maximus.

Sorry for the OT^ as others have said that having no light can kill algae and other living on it such as snails, pods, worms etc.
It's really your call and when you sell it call it cured.

Google "cooking live rock" and do a little reading.

Its like pushing the reset button on rock. Over time the rock will fill itself with all kinds of nasty's. Cooking it brings it back from the dead. Cooking rock will not kill the coralline algae. it will turn white, but will come back quite quickly. As for Pods/ worms. The will reproduce like crazy. By the time its done it will be completely full of them. The only thing that will die is the unwanted. Hitchhiker crabs, algae ect.

what i want to do is when i move in a few monthes i want to setup and let it cycle with all new live rock and add this rock again later. i will google. but does this kill the rock? im not concerned with organisms as there will be more on the new rock that will continue to reprduce. im hoping.

In my experience, the coralline is a write off after a very short period of time, and takes a few months to come back.

I agree with Myka on the coraline, I just pulled about 40 lbs of LR out of a tupperware container that I had it all in with the lid on for about a month while I worked my new display tank in.
The coraline was all gone, there was still a little aiptasia which had all turned clear and a few fanworms still kickin it and I have also seen some bristle worms as well, there was still some macro algea intact as well,though it looked like it was on it's last legs.
I thoroughly swished this LR in a fresh bucket of SW piece by piece right before putting it in the tank and was amazed at the amount of crap that came out when I did this, the water also smelled like a sewer once it was all said and done too.

I'm pretty sure that all the detrius that came out of the rocks is much better off down the drain than in my tank.
I hope.:question:

My experience with cooking LR is after only a month, yes it will stink, and alot of crude does come off the rock. As to the coraline dying... well i checked a couple days ago and i still have coraline on the rock and its been cooking for 2.5 months. I do 30% regular water changes every 2 weeks.

I had like 30 dead worms at the bottom of the container as well. :)

I was changing water almost every 2 days in mine, really wanted some squeeky clean rock for the new tank....
wonder my my coraline died offr so much faster.....

thats odd.. not sure why your coraline died off but you got me kinda worried, haha.

the feeling is mutual....lol

The coralline will turn white, but shouldn't take long to come back. Cooking it for only a month is useless.

I have at least 100 pounds cooking at any time. I cook it for as long as it takes to not test any nitrates or phosphates. I change the water once a week at the minimum. run a skimmer, heat the water, and have a couple power heads going. Every week when I change the water, I take the rock out, scrub it with a brush, and rinse it in clean water.

The rock I have cooking right now is the worst I've ever done. Its been cooking since October 13th, and still testing Phospates at 0.25. It should be done in another 3 weeks to a month.

Noone here said that they were cooking for only one month...lol.
where did that come from>>?



lol.

You mentioned that you had a lid on it for a month. I just wanted to throw that out there so someone didn't get the wrong idea and think they could cook it for a month, and all would be fine.

I had one person contact me thinking that cooking live rock was done in the oven.. The internet is a great resource for information, but sometimes what you type, and what someone else reads are two completely different things.

I cured my rock for 3 weeks......worked out great, I have had the same rock in my tank for 3 years now, no major algae bloom, no aiptasia, and a whole bunch of encrusting corals that came out of no where.
I've also cured rock under MH light and it finished in just a couple of weeks.

lol...
obviously, the proof is in the pudding so to speak.
I was replying to the question of coraline dying that was initially posed in this thread, not the unasked question of the proper way to cook.:mrgreen:
Lots of great threads on this forum and others about that.

Hmmm...I just realised today that my GSP made it through 7 weeks of darkness. I wonder why coralline can't??