rock curing
 

i know that this is a question asked all over the place ... but anyway i bought new rock and someone told me that its actually better to let the rock take care of itself and eventually all the nitrates will get taken care of by bacteria and such. but i bought this rock like 2 months ago and the ammonia- nitrites all went by fine ... but now the rock is hung up on nitrates. so should i just do water changes till the nitrates are gone or if i actually wait long enough will the nitrates start declining. they have been pretty much the same for around 1.5 weeks or so. thank you for the help... sorry for the stupid question haha i should know this by now

The only sure way of reducing nitrates that I know of is by physical removal through water changes. If you have a refugium attached to the tank this will help as well. Ammonia and nitrite don't dissappear they just eventually end up as nitrate at the end of the nitrogen cycle.

Regular water changes will reduce your nitrate and phosphate levels. Make larger changes and do it more frequently. Your fish and coral will love ya.
What are your nitrates at now?

no im curing the rock in a garbage before i add it to my already running reef. so i guess i should just do crazy water changes over the next week and get it down to zero nitrates. or should i do smaller ones over the course of liek 2 weeks?

If the rock is in a separate container change 100% of the water. Then wait and see if the nitrates return, if they do repeat until they don't.

sounds liek a plan haha thanks

Doing 100% water changes will reduce your bacteria population in water column therefor prolonging curing period.
the best way is to let it do its thing i.e. Wait till bacteria will eat all the No2 and No3 naturally ecosystems take time to develop even in the bucket.
Assuming all other conditions are right, you will be ok in a few month.
Unless you want to risk your reef i would wait for longer. it took me 6 month to cure my live rock.

A very tiny % of the bacteria is in the water column so I don't think water changes affect populations realistically speaking...

really? ok well i guess ill give it another few weeks and see if any changes occur. thanks for the advice i thought it would take less time but ive learned only bad things happen fast in this hobby haha

Yeap that's right. The theory that large water changes remove enough bacteria to prolong the cycle is a common myth and completely false.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php

The idea that the rock will reduce the nitrate on its own is correct. Anaerobic bacteria will convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas and that will bubble out (not usually seen). If those bacteria aren't there or the rock is not suitable for the anaerobic bacteria this won't happen. It could take several months for the anaerobic bacteria to colonize in population significantly enough to consume the nitrate.

Dose the bejeezus out of the container with vodka and MB7 and make sure there is high flow in the curing container.

I haven't actually done this but it wouldn't be very costly and should help drive out phosphates bound up in the LR and speed things along.

It is correct in theory but denitrification requires a carbon source, whether it simply occurs naturally in our aquariums is a very debatable topic.

i think im gonna give it another month or so and see if there is any changes if it works out then awesome if not ... o well it takes longer haha thanks tons for all the help guys :)

Keeping your rock high nutrient water will cause you problems in the long run not just a longer cycle.

ok so jsut to clarify things. i should just do water changes till the nitrate is at 0 and stays there for a week then it is safe to add to my reef. its 50 pounds into a 125 so its a fair bit. just dont wanna get this wrong and cause a crash haha

You got it, sounds like a perfect plan to me.

fabulous thanks guys