Quote:
Originally Posted by mseepman
How long do you think it would take to cure this rock? I've never cured my own before but I would be interested in trying.
Would I just need a big tupperware bin, a heater and a powerhead? How do you seed it?
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I emailed Marco Rocks about curing the rock. He recommended to not cure it, just to toss it in the tank, and cycle like a normal tank. Not what I would do...
I would take at least 3 months to cure the rock, as I have heard that dried live rock often leeches phophates for the first while (I did not hear this in particular to Marco or Eco rocks).
I found a REALLY good explanation of a good way to cook dry base rock, and I printed it out (copy and paste to Word so there's no URL on it), but I didn't jot down where I got it from. I've been searching all the reef forums I know about for the last 10 minutes, and I can't find it anywhere! I do still have the print out though. It would take some SERIOUS typing to type it all out though.
From reading that "article", and just adding my own thoughts to the process, I figured I would start by filling the bin with water from one of my tanks, a few cups of sand (I'd put that in an open top container in the bin so that the sand isn't loose on the bottom of the bin), and a good
clean piece of live rock. From there I would start small doses of ammonia/amino acids. You have to use unscented pure ammonia. I wouldn't let the ammonia get any higher than 0.25 mg/L though to ensure the ammonia doesn't kill off the life you're trying to establish in there!
Once I've decided the rock is good to go (not sure how I will decide this, but I figure 12 weeks should be sufficient), I will drain the bin, and put new clean SW in there, let it run for a few days and check to see if there are any phosphates or nitrates in the water column.
At this point there won't be any coralline on the rocks, so I will scrape my tank's glass of coralline, and scatter the "shavings" on the rocks in the bin. Let it sit for a few hours with no circulation, so the coralline can (hopefully) set, and add a medium output light (like a couple T5s or something). I would dramatically cut back the amount the rock is being fed about a week before the lights get added. Let it run with the lights on it (slowly building up the number of hours each day), and keep and eye out that there are no bad algaes starting up. I'm hoping it can be seeded with coralline this way.
I'm definately open to further ideas on this...
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer
If you do ever try ordering Marco rocks, please let me know...I would be interested. I think the Marco rocks are much nicer looking and have better shapes than the others.
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I agree.