A Guide - Live rock; Curing & Cooking, and Tank Cycling

[Myka]

If you would like to comment or ask questions you can find the original thread here:
A Guide - Live Rock; Curing & Cooking, and Tank Cycling (Original)




Introduction

The purpose of curing live rock is to allow the rocks to shed the matter and organisms that have died during transport, and the matter and organisms that will die due to not being able to live in captivity. This can be done in the aquarium or (preferably) in a Rubbermaid.

Cooking the rock takes this a step further. The purpose of cooking the live rock is to allow the rock to leach the nitrates and phosphates that are in the rock due to the matter and organisms dying in the curing process or which the rock has absorbed from being in dirty waters.

Without cooking the rock your cured rock will leach these nitrates and phosphates into your aquarium where they will mainly help to fuel nuisance algae growth. This is why we often see nuisance algaes in tanks that are under 1 year old. Some people call this "New Tank Syndrome" without really understanding what is happening. NTS (imo) is merely a flux of diatoms during and/or shortly following the cycling of your tank. If you experience diatoms at any other time in your aquarium's life refer to A Guide - How to get rid of Hair Algae (link below).

Other people refer to NTS as the flux of several different nuisance algaes that are "expected" in the first year of your aquarium's life. These algaes are only "expected" because it's about you learning to maintain your particular tank the way it needs to be maintained. For this reason, I would prefer to call it "New Tank Keeper Syndrome" in which case novice and seasoned reefers are both susceptible to. Every tank is a bit different, and you will see nuisance algaes when you are beginning to unbalance the system. The system will always balance itself, thus if there are excess nutrients it will grow nuisance algaes to absorb the nutrients. The leeching of your live rocks can add to the challenge, or you can help alleviate this issue by cooking your rocks first.

I would like to stress the importance of using RO/DI water of 0 tds from the very beginning no matter how you choose to cure your rock.

I would strongly suggest cooking any dry rock sources. These rocks were live at some point, and often have quite a lot of trapped phosphates in them. Once you wet them again the phosphates will leach out just like uncured live rock. A fantastic source for dry rock is www.bulkreefsupply.com 's EcoRox, and don't worry about shipping and brokerage - check out their policies!


Related Links:
A Guide - How to get rid of Hair Algae