Cooking Rock

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

I've been cooking some rock in anticipation of my in-wall set-up being ready in a week or two (progress is mindbogglingly slow when you do it an hour here and an hour there) At least if my interpretation of cooking is correct (in a rubbermaid, with a cleanup crew flow and heat but no real light)

Anyways, my question goes like this, will cooking the rock like this take care of critters like red flatworms and aiptasia? I know it will help eliminate algae but I'm unsure as to the others. If not, is there a way to get rid of those guys without affecting any pods or other "desirable" hitch-hikers.

[jws444]

You mean 'curing' rock I assume? Curing is just allowing the dead or dying material (usually from shipping) on the rock to dissolve off in a separate container rather than in your tank, thus crashing it with excess ammonia/nitrates. Curing rock may not get rid of harmful critters if they are hardy.

Cooking the rock means to literally boil it in hot water to kill-off troublesome algae that just won't go away. It turns live rock back into base rock, and you have to start from scratch to introduce beneficial bacteria back into it.

[christyf5]

Actually George, the term "cooking" used in reefing isn't quite as literal. Rock is placed in a container with water, a powerhead and a heater and left to do its thing for several months. Nutrients come out of the rock and are exported via water changes. Beneficial bacteria remain in the rock, keeping the cycle going as various other things are being broken down.

As for physical cooking of the rock, thats sort of a last ditch attempt to kill of stuff. Kind of defeats the purpose of live rock though, IMO.

Cooking rock to get rid of flatworms and aiptasia would probably take quite awhile I would think. Most of the flatworms subsist on algae I believe and until their nutrient source has dried up, they'd still be hanging out. not sure about the aiptasia, I think they survive on light. It still takes alot longer to get rid of those critters than you'd think. It took me a good 2-3 months to get rid of various algae on the rocks I cooked (it was pretty bad though) I put some hermit crabs in to help out.

Theres always flatworm exit for the flatworms and you could really wait out those aiptasia but theres always the threat that one survived.

[butters88]

The answer to your questions may lie in these threads:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=485572
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=437342
They are unfortunately long though, good luck!

[jws444]

Oh, i see what you mean Christy. Why don't they just keep calling it 'curing' since it's really creating your own die-off?

I've read where people boiled their rocks to start over again and it was termed as cooking - which is literally true!

[christyf5]

Well its kind of funny actually, because curing and cycling are sort of the same thing. Basically putting the rock in the tank, providing light, heat and water movement to wait for various things to finish dying (induced by transport etc) and breakdown by bacteria etc. Curing and cycling are both done using light usually. That way stuff that is decomposing continues to do so and coralline algae can take hold and proliferate.

However, technically I suppose rocks that are to be "cooked" are already "cured/cycled" (ie. they have the bacterial populations to keep nutrients in check).

I guess someone thought they'd come up with a trendy term called cooking (which also conveniently starts with "c", not very original IMO). Kind of silly since you're not really cooking anything. Although in my world it could be termed as cooking: add water, heat and then forget about it for awhile. Thats how I make Kraft Dinner

I've been tempted to boil my rocks a few times. Some of these critters we get on the rocks are unbelievably tough (ie. hydroids, turf algae). Its only the possibility of stinking up the house that has stopped me.

[Slick Fork]

Thanks for the link butters88. I'm on dial-up since we bought this acreage, and trying to search RC with high speed is bad enough, I've been terrified to try it with my current connection!!!

I thought I'd read somewhere that flatworms were photosynthetic, oh well I've got a back-up vial of Exit ready to go if they become a problem!

[Farrmanchu]

Really "cooking" your rock means COMPLETE darkness for 3 months at least. The rock should end up looking like a..........rock. I mean regular rock, no coraline, just a very porous rock. The process forces the bacteria to feed off Phosphate and stuff that's in and on the rock, it's a way of "recharging", or "turbocharging" the rock. Problem is, the rock doesn't look as good until it's been back in the tank for a few months. You can use much less LR, if it's all cooked.

[untamed]

Why do we pay so much for LR, only to go to these measures to remove the life that was paid for?

If all that is needed is rock to function as a biological filter and provide decorative backdrop for stuff we introduce....why not use some sort of artificial porous rock instead?

It would have to be cheaper and coral reefs of the world would be better for it.

[Farrmanchu]

The LR has life from the inside out. Base rock that we add becomes live from the outside in, and is less effective filtration. You can do a "low impact" or "green" reef using only live base rock, and/or aquacultured LR. Just doesn't look the same as LR out of the Ocean. My Reef was started with 50lbs Base Rock, and just 20lbs of Live Rock, and I do my best to hide the Base Rock.