Curing Methods

[Hightower]

Ive just got some 40lbs of LR from a crashed tank and rock thats been sitting outside for a few weeks which had a ton of algae on it. Rinsed/scrubbed it off and had it sit in a vat for a few days with circulation and a heater. already mirky and somewhat smelly. The question is really if light should be added. Some say no so that any old algae doesnt regrow. On the other hand if you introduce light you may induce some good growth on something, perhaps some coraline, and good bacteria in order to speed up the process. I figure perhaps added a ball of cheato under the light might really suck up any PO4 and nutrients.

Any opinions?

[Kronk]

I am currently "cooking" some rock this is how it was explained to me...

1. Place some tank water in the bucket when u do water change.
2. In another bucket, mix up saltwater at equal salinity to your tank.
3. Take the new rock and "SWOOSH" and "DUNK" many times in the bucket with your old water. Do it alot so everything falls out.
4. Place the rocks in the bucket with freshly mixed saltwater.
5. Put a powerhead in and put the bucket in a drak place without any light.
6. Do water change everyweek, or better yet, do a bucket change. When you do bucket change, make sure you "SWOOSH" and "DUNK" in your bucket that rock was sitting for a week.
7. Wait some more.
8. Wait for about a month doing bucket change every week.
9. You will have "enhanced super version" of live rock which contains NO ALGAE and are FULL OF BACTERIA.

The theory behind seems good anyways. I have had about 15lbs of rock cooking for a couple months and every couple weeks when i change the bucket there is a TON of crud in the bottom. Heres a link for some more info if you want it... http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-0...ture/index.php

Cheers,
Ken

[Hightower]

The update :

Ok,

Its been 3 weeks with weekly water changes.
end of 1st week- 0 Ammonia Substantial phosphate
end of 2nd week no nitrite test kit, but substantial nitrate and phosphate

during 2nd week, I added light 24 hours and a ball of cheato, and a piece of LR of my tank to seed the rest.

1 week later from that point- Nitrate is 2.5 and phosphate is down to 0.5 !

This is great. It has progressed quite quickly. Wife is nagging how long this is going to be in the room.

I think that this rock will be ready to add to the tank soon. Any thoughts?

There is not much visible life, nor much coraline, however I think that process will be greatly sped up if it was added to the tank so long as the phosphate and nitrate are quite low to nil.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Hightower,

I have a Salifert Nitrite test kit that I can loan you to test if you want.

Anthony

[Hightower]

Hey anthony

Do you think its really necessary? Ammonia was high now its nil, and nitrate was very high, now that is very low. That would indicate to me that the cycle took place including nitrite being taken care of. Im having a hard time comparing the color charts on the phosphate but it looks to be .5

There is some turf algae very surface like on the rock, but dont think I should be concerned about it. In fact there is some life poking out of the rock.

Perhaps adding a rock or two a day?

[Hightower]

I added about 10lbs of the 40 to see what happens. If its negligible, I'll add the rest.

[Hightower]

Ok folks, been adding pieces throughout the week. And now I have pictures. One thing for sure, I have to get another pump for water movement. It sure has cut it down.

Also forgive the crappy camera. All the coraline also saturates the picture to alot of purple. But you can see the new pieces that are just white.







[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/79138P1010083.JPG[/IMG