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#1
12-18-2007, 04:27 AM
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The black patches sound like dead sponges to me...totally normal.
General comment...you should keep an eye on Ammonia and Nitrite levels when cooking or curing rock, Ammonia over 2 mg/l can kill off many beneficial critters on the rock. 
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#2
12-18-2007, 05:26 AM
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phanman. I purchased close to 100 #'s of live rock 10 months ago and it was full of hair algae. I put it in a 50 gal tub (barely fit) with a heater and small flow pump, no light. I have changed the water about 6 times and that rock is full of life(pods,crabs,snails, worms, etc), except hair algae. People sometimes completely cook LR to rid it of all life so when they add the LR to their systems they are not adding any of the unknowns, seeding it with a trusted live piece.
Good Luck Pics please. Kevin
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#3
12-18-2007, 07:26 AM
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The stink and the black stuff are both normal. Do not boil your rock. Boiling rock completely kills all living organisms. All you will have is a bunch of worthless dead rock.
Your on the right track except I would change the water more frequently. I do a 100% water change weekly for the first two months. The way I cook rock is like this. I remove the rock from the garbage can. Place it in a "wash" tub. I scrub the rock with a plastic brush until everything that can be scrubbed of is gone. I then rinse it in another tub with clean water. (change this water as often, or as soon as it becomes dirty. Then place it back in the garbage can and add clean water. I do this weekly for at least the first 2 months. keep an eye on the phosphate levels. as soon as they drop I will start pushing the water changes to two weeks until phosphates are undetectable. If you feel lazy, don't worry about scrubbing the rock, but at least change the water. In the end you will have fresh live rock. Free of any unwanted pests, but full of life and the biological filtration capacity of the rock will be increased due to ridding it of all the nitrates/phosphates it has sucked up over the years.
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