Live rock

[Blue Ram]

Watch out for aiptasia. I purchased all of my rock from existing tanks from members and being my first reef tank, I was not totally aware of the nuisance aiptasia can be in a small tank and almost impossible to be rid of.

Im looking at getting some used rock. lt looks dirty. Would this be ok if I cooked it?

[Phanman]

If you cooked it for a few months then you will have no problem with your LR.

[ElGuappo]

i also will never use LR without cooking first.ot one piece of LR with a little cyno on it and didnt notice till it was too late. had to do a blackout for a bloody week. on the up side my tank has never looked cleaner.

[VFX]

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I go for nice looking, light weight (porous) rock with a nice covering of coralline.

I avoid boulder or brick shapes even as base rock.

I've never cooked live rock. I've always just hand picked fully cured (smell it when & you'll know when it's not cured) live rock from the LFS & have never really had any issues.

I had bubble algae once, I had aiptasia once, but nothing that required breaking down the tank or anything drastic to deal with.

Everybody has a different preference I guess...

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[kwirky]

i got for as porous rock as possible with as much stuff growing on it as possible. I look for unique macroalgae (stuff that ends up looking like broad leaves). I also look for encrusting corals because they often come back.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Rene

Im looking at getting some used rock. lt looks dirty. but little algae and growth. would this be ok if I cooked it?

Shouldn't be a problem. Do weekly 100% waterchanges on the cook tub (remove rocks and swirl in clean SW during the WC to remove detritus) to quicken the process. Remember that if you're going to cook your rock you need to test for phosphates, and put the rock in your tank ONLY after you test 0 phosphates with a quality test kit, AND there is no growth on the rocks anymore. There's no point in doing it if you're not testing phosphates.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Myka

Shouldn't be a problem. Do weekly 100% waterchanges on the cook tub (remove rocks and swirl in clean SW during the WC to remove detritus) to quicken the process. Remember that if you're going to cook your rock you need to test for phosphates, and put the rock in your tank ONLY after you test 0 phosphates with a quality test kit, AND there is no growth on the rocks anymore. There's no point in doing it if you're not testing phosphates.

Curing liverock is one thing cooking it is pointless, especially in a newer tank. I'm one of those people who likes things on my rock though. I've gotten many different kinds from many different places over many many years and never had to "cook" it. I kind of like walt smiths ideas on curing live rock. If you cannot handle a little algae in your tank...well. Of course certain types are bad ie caulerpa and a few others, but i specifically looked for certain types of macro algae on my rocks....fed my tangs. Aiptasia fed my CBB etc. Covered in cyano or even GSP (some don't like it because it spreads quickly - THE GSP . is another thing, you can clean it but cook it...naw. Dirty rock becomes clean with a good cleaning crew, coraline grows back etc etc. The only thing I am always concerned about and the one thing i do test for with rocks bought from someone else is copper...in a bin with a powerhead for a week and then test. Copper is the only thing i worry about when buying rock off of someone....the only thing...everything else can be dealt with quite easily. Copper CANNOT.

I would say some of the nicest rock i have ever seen, short of direct witnessing at the exporters...is the tampa bay saltwater rock. Amazing...at their facility and when ordered.

How do you test for copper?

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Rene

How do you test for copper?

I have a few different copper test kits...i test 3 times during each week of curing. If the test shows ...especially an increase then garbage is where the rock goes. There is a bit of copper in everyones systems though...just a very trace amount.