Curing LIve Rock

[Ram_Puppy]

I have set up a 40 gallon rubbermaid tub on my back porch to cure the new rock I am getting in. I was going to use an old fluval 104 on the tub to help keep the water quality high during the curing process but when I pulled it out to ge tit ready, it appears that in it's last run, the impellers plastic parts heat fused.... now even if i wanted to replace the impeller, I consider the whole thing a fire hazard, and it's going in the trash.

Is running a filter even a good idea on a curing tub? Or should I just forget about it and do water changes, I have noticed local fish stores running skimmers in their curing tubs, but I haven't bought one yet... (I know, I know, It is one of the things at the top of my list).

Any thoughts would be highly appreciated. (Note, I bought my first and only piece of uncured rock 2 weeks after setting up the tank, and cured it IN TANK, so, my experience in this is a tad limited! Thanks)

[georgeortiz]

Is this for a brand new tank? If it is you can cycle your tank with the Live rock . But make sure you have a protein skimmer!

[Ram_Puppy]

tank already has 20 pounds of fiji and tonga in it, plus 4 soft corals... it is definately getting cycled in the rubbermaid.

[Ram_Puppy]

rock will be here tomorrow morning

[wkopplin]

Do you have an old skimmer you can run on the tub? If so, I would run that along with a powerhead.

[Ram_Puppy]

ufortunately no, I don't, I don't suppose anyone has one I can borrow?

[Ram_Puppy]

just wanted to shout out a thanks to Jim001, who graciously lent me a berlin airlift skimmer. I stuck the full force of an optima air pump on that skimmer Jim, let me just say with that much power going through it, that 'must submerge to here' line is not quite accurate :)

Any how, Thanks so very much Jim.

Description of the rock:

Lalo (live aquaria) after giving it a good scrubbing with a plastic bristle brush, I found orange, yellow, and red coraline on the rock, along with some living tufts of red algae I expect will die in the curing process.

I got one huge chunk that probably aco****s for 20 lbs of the 30 lbs shipment, it has a very nice chunky 'cupped' shape to it. Because of the size of my tank I would have preferred some smaller pieces, but I think this will be dramatic, and I can alwas hammer it in half if need be. There are also 3 pieces about that range from 3 - 5" to 6 ' 8 inches in their longest axis, and lots of rubble... over all, not quite what I was expecting, (size and shape) but I also haven't had much time to sit and inspect it, harried scrubbing, setting up filters, and so on for the curing tub has taken my time and other than that I have been at work. I think my wife and I are buying nikon coolpix 4300 from newegg this weekend (280 after rebate) so hopefully I can snap a frew pics for you guys soon.

[matt]

If you can provide for some light while you're curing it, you might lose less coralline. Keep water really moving in the tub and change as much as you can manage. The lower (and shorter) your ammonia spike is the better, but if you're talking about 30 lbs freshly harvested rock from the ocean, especially south pacific, in 40 gallons of water you'll have a hellacious ammonia spike, which will probably kill most everything on the rock. Such is way it goes with tonga rock, unfortunately; all those nice colors. Anyhow, maybe you can get a few more tubs and split it up. Don't expect the airstone skimmer to do much, but it will help with O2 content. Keep changing water!

[Ram_Puppy]

Thanks Matt, I hooked a Magnum 350 running carbon up to the tub, stirred up the water, let it filter for about 14 hours, (while stirring up the water) and then removed the filter, put on a new filter sleeve and exchanged the carbon. I plan on doing this a couple more times. I have 10 gallons ready to go for a water change today. The tub is on my back porch, it gets full sun (western exposure) in the afternoon/evenings) I will also put some old aquarium lights up for it if need be. Can't wait to get it in the tank. (But I will!)