Curing Rock

[heymargo]

We live in a one bedroom apartment...is it possible to cure enough rock for a 34 gallon tank in our place or should we just buy cured rock? :hypnotyized:

[hobogato]

it is possible, but you wont like the way your place smells for quite a while :sick:

[txstateunivreefer]

id buy it cured go visit ed at wolf reef in san antonio you cant beat his prices

[RayAllen]

What I would do is cure it on your patio, Save the money and buy uncured rock and a tuberware container. Id just keep a lid on it and run a pump. Very easy. As mentioned Ed does have excellent prices though. Pros and Cons to both

[erikharrison]

First off, WELCOME TO MAAST! How did you hear about this site? Uncured rock can tend to smell a bit like sulfur...... :sick:
I take it by your quote that you have read that book? Fenner FTW!

[heymargo]

We met Ed - way cool. We thought about the balcony thing but was wondering if it would be too hot out there. My husband wants to do everything right, from start to finish, and I don't blame him, but we don't have the luxury of a garage. The tank we're getting is that way cool Red Sea that has everything already in it. Would it be practical to buy a pump just to cure rock? :confused:

[RayAllen]

It wont get to hot on your patio to cure rock. This time of year we are in the 80's; people cure rock all the time in their garage where it gets much warmer 90 and up from being closed off. When curing rock heat isnt a big issue, it would actually speed up the progress of killing all the die off. Just do your water changes and keep the water moving with a pump and you will be good.

[heymargo]

Thanks! I was looking for fish stores here in town to visit and came across this site. I joined, got hubby to join, we paid our dues last night and will be at happy fun zoo night next month!
I am in the middle of reading the Fenner book...we went to Border's one night and saw it there (before we spoke to anyone or visited any stores) and bought it right off the bat. We also got "What Fish?" which is very interesting as well. I'm an avid reader and the more I learn, the more I'm hooked. We're going to Port A this weekend and taking my niece and nephew to the State Aquarium. I read some posts regarding the jetties so hubby and I are going to see what we can catch and release since we have yet to procure the Red Sea tank. Thanks again for welcoming me! I'm very happy to be here!:bigsmile:


First off, WELCOME TO MAAST! How did you hear about this site? Uncured rock can tend to smell a bit like sulfur...... :sick:
I take it by your quote that you have read that book? Fenner FTW!

[LoneStar]

If you got space on the patio of your apt, get a Brute trash can at the local hardware store. Buy new...since you don't want to use a old one! You can cure rock &/or cook it at the same time. The difference between the two options (cured and cooked) live rock would be that cooked live rock would get rid of nuisance algea and critters. People go with the cooked rock for a clean, worry free solution to starting up a tank. Most of those people also go barebottom with their systems too (sans sand). The rock will still stay biologically active, since the bacteria will still be alive and multiplying.

Curing the rock would still work too. You can use the trash can, or another type of container. The differences between the two are that cooking live rock takes a lot longer than curing live rock. Cooking requires the rock placed in a dark container, so that there is no light entering. Light promotes algea growth....which is what your trying to eliminate. The cooking process usually takes 2 months. Over that time you will want to keep up with weekly 100% water changes. Towards the end though, you can get by with bi weekly changes. In that time frame whats going to happen is the algea will consume itself, leaving clean (but white) looking rock. One of the downfalls is that the micro life (pods and other criters) is greatly reduced.

If you just want to cure the live rock, I'd buy some dry reef bones, and just seed it with some cured live rock. Within a month or so, the dry reef bones will be biologically active enough to enter you tank without a big cycle. The cured rock will more than likely retain any wild critters (pods/algeas) from the rock you used to seed it with. It all depends on what your going for. But do keep up with the weekly water changes when curing the live rock. If you were going to buy a skimmer (probably won't since your getting the Red Sea all-in-one tank), that would help in the curing process. Also a powerhead will help oxygenate the water and help keep the bacteria alive in the process. You don't want stagnate water.

[LoneStar]

If you go to www.reefcentral.com (http://www.reefcentral.com) and do a search for cooking live rock or curing live rock, you can find a lot of threads there too!

[heymargo]

If you go to www.reefcentral.com (http://www.reefcentral.com) and do a search for cooking live rock or curing live rock, you can find a lot of threads there too!

Wow! That's way cool!!! I cannot imagine the FUNK that'll be coming out of that trashcan at waterchange time...the chihuahuas are gonna wanna roll all up in it! I'll show my hubby these threads and we'll decide from there...I don't think we'll cook it but he might just want to get all dirty. In any case, thank you so much for your assistance! I really appreciate it. :bigsmile:

[apedroza]

Save the money and cure it on the patio. You can use the extra dough to stock your tank!!!!

[alton]

Welcome to MAAST! Also why are you reading Bob Fenner when you could be reading Gary Powel in the archives here on MAAST? Part time home loan officer, aquarium guru, and male model (Okay I went too far). The advice you have been given so far is excellent, but I did this along time ago on my bosses tank and it worked fine for me. You said you are purchasing a Red Sea 34 gallon aquarium? I believe it comes with a skimmer, perfect way to cure your live rock. Because this way you can build your dream aquarium one piece at a time. In other words if you at your fish store and you see the perfect piece or two of live rock buy it, take it home and insert it in your tank. As you continue to add you can see what you are missing in rock to get that perfect look you are trying to achieve in your tank. Once a week do a 5 gallon water change by vacuuming the debris off the bottom. And as far as the smell it only smells if the rock is ripe, most of the time our sponsors have rock that is almost cured. If not buy some Glad Pluggins. The smell is only short time. Just don’t turn the lights on or add sand until your tank turnover takes place. And then slowly but sure run the lights a little more each day until you feel like you won’t have a brown algae attack. Just remember like everyone said take your time and have fun.

[mathias]

why don't you just get small part of your rock cured and the rest uncured and let the cure rock seed the rest?

[heymargo]

apedroza - we're seriously thinking about it! it makes the most sense.

alton - i found the fenner book before i found maast. :) i dragged hubby to border's one night because b&n had no fish books. yes, we are going to purchase the red sea tank but this is our first time out so we don't want to get too complex. and thanks! we're very happy to be here!

mathias - we read about that and it seems like a really good idea. thanks!

[erikharrison]

When you buy some sand, make sure it is not play sand from HD. Buy aragonite based sand only!!!!! Otherwise you will be fighting algae! Also, once your tank get up and running, post in the WTB/Trade section here, and we could give you some cups of sand to help seed your new sand. "Live" sand that you buy in the store has usually been there for months, so it's not really live anymore, but the color choices are second to none! :)

This is a fantastic hobby, and I am extremely glad that you stumbled onto this site. Aprilmayjune told me about MAAST when I bought my first setup, and I adore it! This is a great group here, and everyone is eager to help!

Oh yeah!!!!!!!!! I almost forgot...... Look up wetwebmedia... Bob Fenner is all over that site, and there is also a ton of good info there!

[jroescher]

Buying uncured rock and watching it cure in your tank can be really interesting. Watching all the life forms while it cures in the tank is facinating all by itself.

[heymargo]

When you buy some sand, make sure it is not play sand from HD. Buy aragonite based sand only!!!!! Otherwise you will be fighting algae! Also, once your tank get up and running, post in the WTB/Trade section here, and we could give you some cups of sand to help seed your new sand. "Live" sand that you buy in the store has usually been there for months, so it's not really live anymore, but the color choices are second to none! :)

This is a fantastic hobby, and I am extremely glad that you stumbled onto this site. Aprilmayjune told me about MAAST when I bought my first setup, and I adore it! This is a great group here, and everyone is eager to help!

Oh yeah!!!!!!!!! I almost forgot...... Look up wetwebmedia... Bob Fenner is all over that site, and there is also a ton of good info there!

Oh gosh no! I would never buy anything but a live aquatic sand and I would talk to the sponsors here to see who could provide me with some.
And I was all over wetwebmedia today reading the logs about live rock. I think Mr. Fenner is the MAN! Thanks for the tips!

[brewercm]

Save the money on the live sand and get the dry stuff and place it in your tank. Once you have the tank set up ask a few different folks on here for a cup of their sand to seed yours. That is the best way and you get a diverse group of different life forms that way. I know I'd be willing to give up a cup when you're ready.

BTW, those Red Sea tanks are really cool. I saw one up and running and really like the concept of that one more than any other all in ones I've seen. That would be a great way to cure your rock by just setting it up in the tank since you have the skimmer built in to help keep it all clean. Do your water changes regularly and in no time your rock will be cured and your tank will be cycled at the same time.

[heymargo]

ya know what, cliff? you're right. that's what we're going to do. it makes the most sense and is the easiest way to go and everything gets broken in just fine. the coolest part is getting a little bit of live sand from everyone...it's like stone soup for fish! and i am looking forward to seeing the life forms that emerge. i read on wetwebmedia that one guy had an octopus emerge months after curing. that'd be a cool thread, huh? "what's the most amazing thing that came out of your live rock?" or somesuch...and that red sea is one slick tank. we're just shopping around to make sure we don't get our eyes poked on the price.

thank you all for your assistance! i knew this would be the place for us!
:applause: