Curing LR does it stink?

[banditpowdercoat]

I was reading in the conscientious aquarius that LR stinks to high heave when curing. Is that true? I am just about ready to order 40Lbs of uncured Tonga from JL but will be curing in the tank, in my living room. Am I asking for a divorce here???

[untamed]

Anything that is dead on that rock, or dies in curing...is going to stink.

[dreef]

Yes it does stink..smells like sewer :) I did 60 lbs of rock,but that was downstairs,and since my basement is not finished, it didn't matter.My buddy said if he had to do it again,only in the summer in his garage.He did mention something about his wife killing him ..LOL

[dsaundry]

P/Eww is all I can say:biggrin:

[banditpowdercoat]

UHOH not sounding good here....:cry:

[Borderjumper]

Don't invite the inlaws over for dinner for the first week,, thats for sure!

[mark]

yep.

[Zylumn]

A 6 week supply of roses help mask the smell.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

If its inside, your family will hate you for a couple of weeks. :twised:

[chevyjaxon]

super stinky because the organisms that are dead or dying are decaying they also produce ammonia be sure to do lots of water changes

[SeaSerpant]

crap if i get my 60g set up downstairs my parents wouldn't know where the stink is coming from and when the find out... it won't be pretty.

[Phanman]

Im 2 months into cooking the LR. I used a plastic garbage can with a lid that sorta snaps shut. Placed a powerhead near the bottom of the garbage can with a heater near the top so i dont crush it with the rock. You will get a pretty nasty skin on the top of the water the first month or so. Just pull the top layer of skin off and do water changes every 2 weeks or more. I scrubed the rock pretty clean too after the first week. Anyways to the point.... if i didnt open the garbage can no smell... I was doing this in the laundry room btw. But as soon as you open the garbage can oh man did it stink something aweful. But anyways when the lid was on no one complained at all. Now just after 2 months it doesnt smell at all when i open the garbage can. Rock looks real nice and clean too :biggrin:

[banditpowdercoat]

Well, hopefully I dont have tp "cook" it. I'll be getting rock form JL, but shipped via greyhound. Have no place to do it other than in the house. Was hoping to be able to set tank up and let cycle for 5-6 weeks

[atcguy]

buy cured and the problems solved

[banditpowdercoat]

Problem is, I am 4.5 hrs north of Vanc. How much die off will happen on a bus ride up?

[fishoholic]

We put our LR in a big rubber maid container with a lid to let it cure. Ran a power head and a heater and scrubbed off die off and did water changes once a week. Only stunk real bad when we opened up the lid.

[Marlin65]

Take off all the dead stuff and run your skimmer. I never found it that bad just tell them you never knew it would smell.:wink:
Run that skimmer it will help and It will only smell for a short time.

[untamed]

Well...it is all about different opinions...so here goes.

Before you read below...understand that I am talking about setting up a new system....NOT adding additional LR to an existing system. That is a very different story.

I don't cure live rock. If you can get good quality live rock, that has been out of the ocean for as little time as possible...it gets to you with minimal die off and doesn't require "curing".

If you are starting a new tank, I try to establish some biological filtration using bioballs and dead seafood, then add the LR directly to your system with the lights running. The bioballs are there to absorb any ammonia that any decay on the rocks is producing. As the LR becomes the system filter, the bioballs are eventually removed completely. The lights are running because some of the life needs light to survive. (ie. some coral)

This provides the best chance of keeping as much alive on the rock as possible.

[Oscar]

Well...it is all about different opinions...so here goes.

I don't cure live rock. If you can get good quality live rock, that has been out of the ocean for as little time as possible...it gets to you with minimal die off and doesn't require "curing".

This provides the best chance of keeping as much alive on the rock as possible.

I am awaiting delivery of my first tank I hadn't considered the stink factor that I might encounter. This tank will be placed in the living room so it is paramount that I minimize the stink.

It seems to me that part of the fun of stating a new tank with new LR is discovering the hitch hikers that arrive. So curing in a dark place could actually kill more hitch hikers and create more stink.

I will be ordering LR from the Lower Mainland. How often do the main suppliers receive new LR that has been out of the ocean for a very short time?

To cut down on stink how will this proposal work:

Order new live rock Add bioballs to help speed up the curing process Light the tank to keep hitchhiking corals etc alive Very frequent water changes Buy flowers






[/LIST]

[Oscar]

To cut down on stink how will this proposal work:

Install live sand Order new live rock Add bioballs to help speed up the curing process Light the tank to keep hitchhiking corals etc alive Very frequent water changes Buy flowers






[/LIST][/QUOTE]

[untamed]

If you are interested in using bioballs to reduce the strain on your LR, you need to cycle your tank using bioballs BEFORE introducing the LR. That means getting water flowing over the bioballs and introducing some kind of ammonia source (like a raw dead fish from the grocery store - stink is probably unavoidable). Watch the cycle progress (ammonia,nitrite, nitrate)...then remove the fish and add the LR.

Then you monitor the ammonia,nitrite and nitrate and do water changes as necessary to keep those levels as low as possible.

Over time, you can remove the bioballs from the system. Remove maybe 1/6 every week.

Unfortunately, the LR from LFS has usually made very long trips from the other side of the world. The best you can do is time your pickup to match the day they get it.

[Starry]

I bought some "fresh" LR a few weeks ago, and for the first few days it stunk to high heaven. However, I then put a skimmer(it's working overtime) in and the smell decreased substancially. I have to pretty much put my nose in the tank to smell anything. Still having alot of stuff rotting off. Doing weekly wc's as well. I'd use the largest volume of water you can to cure the rock in.

[Brent F]

Problem is, I am 4.5 hrs north of Vanc. How much die off will happen on a bus ride up?


I bought cured Jakarta live rock from Ocean Aquatics in Vancouver and had it flown to Calgary via Westjet cargo. There was no spell and minimal die off.

[banditpowdercoat]

Welp, 40 Lbs should be here friday :D

[Oscar]

If you are interested in using bioballs to reduce the strain on your LR, you need to cycle your tank using bioballs BEFORE introducing the LR. That means getting water flowing over the bioballs and introducing some kind of ammonia source (like a raw dead fish from the grocery store - stink is probably unavoidable). Watch the cycle progress (ammonia,nitrite, nitrate)...then remove the fish and add the LR.



That's generally what I had in mind. Get the bioballs inocculated with bacteria then pull the dead fish out and install the LR. The extra life on the bioballs would help in the cycling. Then when cycled pull the bioballs out, some posters have mentioned that they become nitrate sources if detritus builds up.

So does firing up the skimmer right away reduce the stink factor?