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Seamonkey
05-11-2004, 01:16 AM
I am curring about 40 lbs of rock in my garage right now and man does it smell bad!! :lol: I realize when there are no signs of ammonia and nitite its done, but any idea as to how long this process takes. I've been changing the water daily cause of the stench. Makes the price of cured rock seem not so bad. :biggrin:

Aquattro
05-11-2004, 01:31 AM
generally about a week is good. Sometimes a bit longer if it's really bad.

Skimmerking
05-11-2004, 01:58 AM
It's all going to depensd on how long its been out of the waer too I believe.
And along with that Corect me if i'm wrong if you get the rock right after the rock has been out of the water you will have a better success in curing that. or you cvan do the drip like Jayson at salt water connection does. Its a pretty cool setup

i never had a problem with the rock tha i received from him.

Dale D
05-11-2004, 01:59 AM
Depends on what is on it and how much when you get it. I've seen rock take well over a month to cure and other rock cure in just over a week.

Doing water changes may speed things up and help save more of the life on it.

LostMind
05-11-2004, 02:02 AM
drip like jayson does?

what do you mean?

Skimmerking
05-11-2004, 03:08 AM
Well it's not really a drip
Its like really slow moving water that is dropping over the rock...

BCOrchidGuy
05-11-2004, 04:39 PM
You have a pump moving the water around??? and a heater to keep the water at a reasonable temp? I wouldn't be doing that many water changes myself, just let it cure for a week or two.

Doug

Beverly
05-11-2004, 06:23 PM
I agree with Doug that you need water movement and a heater. I'd also add a light for several hours a day, too, to keep the coralline growing or at least alive. I wouldn't change the water until it's cured or near ready to go in the tank. How long to cure? Could be days, could be weeks, depending on how much dead stuff you have on it.

I've got 25 lbs of cured LR in a rubbermaid container in the living room. After a week of stench, I took a bucket of changewater from a recent water change and scrubbed each rock in the bucket with a toothbrush. Man, that water was BLACK when I was done :eek: Within a week, the rock was cured.

I can hardly wait for our new tanks, stands and lighting :smile:

dbdavid
05-11-2004, 07:24 PM
Why do most people think that water changes are bad when curing live rock? :rolleyes:

In my opinion you will have more of that precious life( that you paid so much for) left on the rock in the end. The die-off will be less if the creatures have decent water rather than sitting in a vat of black stinky water . When I ordered my live rock I asked for uncured Fiji and the amount of life after the curing was amazing( zoo's, corals, sponges coralline etc.). Anyway that's my 2 cents worth. :mrgreen:

Dave

Quinn
05-11-2004, 07:33 PM
If this rock is going into a brand new tank, you didn't need to cure in a seperate container at all...

I cured my Kanai rock in my tank, did a water change once during the one month period...

BCOrchidGuy
05-11-2004, 08:11 PM
Dave I don't think you are wrong at all, I just think daily water changes are a waste. I cured my rock in my tank and it worked out well. I don't like to scrub off my rock etc, decaying sponge especially will help increase the size of your pod population.
I forgot to mention light, some people swear by dark conditions, some by actinic light some by sunlight. Different types (colours) of coraline algae grow in different lighting conditions. Myself I'd like to see a nice ballance of colour in the coraline algae. I think it's safe to say the redish burgundy coraline algae grows well under strong light. What about green etc though?

Doug