Dry Pukani Rock - Curing - aquascaping
 

I have some dry Pukani currently. This is my plan:

I am going to clean the rock either with bleach + water or do the Muriatic acid + water clean to get rid of any dead material.

From there I'll put the rock in a rubbermaid container with salt water to cure the rock.

Once the rock is done curing unless I am totally out in left field here, it will have all the beneficial bacteria I am looking for and ready for the tank.

I had Eli at Fijireefrock out together an aquascpe for me based on the dimensions of my tank. A few of the pieces of rock will need some epoxy to hold them in place.

How long can the rock be left out of the water without ruining/killing the bacteria?

I plan on aquascaping the rock in the tank then adding water once I have the rock how I want it.

Is this a good idea or should I fill the tank and add the rock with water already in?

Eli knows his rock. I just purchased a couple hundred pounds from him and followed his instructions. I stuck it in a bin of saltwater with lots of circulation at 82f. Its been in there for just over two weeks. Ammonia spike is dropping. Nitrite and nitrates are coming up now. I didnt clean or acid bath it. I took his instructions and used them the way he told me to. If u have any questions just ask him. His tank looks amazing and he used the same procedure.

Hopefully I can get the rock put together as nice as it looked in the video!

I did same. Eli's direction takes much longer but works great.

i wanted to wait weeks and go through all the fun troubles that people seem to have with their new rock.

alas i didnt go with the pack but in the opposite direction and listented to no ones advice( although all the curing videos and posts sure made it sound like a fun process)

all dry rock , no live rock ( at all) , no curing, no baths, no, acid, no dark , no gfo and the liust goes on of things i didnt do lol

so why did it work for me ?


i added fish right away.....

i have zero nitrates and zero phosphates...never did

no amonia....or at least ive never seen any

no algae...



according to the online info....this shouldn't have worked but it did ;)

but then the online info has its flaws :)

As someone asked me to reply and give an explanation.
Here is my quick take on curing processes for the dry rock.

My original receipe is based on bacteria survival and keeping that bacteria to stay and do its job for as little time possible.
Yes there are other recipes out there that work be it using chemicals,HC-GFO,Carbon and other item that yes at the end cost money.
I tried keeping my recipe with as little of added cost as possible,for the short time or the long haul of any setup.
I always believed in Keep It Simple Stupid or don't fix it if it aint broke.:biggrin:

Yes like Denny said and I know of few people did the quick drop in the tank load it with live stock and turn lights on then cross your fingers...well I don't totally agree as I really go in details as to why the rock need the dark time and get it to coat with beneficial bacteria and use all the proteins to break down properly ,...

A quick note on how Bleach and Acid works on the rock for curing.

We all know the rock is cleaned as much as possible and pressure washed prior to shipping. But proteins is lodged into the rock and needs to be removed with little cost.

Bleach and proteins are 2 different chemical reaction as when added bleach in a water volume and add the rock to it what you will get is that the bleach will react with the amino acids that form the proteins and render it useless,..
Now all that release is in the water line or some still in the rock.

Acid well we all know that acid body of water dissolve Calcium (the very make of our rock) to nothing
When added to the water with the rock that has gotten a simple wash after the Bleach wash,well it will dislodge and remover all cracked:biggrin: and useless proteins into the water line and foam out.A quick wash and your rock is ready for curing.

Curing is always needed to add bacteria and have the rock ready for any saltwater tank,...
Does the Bleach and Acid speed up the process,...I don't know as I haven't tested that theory yet,there is no right answer to that speed of curing as the recipe doesn't fall under on one or 2 items being changed but few points put together; foe exp. water temperature,water movement, oxygen availability, available proteins in the rock and added proteins to that rock,...

Bottom line is if you are planning on using Acid or Bleach I suggest using them as part of the process not one and leave the other out as mentioned above they work perfect as one breaks the proteins and the other help dislodging is out.

Hope that answers the question or at least its my lake on this.
Cheers

Water Changes:
Should I be doing water changes while the rock cures, or leave the rock and water alone and let it do its thing?

Cured Rock how long will bacteria live outside the water?
What's the best way to aquascape? I was planning on keeping my tank empty and putting the cured rock in there. Figuring out where I want the rocks, then using epoxy to keep them in place. I don't know how long this will take. Once I have the rocks placed I was going to add salt water. In a situation like this how long will the rocks last in a dry tank? Or should I fill the tank with water and aquascape under water just to be safe?

Water movement while curing?
I don't have any powerheads yet and was planning on getting a Gyre Generator in my tank. If I am curing in a rubbermaid container, what do you suggest I use for water movement (what's the cheapest method)?

Bleach:
Bleach will kill the proteins left on and in the rock?

Acid:
Acid will dislodge any leftover proteins that are killed when the rock is bleached. Rinsing won't wash them all away and the acid bubbling will basically force it all off the rock and out of the small pores?I know these are alot of questions I just want to make sure I am understanding and have all my ducks in a row.

sure...but thats not what i did lol ;)



bacteria...organics


these are the two things about using dry rock....with a little help from mr science we know each of these can be manipulated , removed or added to ;)


so why did my tank show no phosphates ( still doesnt ) , no amonia and no nitrates ?


the same way live rock can or cant lol

nutrients can be imported ( hence why the rock has it anyways ) there fore it can be exported , simple carbon dosing can take care of that ( worked great for me ) but exporting nutrients isn't new technology its pretty darn documented on how well and what ways its removed.


the other is bacteria ...ill say this it would take chemicals to kill bacteria...simply drying the rock isnt enough to get rid of bacteria , may bring the population down but wont kill it completely as well..bacteria is not in short supply be it in a reef, in the air or anywhere for that matter :)

to this day i havent got 1 pound of liverock in my tank , now yes the corals i add has bacteria and the bases they are on but in weight what do we have maybe 2 lbs....surface area isnt great on my toch stem but none the less bacteria is there lol

so how much bacteria does it take to convert amonia?

we use to say a lb per gallon .....some say 2 lol

what if i told you i cant remember the last time i seen a person who had a tank crash due to not enough bacteria populatio ( not unless we go bacjk to the chemicals ) you would be hard pressed to stop the process if you tried lol.


so while i wanted to wait months , add all kinds of bleach and acids , go buy actual liverock etc.


when i did the math ( and its not just me , hit the chemistry forum on rc ) it didnt make any sense to me to go through any of this :)


def not for the inadvanced but def isnt the only way to do it either or the best lol

In my limited experience , all you need is salt water, circulation , warmth, time, and a small amount of lanthanum chloride to eliminate phosphate as necessary. Worked for my ~80 lbs.

[quote=Easto;924927]Water Changes:
Should I be doing water changes while the rock cures, or leave the rock and water alone and let it do its thing?
I have tested both and I had faster curing period without water change.


Cured Rock how long will bacteria live outside the water?
From what I have seen and just giving a number I have used,room temperature should be able to hold the rock out of the tank for couple hours before you see much difference although temperature (and I mean big swing in a short period) play a big role on bacteria survival.

What's the best way to aquascape? I was planning on keeping my tank empty and putting the cured rock in there. Figuring out where I want the rocks, then using epoxy to keep them in place. I don't know how long this will take. Once I have the rocks placed I was going to add salt water. In a situation like this how long will the rocks last in a dry tank? Or should I fill the tank with water and aquascape under water just to be safe?
Really most aquascape I have seen or I should say the longest in a dry tank is 4 hours then FijiCrete the rock and add saltwater.

Water movement while curing?
I don't have any powerheads yet and was planning on getting a Gyre Generator in my tank. If I am curing in a rubbermaid container, what do you suggest I use for water movement (what's the cheapest method)?
I highly suggest a power head as this is the best way to do it.If you have an air pump with a hose running at the bottom of the container with few holes in it to push air out and to the surface as this agitate your water thus circulating it.

Bleach:
Bleach will kill the proteins left on and in the rock?
Yes, Bleach left in the container with water and rock will penetrate every crevice of the rock.

Acid:
Acid will dislodge any leftover proteins that are killed when the rock is bleached. Rinsing won't wash them all away and the acid bubbling will basically force it all off the rock and out of the small pores?I know these are alot of questions I just want to make sure I am understanding and have all my ducks in a row.
In this hobby its always best to ask as many questions as possible before acting to reduce the hole in your pocket:biggrin:
Acid will do a better job on dislodging all the micro particles, of course some will be left in there as that is why the curing process has to be followed./QUOTE]