Cooking Rock

butters88 · #1 11-24-2006, 06:57 PM

The answer to your questions may lie in these threads:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=485572
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=437342
They are unfortunately long though, good luck!

jws444 · #2 11-24-2006, 07:11 PM

Oh, i see what you mean Christy. Why don't they just keep calling it 'curing' since it's really creating your own die-off?

I've read where people boiled their rocks to start over again and it was termed as cooking - which is literally true!

christyf5 · #3 11-24-2006, 07:40 PM

Well its kind of funny actually, because curing and cycling are sort of the same thing. Basically putting the rock in the tank, providing light, heat and water movement to wait for various things to finish dying (induced by transport etc) and breakdown by bacteria etc. Curing and cycling are both done using light usually. That way stuff that is decomposing continues to do so and coralline algae can take hold and proliferate.

However, technically I suppose rocks that are to be "cooked" are already "cured/cycled" (ie. they have the bacterial populations to keep nutrients in check).

I guess someone thought they'd come up with a trendy term called cooking (which also conveniently starts with "c", not very original IMO). Kind of silly since you're not really cooking anything. Although in my world it could be termed as cooking: add water, heat and then forget about it for awhile. Thats how I make Kraft Dinner

I've been tempted to boil my rocks a few times. Some of these critters we get on the rocks are unbelievably tough (ie. hydroids, turf algae). Its only the possibility of stinking up the house that has stopped me.

Slick Fork · #4 11-25-2006, 02:30 AM

Thanks for the link butters88. I'm on dial-up since we bought this acreage, and trying to search RC with high speed is bad enough, I've been terrified to try it with my current connection!!!

I thought I'd read somewhere that flatworms were photosynthetic, oh well I've got a back-up vial of Exit ready to go if they become a problem!

Farrmanchu · #5 11-25-2006, 01:21 PM

Really "cooking" your rock means COMPLETE darkness for 3 months at least. The rock should end up looking like a..........rock. I mean regular rock, no coraline, just a very porous rock. The process forces the bacteria to feed off Phosphate and stuff that's in and on the rock, it's a way of "recharging", or "turbocharging" the rock. Problem is, the rock doesn't look as good until it's been back in the tank for a few months. You can use much less LR, if it's all cooked.

untamed · #6 11-25-2006, 09:12 PM

Why do we pay so much for LR, only to go to these measures to remove the life that was paid for?

If all that is needed is rock to function as a biological filter and provide decorative backdrop for stuff we introduce....why not use some sort of artificial porous rock instead?

It would have to be cheaper and coral reefs of the world would be better for it.

Farrmanchu · #7 11-26-2006, 12:08 AM

The LR has life from the inside out. Base rock that we add becomes live from the outside in, and is less effective filtration. You can do a "low impact" or "green" reef using only live base rock, and/or aquacultured LR. Just doesn't look the same as LR out of the Ocean. My Reef was started with 50lbs Base Rock, and just 20lbs of Live Rock, and I do my best to hide the Base Rock.

StirCrazy · #8 11-26-2006, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamed

why not use some sort of artificial porous rock instead?
.

simple, because most of the man made stuff is ugly. and when a company does come up with something deicent they charge more touting the "saving the reef" ploy.

same thing with tank bred fish, they should be less to encourage people to buy them.

Steve

Chad · #9 11-26-2006, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamed

Why do we pay so much for LR, only to go to these measures to remove the life that was paid for?

I see this comment so many times. There still seems to be a large amount of people who have no clue what "cooking" the LR really means. Some think its killing all the pods etc. But in reality your killing anything that is photosynthetic. So, your killing Algae (which most people do not want) and possibly some corals (which if it was really one you wanted you can take off before you start the process).

I have about 30 lbs or more of LR cooking for the past year ( for my 90gal tank which is not setup yet ) .. There is so much life on those bloody things now. Sponges, snails, copepods. You name it. Except Algae!

Most people I think would agree that you don't normaly cook fresh LR that you just bought from the retail outlet (came from ocean). "Cooking" LR is usualy reserved for rock that has become algae infested or came from a poor husbandry environment.

Just my 2 cents