Yippeee!! New LR Cured Already :) with pics

Beverly · #1 04-16-2005, 04:07 PM

Bought about 30 lbs of LR on April 4 to go into our now empty 67g. The rock was covered in algae, so before putting it into my 20g curing tank, I scrubbed it in changewater from the latest water changes in other tanks with a hard-bristle brush and a toothbrush for the crevices. Water in the scrub bucket got dirty fast, and after scrubbing three rocks, I'd dump the dirty stuff, rinse the bucket in tapwater, then fill the pail again.

This process seemed to take forever, but once cleaned and in the 20g, I could see how nice the coralline was

Every four or five days, I removed each rock and swish it in a pail of SW. Water again got very dirty so I kept changing the water. Also siphoned the crud from the bottom of the tank once during this process and water was also freaking dirty

Ammonia never rose over .5 ppm during curing, so I assume the rock was already partly cured by the time I got it.

Over the past few days, the smell from the curing tank became easier on the nose. Tested for ammonia and nitrite today and both are at 0 ppm

LR after curing:

Close up of cured LR:

67g being filled up with RO.

One more swish of the LR in changewater and into the 67g it will go

After the cured LR is in the 67g, I can get a better understanding about how much more and the shapes/sizes of the LR I'm going to need.

Beverly · #2 04-16-2005, 04:17 PM

One question - how long before I add snails? I'm thinking about a week after the rock goes into the 67g. Any comments?

Snappy · #3 04-16-2005, 08:25 PM

I throw in a few snails and hermit crabs while the rock is being cured. Helps to speed things along. I think the snails can go in right away.

Rikko · #4 04-16-2005, 08:34 PM

Looks nice.. Is that Tonga?

I waited about a week after moving the rock into my display just to make sure there wasn't one last dieoff to pollute the water. If NH4 stays 0 after a few more days odds are you're golden.

Beverly · #5 04-16-2005, 09:19 PM

It's Fiji.

Skimmerking · #6 04-16-2005, 10:27 PM

Hey there Bev Congrats on the rock looks awesome. When i did my 60 + lbs of fiji that i had i used lots of cycle in my tank and it took around 4 weeks to get some life in there. My tank has been running since beginning of jan and there is a huge amount of life in there.

I believe firmly in the HAGEN CYCLE I have always used it and had great results.

mike