Live rock selection and curing.

So I have had some ups and downs with this and I thought I would post them to better help you newbie's and seasoned reefers out. My first post will be buying experiences and the second will be more on curing live rock.

I am the guy who doesn't see going to the lfs and buying live rock for $6 to $8 a lb or more as economical. I mean sure what you see in the store is what you get and they claim it is cured. But let me tell you, there is something to be said for ordering rock online and opening that box when it show's up on your doorstep. It is like Christmas morning to me, I'd rather be supprized. In my honest opinion even if the rock in the lfs is cured, it will need to be re cured by the time you get it home unless you can talk the LFS to pack it in a bag of water for the trip home. Yeah good luck with that, most LFS won't do it.

Now I have had a very bad experience with buying rock online. I purchased Florida gulf cultured live rock because it was cheap, and I mean like $2.50 a lb delivered. I am a cheap guy, but I am working on that. My opinion is you get what you pay for. I just got a mixture of live rock from http://www.liveaquaria.com and I'll tell you what I haven't been more pleased. I'll get back to this later on. My gulf rock I received showed up on my doorstep like 4 days after it was originally shipped. The box was disintegrated and the only thing holding the rock in was a black garbage bag. The DHL driver said I could refuse the shipment and it would be sent back but I was skeptical and decided to keep it.
I should have sent it back. I opened the bag after the driver left and it was horrible. I got 3 non porous boulders that totaled 50 lbs. They were as white as rice, absolutely no life at all and nothing dead either. Base rock at best, so I called the guy and his answer was to send me a bottle of Purple up for free. Are you kidding, so I demanded he either give me my money back or send me some replacement rock. He sent me the replacement rock. Low and behold this shipment was a repeat of the first one. I called again and all he would do is send the purple up. I cut my loss's and took it.

I had this rock for 4 years and I finally just recently got fed up with it's plainness and sold it for $2.50 a lb so I got my money back but still the rock sucked.

Now Back to my good experiences. I just set up a 75g tank and needed all new rock. I decided to spend a little more for this in hopes to get good stuff. I went on to Live Aquaria's website and really read all of their rock's bio's.

My original order I decided to go with their Select Lalo live rock, they stated it is the must have live rock so I went with it. I also got 24 lbs of the Tonga Branch just to add a bunch of hiding spots for fish.

Well again with the Select Lalo I got 3 non porous boulders so I called them up and well as with all of Foster and Smith customer service they stepped up and made it right with me. Now the Tonga Branch was just as good, if not better than the pic on their site. I was very pleased. After this order I decided I needed a little more rock. I recommend about one pound per gallon for a reef tank. I ordered 22lbs of the Select Figi Premium live rock and this too was awesome.

So to sum up my buying experiences I highly recommend buying a little more expensive rock from a highly reputable vendor. You will be happyer in the long run.

Just to name a few live rock vendors I have heard good things about are:
http://www.liveaquaria.com
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com
http://www.saltwaterfish.com
http://www.marinedepot.com
http://www.thatpetplace.com

There are many more just do your research and ask questions on these forums.

OK now that I am done rambling about where to buy it now you need to know how to cure it. Or better said how I have cured mine.

Curing rock is basically putting it in a tub of water and letting it sit there and clean it's self of the dead and decaying matter for a period of time. This usually takes a week to a month to do.

First thing you need to do is select a location to cure the rock. If you are married I suggest picking the furthest place away from the spouse who may not understand this is an important process. It could end in a divorce . When you get your rock it will smell like the tide has been out for a week, it's pretty gross. I chose to do my rock curing in my wood shed, it is out away from the house and it is dark in there. You want dark to prevent major algae blooms.

Next you will need some items: Lots of salt mix, RO/DI water, a tooth brush, a tub, a couple small power heads, heater, skimmer, and I also use a canister filter with Zeolite crystals to help remove ammonia.

I have found to cure about 50 lbs of live rock it takes a container that holds about 15 gallons of water.

A pic of my setup:


Before I place the rock in the curing vat I have a 5 gallon bucket with about 3.5 gallons of salt water with a specific gravity of about 1.031 mixed and waiting. I dip the rock in there and let it sit for about 3 min. The high salt content will hopefully force any hitch hikers out of the rock. Be aware that you may have bad hitch hikers such as mantis shrimp or fire worms which can inflict a painful wound if you aren't careful. Some people welcome the presence of mantis shrimp in the rock. If you get one you will need a separate tank to keep it. They are vicious killers, do a search for a vid or two on http://www.youtube.com they are neat to watch. I suggest using rubber gloves to be safe. I also rinse the rock well in this water to get as much dead stuff off as possible. If there is any dead sponge's or black spots I scrub them off with the tooth brush. This scrub down will also need to be done each time you do a water change.



I cured my rock for about 3 weeks in this tub and I did 100% water changes every other day. Keep the water temp at about 80deg this will help speed the curing process up a little. The first things you will test for is Ammonia and Nitrites. After a week or so these will dissapear and the Nitrites will turn to Nitrates. When these are gone the rock is good to go into the display tank.

My current display tank, still in the infant stage:

I have one more for you if you wish to try it. I didn't write this and I don't know who did but I find it quite interesting.

It is called cooking live rock, and no it doesn't mean putting it in the oven.

Dave,
Sure thing.
But before I do I just want to say that Bomber instructed me how to do it several months ago and it works great. So it is his process that I am trying to make popular and cause fellow hobbyists a lot less heartache in the long term.
The purpose of "cooking" your rocks is to have tha bacteria consume all (or as much) organic material and PO4 stored on, and in, the rock as possible.

The first step to this is commitment.
You have to be willing to remove your rock from the tank.
It doesn't have to be all at once, but I feel if you are going to do this do it all. In stages if that is easier but make sure that all of it gets done.

The new environment you are creating for your rock is to take it from an algal driven to a bacterial driven system.
In order to this, the rock needs to be in total darkness to retard and eventually kill the algae's on the rock and to give the bacteria time to do the job.

So basically you need tubs to hold the rock.

Equipment needed.
1. Dedication.
2. Tubs to cook rock in. And an equal amount of tubs to hold the rock during water changes.
3. A few power heads.
4. Plenty of buckets.
5. A smug feeling of superiority that you are taking it to "the next level."

Here are the steps, if you have any questions I will try my best to answer them. What I don't know I am sure Bomber can/will instruct.

1. Get into your head and accept the fact you will be making lots of salt water if you aren't lucky enough to have access to filtered NSW.
2. Explain to significant other what is going on so they don't flip out. This process can take up to 2 months. Prepare them in advance so he/she can mark it on the calendar and that they won't nag about it until that date arrives.
3. Setup a tub(s) where the rock is to be cooked. Garages are great for this.
4. Make up enough water to fill tub(s) about halfway and around 5-7 buckets about 60% full.
5. Remove all the rock you want to cook at this stage. (The rock can be removed piece by piece until you are done.) I suggest shutting off the circulation beforehand to minimize dust storms.
6. Take the first piece of rock and dunk it, swish it, very, very well in the first bucket. Then do it again in the 2nd bucket, then the third.
7. Place rock in the tub.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 to every piece of rock you want to cook at this time. The reason I suggested 5-7 buckets of water will be evident quickly...as the water quickly turns brown.
9. Place powerhead(s) in the tub and plug in. Position at least one powerhead so that it agitates the surface of the water pretty well. This is to keep the water oxygenated. You can use an air pump for additional oxygenation if you wish.
9. Cover the tub. Remember, we want total darkness.
10. Empty out buckets, restart circulation on main tank.
11. Wait.
12. During the first couple of weeks it is recommended to do a swishing and dunking of the rocks twice a week.
What this entails is to make up enough water to fill up those buckets and the tub the rock is in.
First, lay out your empty tub(s) and fill buckets the same as before.
Then, uncover tub with the rock in it. Take a rock and swish it in the tub it's in to knock any easy to get off junk.
Then, swish it thru the 3 buckets again, and place in the empty tub..
Repeat for all your rocks.
Then empty the tub that all the rocks were cooking in, take it outside and rinse it out with a hose.
Place tub back where it was, fill with new saltwater, add rocks and powerheads, and cover.
Wait again until the next water change.
You will be utterly amazed at how much sand, silt, detritus is at the bottom of the tub and every bucket. It is amazing.

How it works:


Some FAQ's.
When re-introducing the rock to my tank, a month or two from now, should I do that in parts to help minimize any cycling effect(s)...if there are any?
I never have. Really after a very short while, the ammonium cycle has been established. That's not what you're worry about though, it's the stored phosphates and that you have to wait it out.
When they are producing very little detritus - you'll know - then I would use them all at once.

Would running Carbon filtration and/or a PO4 reducing media help/hurry/hinder the process?
I wouldn't fool with it. You don't want the detritus to sit there long enough to rot, release water soluble P again. You want to take it out while it's still locked up in that bacterial detritus.




I hope this helps you out.
It really is a "miracle" and a low cost one at that.
The only monies spent are for salt and electricity for the powerheads which are nominal. Especially to rid yourself of Bryopsis.
Time and effort is all it takes. And really not that much effort.
I would say that 85% of my exposed rock had Bryopsis (hair algae) covering it.
There isn't a single visible strand on andy rocks in the tubs now.
Remember, the key is patience. Let this process run its course.

And a few last minute tidbits I remembered.
Your coralline will die back, recede etc.
My thoughts on this are GREAT!
Now my rock is more porous for additional pods, mysids, worms etc.
Coralline will grow back.
Throughout this process the sponges, and pods on my rock have not died off.
Every time I do a water change they are there and plentiful.

Take it from me...step #2 is THE MOST IMPORTANT step!
(Chris is easing me into this whole idea...it was only 2 years ago that we completely broke down our tanks and the thought of doing it again makes me sick to my stomach but I do know that it's the only way we're gonna get rid of the crap we no longer want...and the crap that's killing off our corals!)

Nice job skinz!

Here is a PDF file from a guy I feel knows his stuff in Rock curing, Walt Smith. He has cured more rock then I could imagine. I use his method and never had a problem when purchasing LR. But now I employ a much different method by buying dead Live rock and seeding it.

Great write up Chris

Thanks Chris

I might need to do this , It doesnt look too painfull but a concern of myn would be what kills the algae in the display while the rocks are working in the tanks??


I mean wouldnt ya need to do all the live rocks at once??


Bill

Are you talking about "cooking" the live rock?

Yeah you should do all the rocks at once.

Ok thanks, now I got to figure out how to get the zenia off the rock with out hurting it, It just attached real good to!!

Bill

Thank you this is great reading!

Originally Posted by inlander

Ok thanks, now I got to figure out how to get the zenia off the rock with out hurting it, It just attached real good to!!

Bill

xenia is pretty tough. you can just take a toothpick and pick at the base and it will come right off and in 5 minutes act like nothing happened.

Cool I will give it a try , looks like it might be a month or so befor I wory about any thing ,, I got a lot of water buckets setting around now!!


Bill

Wow this stuff is great! This is just the kind of newbie stuff I'm looking for. I can cure what few rocks I have before I build the tank up. Thanks a bunch for the info!