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Curing Live Rock

S

Singlemalt

Well I finally got 60lbs of live rock from Liveaquaria.com and will be ordering 75lbs of Marco Rock tomorrow. Very Exciting to be able to have someting in my tank other than water!! My wife took delivery and put in a barrel of salt water with a mag 3 to move the water around a bit. I plan to move the rock to my new 120 (with no livestock yet of course) to cure it. Like everything else in this hobby there seems to be more than one way of skinning a cat. Some things I read recommend a thorough cleaning of the rock before curing, others recommend taking off obvious sponges but leaving most else alone and still others recoommend a quick fresh water dip only.

My gut tells me that number 2 - removing obvious dying material is the way to go but I was wondering what you experienced folks have done in the past and how it has worked out.

Thanks as always
Lou
 
H

harryk

remove anything soft. it will only take that much longer to cure. I would use a knife and poke around anything soft just remove.

Harry
 
A

AnDom1

Hi Lou,

I'd just remove the loose stuff and any obviously decaying matter such as sponges turning a "whitish" color etc. Since it'll take a number of weeks to fully cure, you could remove anything else that looks bad when doing water changes. Try to stack/spread the pieces in a way that will allow you to periodically inspect them without too much disruption.

Dom
 
JohnS_323

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hi Lou,

Sounds like you're off to a good start. You'll love the Marco rock just be aware that it really S T I N K S when it's curing. I mean like be prepared for your wife to start packing your bags for you kind of stink!
 
H

harryk

oh yea i forgot to mention the stink. In the beginning it's bad. I'm curing about 150lbs of fiji and tonga fusion rock now and my office smells like something died in there. but it does go away pretty quick. Also i would recommend a very large water change after a week maybe 100% but after that you'll only have to do like 20-30%. And if you have a spare protein skimmer i'd use it also. you'd be surprised what it will pull out

Harry
 
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