buying cured rock - what do we need 2 know

[mikesin]

New 75G aquarium - RO/DI water used - pumps running - no life in the aquarium just water
We are headed to the LFS tomorrow to get live rock. We purchased most of our set-up from them AFTER reading as much as possible on this forum. LFS seems to be knowledgeable (depending on who you talk to

). They are going to cut us a price break for "cured fuji" rock which is nice of them. They tell me they have had this rock (in water) for over 6 weeks. They explained to me that they receive the rock damp and they have to start a curing process in their store. I'm not so sure the rock is completely cured yet BUT to me its better than getting "uncured" or dry and doing the entire curing process myself. From what I've read here the simple transport from the LFS to my home will cause some "dying off". As a result I should still see the aquarium/nitrite cycle but not as bad as if I were starting with uncured rock.
My question is there anything else that we need to be aware of ?
Thanks..

 

[farslayer]

Not really, but you do get a good benefit from the rock since you're just starting your tank. You'll get some die off just on the way home, but the beauty is that you can just stick the rock in the tank and let the die off start the cycling process. I started my 125 this way with pre-cured LR and LS. My cycle never even happened, inside of a week I had fish and coral in there and never had ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate in any detectable amounts. You're off to a good start hopefull!

 

[1journeyman]

Sounds like you got the general idea.
Put the rock in the tank, wait a few days and begin testing for ammonia. If in a week or so you don't see any start "ghost" feeding the tank some fish food. If you still don't see an ammonia spike 10 days or so after you started ghost feeding every few days you should be good.
I personally like curing my own rock. That way I can pick and choose the hitchhikers I want as well as closely monitoring the ammonia spike. Pet stores may not be as vigilant and therefore may kill off a lot of awesome critters by allowing the ammonia in a curing vat to get too high.

 

[alix2.0]

if it feels heavier than it looks don't get it, you want it to be porous. also, make sure they pack it in damp newspaper and double bag it to minimize any die- off. if you are only transporting it for like less than 2 hours it should be fine in terms of die off.

 

[maxalmon]

Smell the LR if it's kinda got that "salty ocean" scent then it's probably cured, if it's kinda gross smelling then it needs to cure a little longer.

 

[beth]

SWF.com rock is cured while it is at the SWF facility, however, naturally, there is die-off during shipping. It needs to be re-curred.

 

[sporty99]

good smellin lr is without question the way to go. just like the other guy in this thread i started with lr and sand and i never saw any spikes. period. i saw a little bit of diatom algae brought in a cu crew and i was off to the races. havent had a problem or spike yet knock on wood

 

[sporty99]

oh and if you can help it dont buy it all at one time because youll find pieces here and there that you like .

 

[kochankr]

not to hijack the thread but, is there any special requirement on lighting for LR? (no corals will be in the tank)

 

[mikesin]

great advise everyone, Thank you.
kochankr - to my limited knowledge no special lighting is needed. we have a simple 130W florescent light fixture. (FOWLR for now).

 

[kochankr]

thank you, just wasn't 100% sure...

 

[amanda46051]

When you get live rock it will serve as you biological filter. So it is best if you cycle it along with your tank. Some folks say if you have enough sand and live rock, you dont really need bio balls and some say you should take them out if you have enough live sand and rock in your tank.
Also some folks say you should get about 1lb of live rock per gallon of aquarium others say you need about 1/3 in volume of you tank to establish a natural biological filter. We just used the 1/3 rule and seems to be working.
Also when you get live rock, may SURE it doesnt have Majano and/or Aptasia on it.

We got some on it and we thought it was so pretty. Little did we know that it was a nuisance and pest in reef setups. So be careful.