cured uncured?

[boom215]

whats the diff?

 

[mbrands]

Uncured will have a lot of die off and create an ammonia spike (and thus another cycle).
Cured is safe to add to a tank as there should be no die off.

 

[boom215]

so then does it matter what u start your tank with then since your going to have an amoniz spike anyway?

 

[vmarius1]

If you are starting a tank, by all means use cured LR. Much of the dead material that causes the ammonia spike has already been removed. However, even though you receive cured LR, you must once again cure it because some more goodies will die off and will cause a spike. The difference being uncured LR will take 3-4 weeks to stabilize in your tank (not saying anything about the horrible smell). When you receive cured LR, it seems to take much less time about a week or so.
Best advice is get a big garbage can, put LR in and cover w/ saltwater, add a power head to circulate, a heater to keep it around 80 degrees, an airstone wouldn't hurt. Change water 2 times a week.
Check ammonia. If ammonia is 0, your rock has been cured.
One other thing, besides the stink of uncured, you will need to scrape the rock with a medium brush and get into the holes to remove all of the goo that used to be alive (not too much fun). If you do it right, you will get a lot more critters from uncured. But not all critters are wanted in your tank either.
Hope this helps.

 

[mbrands]

Cured rock would probably make a shorter cycle. It might even negate a cycle from even happening.
For example, I used about 10-15 pounds from my 55 to "cycle" my 10 gallon nano. I water tested daily and the nano never cycled since the rock was cured.