curing live rock

[bobbyzat]

I recently recieved an order of live rock from this site. I do not own a skimmer yet, so I have it in a 5 gallon bucket with saltwater, a small HOB filter, and a heater. After two days in the bucket, I scrubbed the rock down, and did a water change. How will I know when the rock is ready for my main tank. Should I test it and watch for a cycle, and throw it on once i get nitrates, or just wait for it to stop smelling. Also can i let it sit like that, and then add a single piece at a time like once a week, and let my tank naturally catch up to the bioload? Thanks for the help, Bobby

 

[dreeves]

5 gallons seems kind of small for live rock...of course, depends on how much you have...you dont really need the filter in there either...a heater, air and circulation is all you need...combined with the scrubbing and water changes...it will cure pretty good.
When the water tests 0 on amonia for a few days...then it should be cured....
For me...when I add live rock...I generally only add about a third of it to the tank at a time once it has been cured...this for me, will prevent any shock to the tank with the sudden biological filtration it will add.
Is this going in an established or brand new tank? If new...you can add a few pieces rock to aid in the tanks cycle instead of shrimp or whatever...personally, I have never, nor will I ever cure LR in a new tank...a few pieces as stated...but that would be the limit.

 

[bobbyzat]

Well it is a little over 20 pounds, and it is packed kinda tightly into the bucket. It is going into an established 75 gallon tank. Do I need to scrub it more than once, or just when I first got it. It's been in there about a week so far, and I have been getting very low ammonia readings. It was supposed to be 2 day delivery, but came the next day, so does that mean i didnt get a lot of die off?

 

[dreeves]

No...the die off starts a soon as the rock is disturbed from the ocean floor...and is aggravated every time it is moved after.
I scrub mine about every two days in the beginning and then about every 3-4 days as the die off starts slowing. Each time I scrub I change about 50% of the water as well...I cure my LR in a 32 gallon rubbermade trashcan...plenty of room for larger volumes of water, powerheads and heater...I also keep the temp in the upper 80's when curing too...it will speed the process...
As for checking for amonia...I dont even do that until about 3 weeks into the cure...once the smell starts wearing off...I have found that regardless of where it came from, what type it is, and how it was shipped...it will take between 3-5 weeks to fully cure on average.

 

[reverai]

A 5 gallon bucket is likely much to small for 20 pounds of live rock. And to be honest, one can clean off live rock a little much too. All one is suppose to do, is get the dead stuff off rather than clean to everything living thing off. Just the dead stuff or the stuff that will die. Like sponges. Then, it should checked for the mold that seems to grow on dead things on live rock for the things you missed. I would recommend buying a 30 quart container ($5 at walmart) and do what you are doing now again as unless you have enough flowing water, your live rock will likely be dead rock in a week or so in such a small amount of water. I put my rock in an old ten gallon tank filled with salt water. I cleaned the live rock once and checked it a few times. The rock was cured in about a week. I did water changes too so some of the hitchhikers would stay alive. If those water parms get to high everything will die.
Steve