Curing LR...

thamobster

thamobster

Member
Hey, I've written a couple threads on the curing process, but I just had a few more questions. I now got my tank about 2 1/2 weeks ago, its going great. I got the LR about 1 week ago. I've been doing a lot of research on curing LR and some of the processes, I saw a couple of people urged to scrub off the LR, but I didn't do that. Is it ok to havn't have scrubed off the LR? I have plenty of circulation, a Cascade 1200 canister filter, Red Sea Prizm skimmer, and a heater. Just today I checked the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. The ammonia is perfect at 0 ppm, nitrate at 10, and nitrite at 5.0. Now I was told the ammonia went up the roof but it is perfect. Could it have already gone up and already went down, and now the nitrite is going to work? I have not done a water change yet, I am in the process of mixing up some new saltwater and letting it age a day or so. Also, should I keep the light on while I'm curing the LR, as of now I just have a regular light that came with the cover, I plan on getting a new one within a week or so until I have saved up some extra money. Thanks for everyones help!
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
High quality live rock can cycle amazingly fast. The scrubbing business is for live rock that comes with dead stuff on it. This is usually the case with rock that's been shipped a long ways, or was collected in bad conditions. If you skip the scrub on a rock with lots of dead stuff, your tank will smell awful and the cycle will take longer. If your tank smells ok, and the nitrites are going down, I'd say you have some nice rock there! You still have to wait for the nitrites to come down, then you can use the water changes to bring down your nitrates.
To test the cycling of the tank, feed a normal amount of fish food that you would give to your first fish. There should be no ammonia spike, the bacteria on the rock should just eat it up as fast as it decomposes. If there is a spike, there may not have been enough fuel to run a cycle, and you should continue to feed the tank a small amount every day and track the cycle again. (Hold the feeding if ammonia goes above 0.5.)
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member

Originally posted by lefty
Note: Live rock does not require any light. :)
-lefty
I thought low-intensity blue light was good for coraline growth?
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Smells like live oysters: Good
Smells like dead oysters: Bad
If it doesn't smell bad, it's likely to be mostly cured. I'd still put it in a spare container of good saltwater and test the water for a few days first. You never know who you'll find during quarrentiene! You also want to add the rock slowly to an established tank even if it is cured.
 
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