Originally Posted by newfishguy
The only goal to curing rock is to get all of the smell out of it, isn't it? I have heard different arguments on this before but it makes the most sense. After three weeks everything should be fine by doing 100% water changes twice weekly. After that I could place it in my main display tank and everything should be fine.
Sort of, but not exactly. The smell is caused by decaying organisms. Therefore, no smell, no "dead stuff". That's what you're trying to get rid of. You won't get rid of them by doing 100% water changes though.
You'll get rid of them by building up a population of bacteria that consume the "dead stuff" that won't simply rinse off. That's hard to do if you keep changing all the water where the bacteria live. I agree with only doing 50% at the most, I usually do more like 25%-30%, but last time I cured rock it was in a tank I was setting up, so I didn't want to to a major water change.
The first question to this discussion was "Is it ok to dump your water where the sump pump in your basement is instead of hauling it upstairs to the sink? I dont' see a problem with that do you?
Yes... as long as it won't clog anything up. It should be dumping somewhere outside anyway, so it's the same as just dumping it in the yard. If anything, used fish water is actually good for plants.
HTH h*
