How long to cure LR

kalamity

kalamity

Member
How long does it take to cure live rock? You just put it in a cycled, circulating tank (does it need to be cycled?) and let it sit, right? Lights on for only a few hours a day? Do you need to put food or anything in it? I guess I'm still nto sure exactly what LR is. Are there animals or anything that need to "eat"? Anyone want to give me a crash course on LR, what it is, what lives on it, what it should look like, how to care for it, all that jazz? Or, can you post a link to a website that is written in "dummy"? Thanks.
 
calgar

calgar

Member
your nose will tell you.. keep curing it until you can't smell any bad rotten smell
LR is taken from the ocean and then stored somewhere in the meantime.. in this process the things in there starts to die. That's when you "cure" LR (to get rid of those dead things). Curing must be done on a separate container and not the display tank as you need to change the water frequently.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
How long does it take to cure live rock? You just put it in a cycled, circulating tank (does it need to be cycled?)
Is the lr cured or uncured? I'll assume uncured since you're asking. if your tank is not cycled (meaning you don't have fish/inverts yet), just put the lr in the tank.
Other wise, to cure lr you can use a qt tank or a bin, bucket, ect... put rock in saltwater with ph and heater, wait a few days and test water. when water test for am and nitrites are zero, you're good to go.
how long depends on how much lr and how uncured it is, and how much growth is on it.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
My first question is do you have a cycled tank yet?? or are you using this to cycle your tank? Yes its full of all kinds of life. Was the rock in a tank when you bought it or was it dry? Did you buy it from online or from your lfs?
 
kalamity

kalamity

Member
Originally Posted by calgar
your nose will tell you.. keep curing it until you can't smell any bad rotten smell
LR is taken from the ocean and then stored somewhere in the meantime.. in this process the things in there starts to die. That's when you "cure" LR (to get rid of those dead things). Curing must be done on a separate container and not the display tank as you need to change the water frequently.
My curing tank is 12 miles away; how often will I need to change the water and how much?
 
kalamity

kalamity

Member
Originally Posted by shiby1510
My first question is do you have a cycled tank yet?? or are you using this to cycle your tank? Yes its full of all kinds of life. Was the rock in a tank when you bought it or was it dry? Did you buy it from online or from your lfs?
I have a tank that's been circulating for - 2 months with live sand in it and that's it. The salinity is fine, no ammonia, no nitrites. Although, I never saw any ammonia or anything, either (but I wasn't testing it a lot in the beginning).
The rock is coming from a tank; it's not dry. Can you even buy live rock that is dry? Isn't that like an oxymoron or something? It is from a LFS.
 
calgar

calgar

Member
if its dry its not live.. before buying any rock always ask if its cured or uncured.. always get cured
 
kalamity

kalamity

Member
I'm pretty sure it's uncured. But, it is circulating in their huge tanks 24/7. I don't know what it's like with their supplier though. I think, though, that the stuf doesn't stick around long enough to cure in their tanks. I hand picked some awesome branch rock a week ago...it was beautiful. They held it for me for three days. When I went to get it, not only had someone sold it, they were out of rock. And the tanks had been FULL three days before. So, anyway, I'm pretty sure it's uncured. But I don't care (I think I don't care) b/c I have a bare tank to cure it in.
 
calgar

calgar

Member
well if you're prepared for it your best signal when they're ready is no foul smell (keep changing the water from time to time).
I wouldnt put in in yhe main tank as it can initiate a cycle again
if you need for info just google for it.. there are plenty of sites explaining the process and how to do it
 
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