Live rock curing??

[defntleymaybe79]

The more i read this message board, the more i realize that I don't know too much about this...i guess its a good thing i really only have simple and easy critters in my tank. Now, my assumption was that if you bought live rock, it is tank ready? I bought live rock from my LFS ($10.00/lb yikes) which was cured and I put it straight into my tank. Am I not supposed to do that? Is there an acclimation process? If its uncured, will it "cure" naturally when put into the tank or do I have to cure it seperatley? So many questions...so little time

 

[jacknjill]

do you have any fish in the tank? if its cured then you can just put it in the tank, if its not cured and you dont have anything in the tank you can put it in anyways but it wll probably cause a cycle

 

[avbryce1]

My theory on "cured" liverock:
well from what I understand the only diff. between "cured" and "uncured" is the amount of die off. Right?
first off I'd like to say when you order "cured" liverock by the time it gets to you it will be "uncured".
"uncured" liverock:
any time you move liverock or let air touch it there will be die off. When you order Liverock it is usually shipped dry and during the dry shipping process there is a ton of die off, and that is why it stinks so bad when you open the box. Dry shipped Liverock HAS to be "cured" before being put into your display Unless you are using it to cycle your tank. 3-6 weeks In quality saltwater should be enough time to "cure" liverock (or until the smell is gone)
"Cured" Liverock:
when you buy "cured" liverock from a lfs It should be ok for your tank in small doses depending on how they pack it.
I've seen it come from the lfs several ways. the key is you want to keep it as wet as possible.
you will still have some die off but your tank should be able to handle about 2-4 pounds "cured" per 10 gallons
keep in mind that this is just my opinion

 

[jacknjill]

if you buy it from the lfs, they wrap it in wet newspaperss usually and they are fine. they wont cause an ammonia spike. so it would be fine in large amounts unless the store is several hours away from your house. to get my tank we had to move it from somewhere 2 hours away. we wrapped the rocks in newspaper ( keep in mind this was around 100 pounds lr). when we got to my house, we just put vrything in there ( fish included) and everything waws fine. no ammonia spike, no nitrate/trite spike nothing. so large amounts from the lfs are fine

 

[golfish]

The idea is you want to make sure its cured first but if it was at the LFS for a month or two and under the right conditions it shouldn't do any harm. Even if you added uncured rock to your system there's a good chance you wont feel the hit if you already good filtration.
Just try to read up on your next move BEFORE you make it.
Good luck