LIVE ROCK question

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Herefshyfishy
If i am starting a brand new tank shoud I buy Cured LR or Uncured LR, and why?
I would say uncured. You are going to have to cycle your tank anyway and if you cure your own then you will know that it was done right. You can do water changes quicker to keep the ammonia from spiking so high that it kills off half of the microrganisms. If you buy it pre-cured you won't realy know what is left on it, it is also more expensive pre-cured.
 

catawaba

Active Member
Uncured. Agree with above. The rock with help cycle the tank while curing and you can work on your aquascaping while you wait.....every tank is different so be prepared to wait up to 8 weeks for all your water chemistry levels to be 'correct'....
ENJOY
 
thanks for that info. But i was thinking about buying 50LBS of cured LR and 30LBS of base rock. Can i still cycle my tank with cured and base rock?
 

water world

New Member
I used pre-cured rock.It took 30 for the water to stablize.But,during the curing process,I could not hold down the ammonia levels to a safe level,no matter how offend I change the water.Uncured Rock would be worse !
 

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Water World
I used pre-cured rock.It took 30 for the water to stablize.But,during the curing process,I could not hold down the ammonia levels to a safe level,no matter how offend I change the water.Uncured Rock would be worse !

I am sorry to say that if you could not keep your ammonia levels down then your rock wasn't cured fully when you bought it.
 

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Herefshyfishy
thanks for that info. But i was thinking about buying 50LBS of cured LR and 30LBS of base rock. Can i still cycle my tank with cured and base rock?
Yes you certainly could do that. You will just have to introduce a different ammonia source. A raw coctail shrimp from the grocery store works well. Add the shrimp and test your levels, when your ammonia reaches 1ppm take the shrimp out and wait for ammonia and nitrite to both reach a steady zero before adding any livestock.
 
So i could use pre-cured LR? Are you saying that if i use cure LR thati wont get a spike of nitrates and ammonia?
I heard people said put an unpeeled shrimp in tank, that should spike it.
Is this correct? I want to do it right.
 

bojik

Member
Cured can come with less biodiversity and interesting hitchikers. Uncured can come with nastey hitchikers more often. (least seem to from stories I've heard and read)Though you seem to be more likely to get all sorts of little creatures on it. Like baby urchins or all sorts of snails etc. Also some people report getting some types of corals on occasion on uncured. Eitherway You can cycle the tank. Depending on the type of liverock you want. Some seem to come only come uncured and cost more than some types cured. Others come both ways.
 
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