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hogwild
Guest
My LFS said that even cured live rock will have die off, and there's not much difference with getting cured and uncured, except uncured is cheaper and has more critters on it. Any ideas?
chuck
Member
If you get cured rock from your pet store, it is ok. The problem with cured rock through the mail is that being out of the water for that long will start the decaying process again. It won't be as bad as uncured rock but you should still cure it to be safe. Uncured rock in my opinion is the way to go. It is cheaper and there is much more life on it. There are websites that sell hand-picked, uncured rock for as little as 3.15 a lb, shipped second day. I ordered 65 lbs of it,cured it for 2.5 weeks and it turned out to be full of life.
brian
New Member
Originally posted by chuck:
If you get cured rock from your pet store, it is ok. The problem with cured rock through the mail is that being out of the water for that long will start the decaying process again. It won't be as bad as uncured rock but you should still cure it to be safe. Uncured rock in my opinion is the way to go. It is cheaper and there is much more life on it. There are websites that sell hand-picked, uncured rock for as little as 3.15 a lb, shipped second day. I ordered 65 lbs of it,cured it for 2.5 weeks and it turned out to be full of life.
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hogwild
Guest
Ok, but with a brand new tank just setup, would it be ok to cure the live rock in it? I don't necessarily want to have my brand new house smelling like a New Jersey shoreline. Or should I cure it using the Rubbermaid trash can method?
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hogwild
Guest
YIKES! So that's why the kids always smelled so bad? Gotchya! Would one of those plastic wading pools work better that a trash can?
chuck
Member
Walmart sells Rubbermaid containers. They hold about 18 gallons of water. I cured over 65 lbs in one. Put in the live rock and siphon out some of your tanks water into the container. Fill it up until it about an inch or two over the rock. Now put a powerhead in and plug it in. A heater and a protein skimmer will help if you have extras lying around. The rock does not need light so you can put it in a back room or you can cover it, just don't seal it shut. Check levels periodically and do water changes if necessary. To check if the rock is ready pick up a piece and smell it. It it doesn't stink you are good to go. Now you may have to take a small toothbrush and clean off some of the loose material. It may smell before you do this, but once you brush off this krap it should smell like salt water. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The water you took out of your tank and put in you live rock tank needs to be replaced. This gives you a good excuse to do a water change. Good luck, all this is really worth the money you save.