Uncured LR Question..

[wintrmte]

Hello. We're in the process of setting up our second SW tank...
This time we're going for a FO tank, and have purchased about 90lbs of pure, uncured LR for an 80 Gallon tank.
This is different than our 40 gal. reef tank where we used Cured LR..
My quesiton here is about how to cure the uncured LR.. We've got it in the tank, and it smells like a seafood restaraunt in our house, so we turned on the carbon filtration..
Should we run our PC lighting through the curing process? I've read some mixed reviews and was wondering what the official stance was..
Thanks for the help.

 

[dreeves]

Lighting can encourage some life on the rock to grow..i.e..algaes and such. Circulation, elevated temp's will also aid in curing times.

 

[wintrmte]

Great, thanks for the replies.
What I've noticed though is that the water has a real disgusting yellow/greenish tint to it. I'm not sure if it's because of the ammonia levels (off the chart) in the water or what.
Should I just wait it out with the discolored water as it will go away, or will the water change at the end remove the discoloration?
Thanx.

 

[michaeltx]

uncured will have a lot of die off as it dies off the water will become discolored and nasty looking but will pass as the cycle goes. sometimes it needs a little help things such as a skimmer or carbon as the cyle starts to finish up. that combined with the water change at the end should get you crystal clear water again.
HTH
Mike

 

[wintrmte]

Cool, thanks for the input, Mike. The cycle has definitely started. I dipped the ammonia stick in this morning, and it instantly turned greener than anything I've seen.

 

[escape2thewater]

I would definatley reccomend a skimmer too. I cured 70 lbs of LR a couple months ago, it turned the water that nasty yellow color like your describing. That was after about day 3. Then I bought a skimmer and WOW! what a diffrence! Water cleared up quickly and running carbon will help w/smell too. Good luck!
Kyle