Curing Live Rock?

[MarcosDelgado0]

So I picked up 60lbs of dry (used to be live) rock 2 weeks ago. It looked fairly clean but I still brushed off some debris and rinsed it all before putting it in a brute with a heater and pump. I threw in some bottled bacteria in as well just because I had some laying around. Now two weeks later, I opened the lid for the first time to check on it. It doesn’t really smell bad, the water does have a tint of yellow. I checked the ammonia and phosphates. API Ammonia is reading 0.25ppm. Phosphates on Hanna ULR is blinking 0.9 so it’s definitely higher, after mixing the reagent the sample had a blue color I’ve never seen before. So what are my next steps? Just leave it longer and wait for phosphates to come down? Do I add some phosbond? Water change (25,50,75,100%)? I read mixed things so I want to get personal experiences and what you guys have done. I also ordered 40lbs of “Coralline Live Rock” from Salty Bottom Reef Co. If I add that to this brute container will it help seed the rock I’m currently curing, or will that only kill the new live rock?

 

[Coral reefer]

Phosphate isn’t gonna come down in there. You got dead stuff out of rock into the water. Nice work. I would add something with the bacteria you know you want on it in there. Like a rock or some sand or a bio brick etc from an established tank.
No experience with what you ordered

 

[Fish Boss]

I would say, just let the rock cure, and add the newer rock as well if you like. As long as ammonia/nitrite dont get super high, bacteria should be fine

 

[Adauqua]

Are you in hurry?
If not I would personally take them out, do a muratic acid bath to clean some phospates bound to the dead rocks first before cure them again.

I did the following to cure my dead rocks:
. Some live bioballs from tanks that you trust
. Do water the change the brute with your weekly water change from your DT, try to dump out all the dead/dirty stuffs in the bottom of the brute.
. Always circulating the brute with power head, keep the temp in lower range like 74-75 with a heater if needed.

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

Phosphate is gonna come down in there. You got dead stuff out of rock into the water. Nice work. I would add something with the bacteria you know you want on it in there. Like a rock or some sand or a bio brick etc from an established tank.
No experience with what you ordered

Thanks, I do have rock and media from my current tank that I could throw in there

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

Are you in hurry?
If not I would personally take them out, do a muratic acid bath to clean some phospates bound to the dead rocks first before cure them again.

I did the following to cure my dead rocks:
. Some live bioballs from tanks that you trust
. Do water the change the brute with your weekly water change from your DT, try to dump out all the dead/dirty stuffs in the bottom of the brute.
. Always circulating the brute with power head, keep the temp in lower range like 74-75 with a heater if needed.

A little bit in a hurry lol. I’m picking up the tanks Tuesday so I’m hoping to do the transfers this week. Although I could just set up one of the two new tanks, move my current rock/media + the 40lbs of live rock from Salty Bottom into the larger new tank and move my corals there. I’m thinking this curing rock ill just move to the new frag tank sump and let it cure there with no live stock

 

[Fish Boss]

Are you in hurry?
If not I would personally take them out, do a muratic acid bath to clean some phospates bound to the dead rocks first before cure them again.

I did the following to cure my dead rocks:
. Some live bioballs from tanks that you trust
. Do water the change the brute with your weekly water change from your DT, try to dump out all the dead/dirty stuffs in the bottom of the brute.
. Always circulating the brute with power head, keep the temp in lower range like 74-75 with a heater if needed.

Whats the reasoning for the lower temp? Bacteria grows faster in warmer water, to a certain extent

 

[Adauqua]

Whats the reasoning for the lower temp? Bacteria grows faster in warmer water, to a certain extent

Saving energy/money especially during winter and curing the rock in the garage

 

[Fish Boss]

If you dont mind the excess energy usage, I would crank up the heat. I watched a dr tim seminar, believe he said they culture their bacteria at temps higher than our tanks. I would see if you could find info on it, but I want to say 84-85 is where they keep their temps. Since you have a bit of a time constraint, it should help speed things up a bit

 

[RandyC]

So I picked up 60lbs of dry (used to be live) rock 2 weeks ago. It looked fairly clean but I still brushed off some debris and rinsed it all before putting it in a brute with a heater and pump. I threw in some bottled bacteria in as well just because I had some laying around. Now two weeks later, I opened the lid for the first time to check on it. It doesn’t really smell bad, the water does have a tint of yellow. I checked the ammonia and phosphates. API Ammonia is reading 0.25ppm. Phosphates on Hanna ULR is blinking 0.9 so it’s definitely higher, after mixing the reagent the sample had a blue color I’ve never seen before. So what are my next steps? Just leave it longer and wait for phosphates to come down? Do I add some phosbond? Water change (25,50,75,100%)? I read mixed things so I want to get personal experiences and what you guys have done. I also ordered 40lbs of “Coralline Live Rock” from Salty Bottom Reef Co. If I add that to this brute container will it help seed the rock I’m currently curing, or will that only kill the new live rock?

API is not so accurate. It will often read 0.25ppm of ammonia even though there is none. Phosphate in a bin with a lid with nothing growing besides bacteria will take a long while to go away by itself. If you want it to go away faster, do water changes. Wait a few days to let whatever bacteria you added/grew to settle on/in the rock, then do a bunch of water changes.

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

API is not so accurate. It will often read 0.25ppm of ammonia even though there is none. Phosphate in a bin with a lid with nothing growing besides bacteria will take a long while to go away by itself. If you want it to go away faster, do water changes. Wait a few days to let whatever bacteria you added/grew to settle on/in the rock, then do a bunch of water changes.

Yeah I’m guessing it’s 0 ammonia. My frag tank still reads 0.25 lol. Dang I should’ve done that water change before adding the bacteria

 

[PjFish]

Id definitely do 100% water change a few times on the old rock with flow and normal temps wanna build up that slime coat ..Like already mentioned add a few pieces of existing live rock ..That Salty Bottom live rock is ready to roll .Keep the old stuff curring adding a few pieces of it every week to the good stuff in the display..In a hurry yeah can just add it all together just depends on ur cucs/ tangs etc..just old dirty rock can leach for a while depending on its history hard to say how long ..But you haven’t mentioned if you need all the rock together for aqua scrapping structures? Also a factor

 

[PjFish]

Yeah I’m guessing it’s 0 ammonia. My frag tank still reads 0.25 lol. Dang I should’ve done that water change before adding the bacteria

The bacteria will be colonizing on the rock and bin won’t loose much on water change

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

Id definitely do 100% water change a few times on the old rock with flow and normal temps wanna build up that slime coat ..Like already mentioned add a few pieces of existing live rock ..That Salty Bottom live rock is ready to roll .Keep the old stuff curring adding a few pieces of it every week to the good stuff in the display..In a hurry yeah can just add it all together just depends on ur cucs/ tangs etc..just old dirty rock can leach for a while depending on its history hard to say how long ..But you haven’t mentioned if you need all the rock together for aqua scrapping structures? Also a factor

I’m thinking just putting this stuff into my sump and then buying a prebuilt aquascape for my tank. I’m bad at building scapes lol and pretty hard to do once the rock is live and wet. I would’ve probably had to do it before I started curing it

 

[PjFish]

I’m thinking just putting this stuff into my sump and then buying a prebuilt aquascape for my tank. I’m bad at building scapes lol and pretty hard to do once the rock is live and wet. I would’ve probably had to do it before I started curing it

Then @Coral reefer has some nice structures get them wet! .. That salty bottom coraline rock is loaded with live critters / sea fans / macro algae etc also so putting that in the sump with no light may get a die off potentially fyi

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

Then @Coral reefer has some nice structures get them wet! .. That salty bottom coraline rock is loaded with live critters / sea fans / macro algae etc also so putting that in the sump with no light may get a die off potentially fyi

I know he has some at Hight Tide but I haven’t found the time to make my way out there. I have been wanting to visit Kenny’s shop for the longest time. I think when I get everything going I’ll have time to head over there and take a look

 

[derek_SR]

I’m thinking just putting this stuff into my sump and then buying a prebuilt aquascape for my tank. I’m bad at building scapes lol and pretty hard to do once the rock is live and wet. I would’ve probably had to do it before I started curing it

I would consider an aquascape more in terms of hiding places for fish and growing space for coral, thinking far into the future. I think too many people focus on an aquascape that "looks cool" but usually this means not enough caves for fish.

Also critical to remember - you can't even see the aquascape once your corals grow in, so don't worry too much about making sure it looks super neat IMO.

 

[PjFish]

Plus several large caves/ tunnels that your fish can fit through when fat full grown!

 

[Fish Boss]

I would consider an aquascape more in terms of hiding places for fish and growing space for coral, thinking far into the future. I think too many people focus on an aquascape that "looks cool" but usually this means not enough caves for fish.

Also critical to remember - you can't even see the aquascape once your corals grow in, so don't worry too much about making sure it looks super neat IMO.

Thats the one thing I like about the basic “wall”, even though it looks basic and not great, its very easy to make nooks and crannies for the fish to hide in/swim though. At least for the medium/small fish

 

[PjFish]

I started with three stacked rock islands 6x2 foot print..which eventually got all connected creating tunnels in between so they look like pinnacles now lol..plus well away from the back wall so fish can hide and cucs have room…..whood ever know being born into generations of stone mason contractors those skills would become useful under water! Ha