Live Rock question

[james04]

I have a 55 gallon glass tank with a hang on prizm skimmer, power head and ehiem canister filter...

I just bought 60 lbs of beautiful looking tonga live rock from my LFS.. In order to get the best pieces i had to buy it un-cured. They told me to go home and cure it in my tank... they said to let it sit for 3 weeks and do a 10% water change once a week..
I have done as they instructed and it has been about 5 days..

Am I doing the right thing. Is there anything else i should be doing.....

also i noted alot of dead flaky stuff on the rock. should i take it out the rinse the rock off with a kitchen hose??

thanks, james

[reefrottie]

you can clean it with a brush ( a new unused toothbrush) to remove the dead flaky stuff. Keep doing what you are doing. It will take time before you can add any fish . make sure The tank has cycled. 0 amonia

[james04]

ok, should i remove the the rock when i brush it or should i brush the rock while it is in the tank..

also i placed the rock in a tank with sand. will the sand have any effect on the curing process.

[BadOleRoss]

Remove the rock from the tank and scrub it in a seperate container rinsing it in saltwater then place it back in the tank.

[jpd02]

james - for what its worth I cured rock in a new tank once and had all kinds of issues - it took forever for the nitrates to get back down to low levels. I would recommend you cure the rock in a separate container - but who knows, maybe I'm just in a minority of people who has had a problem curing in-tank - I've certainly heard of other people doing it without issues.

Also - I started out with a Prizm skimmer back in the day when I set up my first FOWLR tank, and ended up having to upgrade b/c it just wasn't cutting it - I would consider a skimmer upgrade if you're serious about a reef tank. Also - clean the filter floss pads in your canister frequently, or else it will turn into a nitrate factory. IMHO - you're better off replacing the Prizm with an upgraded skimmer and getting rid of the canister - I kept my FOWLR tank for years with just a skimmer running on the sump (also macroalgae growing in the sump).

[james04]

I think i will upgrade the skimmer.. honestly i never really liked the prizm anyway...

I was told by my LFS that i could cure the rock outside the tank in a container with nothing but water and a powerhead.. is that true??? or do i need the skimmer ??

also do i need to keep the water heated??

Thank u for all your input, james

[motlot77]

for sure scrub that rock now! i didn't scrub mine and now i'm paying for it. i'm constantly trying to clean all the garbage off of it and clean it out of my sand...it's a never ending chore.

[Pistonkev]

Originally posted by james04
I have a 55 gallon glass tank with a hang on prizm skimmer, power head and ehiem canister filter...

I just bought 60 lbs of beautiful looking tonga live rock from my LFS.. In order to get the best pieces i had to buy it un-cured. They told me to go home and cure it in my tank... they said to let it sit for 3 weeks and do a 10% water change once a week..
I have done as they instructed and it has been about 5 days..

Am I doing the right thing. Is there anything else i should be doing.....

also i noted alot of dead flaky stuff on the rock. should i take it out the rinse the rock off with a kitchen hose??

thanks, james

So what kind of great deal did the LFS give you for the un Cured Tonga?

[pbukow]

Originally posted by james04
I think i will upgrade the skimmer.. honestly i never really liked the prizm anyway...

I was told by my LFS that i could cure the rock outside the tank in a container with nothing but water and a powerhead.. is that true??? or do i need the skimmer ??

also do i need to keep the water heated??

Thank u for all your input, james

That is true. Water, heater, watermovement, and frequent changes are all u need to cure live rock. I would advise against lighting as well because you could cause algae blooms on your rock that would transfer to your display tank. Dont worry too much bout skimming it either, as long as you've got good flow going thru the rock (preferably from underneath it if possible) and are doing water changes at least weekly it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

The whole point of curing live rock is to let the organisms that are dying die off, and then remove them and allow new bacteria/organisms to begin to populate it. Make sure your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0 b4 adding it to the new tank, if you set up a curing tank.

[ThomasinKind]

The more water movement the better (try to keep all rocks from touching each other and if possible put them up on eggcrate so that almost 100% of the rock has movement around it). As said above, I'd avoid lighting for the most part to keep away pest algae. I however, would use the skimmer while curing. I'd also do a lot of water changes (try to keep [it's impossible to keep up, but it's worth trying] your water params from going completely out of control). You'll want to scrub the rock down (anything dead will just spike your ammonia) in a separate container of saltwater with a brush (use tweezers for things stuck in crevices). The bigger the container you cure your rock in the better as well (for both spacing the rock out and for diluting the pollutants). I believe (this is my opinion and from what I've read and experienced in the past) that keeping the water as high quality as possible (massive water changes, heavy skimmer, LOTS of flow) results in the best end-product.

[rafa316]

I have almost the same set up , and the prizm skimmer keeps makin tons of micro bubbles. Clean the rock, let it be for 3-4 weeks, do your water changes and you will be just fine