Live rock question!!

[kalani]

When live rock cures is it supposed to smell bad when you receive it? I ordered it online and it said "Cured". What can I do or should I say What should I do? Put it in the tank? Help me out guys.

Newbie[/code][/list]

 

[CBRGuy]

LR will smell if it is not cured (dieoff). Once it is cured it should have a slight odor (you will no the difference).

Is you tanked still cycling. If yes and there are no fish you can put in in you tank to help move you cycle along. If there are fish. put it in some buckets with powerheads and a heater. Do large water changes until your amonia levels and nitrite leves are at 0 then you can add it to your tanks.

 

[kalani]

Ive had my tank going for about a month and a half. Has fish in there already. Is there a way to speedup the die off? My friend said to use bleach. I dont know if he is correct. Thx CBR for your input.

 

[CBRGuy]

no!!! don't use bleach that will destroy all of the good stuff coline and such... You can use a toothbrush to get the dark dead looking spots off and do big water changes that should getting going pretty fast. BTW were did you get the rock. Was it LR.com?


BTW I just added an additional 30#ish to my 90 which already had a 100#. I still spiked my ammonia to .25. Now I am worried that I might lose my tang and some of my corals. So I would let it cure. The only reason that I didn't let mine cure is because it smelled fine. Just like the ocean, but there must of been some dieoff. plus I got a mantis shrimp with the rock ugh...

 

[Atari]

Hmm bleach to cure live rock... I guess killing it would "cure" it of life.

You can't rush the process.. until the very last bit of die-off is taken care of and you're absolutely sure the amm levels are zero you can't add that rock to your tank or your fish will suffer, and possibly even die.

Use the method CBRGuy suggested, and make sure to do daily 100% water changes if there's critters to preserve.

 

[kalani]

Thx guys for your help. Im glad I found this forum to help me out. You guys are awesome. Aloha from Hawaii.

Newbie

 

[kalani]

Just found a couple of fire worms in my LR. I measured it at almost 1 1/2 inches. Ugly little thing. I removed him. No mantis shrimps but are those worms that bury themselves in the rock safe? Not the fire worm but they have small lines on them and only stick their heads out.

BTW were did you get the rock. Was it LR.com?

I got it off Ebay. Its About 20#.

 

[malkore]

I've got 10lbs curing in my QT tank (main tank not runnign yet)
I thought it would smell worse than it actually does...but then again I think after a week already most of the die off has occurred.

I haven't seen any live critters...but this is all reef rock from an LFS in a land locked state..
Hoping my keys rock from LR.com will have some goodies

 

[flanque]

My friend who works at a marine aquarium store says that you should put them into some styrafome boxes, sealed, outside for a fortnight in water, and then hold you breath whilst you open it.

 

[1neondottyback]

When you get lr from anywhere but directly from the ocean to your tank there will be die off and the curing process needs to be done and it takes time. You can't rush it or you will spend more time and money trying to remedy what could have been prevented..... Use a large clean rubbermaid container with a power head and proper sg and no lights....do water changes and the smell will go away in about two weeks, Then the rock will be cured when no smell and no ammonia levels. Shake off the rock and use a tooth brush over the rock to clean off any dt.

 

[fishstixs05]

not to but in on your topic, but I didnt want to start a whole new post. Whoever has ordered from LR.com, do you suggest key or gulf rock for inverts, algae, and overall.

 

[dralarms]

Whoever has ordered from LR.com, do you suggest key or gulf rock for inverts, algae, and overall.

For "critters" gulf rock
for "inverts" gulf rock
for algae keys rock. But don't let that fool you, there is plenty of algae on my gulf rock also.

 

[fishstixs05]

Thanks, I think I am just gunna for 10# gulf to add some interesting stuff to the tank.

 

[kalani]

Are the natural colors from the rock dissapear also when curing? The smell has gone down but the coraline colors are fading.

 

[steve-s]

Coralline die off is normal when cycling. You shouldn't lose that much. It also depends on what lighting you have on the tank or curing set up if any. Once added to a tank with higher more intense light there could also be some bleaching as the coralline adjusts.

If you are curing in the tank and the levels have stabalized, do a large water change with well aged SW to bring the chem back into balance. Test the levels and be sure all is well. Once the tank parameters and chem are back in sync, the coralline should recover just fine depending on the lights you have. Having good water flow within the tank will also help spread the coralline spores a bit better.

Cheers
Steve