Saltwater & Reef

Shultz · 07-03-2004, 06:54 AM

Hi,

Slowly getting things together.. For a recap I'm having a tank with no substrate or LS on the bottom just 20kgs of LR with a Deltec MCE600 Skimmer plus 2 x maxijet 900 PH's (34gal uk tank) Now my LFS has Madagascar LR & he thinks this is actually better than Fiji (though he's says he'll quite happily get me what I want if I don't mind waiting???

Trouble is he can't get me any for 2-3 wks & it will be uncured as well. So really is this rock worth the wait & how much extra time would uncured rock add to my first cycling process?

I am presuming (right or wrong) that if I get cured rock & put in & then say 1 raw shrimp the cycling should take about 4 wks?

Cheers Shelton.

Atari · 07-03-2004, 08:03 AM

IME uncured LR is not worth the hassle. The odour and fumes are unbearable within the same room and it takes a lot of time - and water changes - till they go away. You'll definitely be looking at a long cycle with uncured rock.

I'm quite curious about the Madagascar rock though. What I would do is get a box of the cured Fiji and set up your tank with that. Then when the LFS gets in some of the other one you could take a look at it and decide if it's worth adding a couple pieces just for diversity.

The cycle with the cured rock could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

scuba_steve · 07-03-2004, 09:22 AM

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IME uncured LR is not worth the hassle

not tru imo uncured is better than cured !! your gonna have to somewhat cure it your self anyway and imo your better to get all ya can on the rock from the get go !! why let the petshop get any good critters while he cures it when ya could have got them ??

Atari · 07-03-2004, 10:47 AM

I don't know if it's because we're all the way over here in the UK, but LR in general doesn't seem to come with the kind of life you guys are used to over in the States. Not to mention uncured LR is usually the same price as cured. So basically you're just paying the same amount for rock that you will have to clean dead stuff off yourself and the end result is the same.

The cured rock I got from STM had infinitely more life with it than the uncured I got from my LFS.

malkore · 07-03-2004, 12:35 PM

Over here cured rock is several dollars more a pound than uncured.
Remember Fiji rock is less dense so you need almost double the fiji rock as you'd need base or reef rock.