Curing dry rock!

[victorhe]

Hello!
I recently came across several videos and forum post online about curing dry base rock. I see that there are two ways to cure the rock, the old fashion way with pump and heater in the shade, and the acid bath way?

I was wondering what are the trade offs for these two methods and which you would recommend?

I am also looking for a source of dry rock. I heard reefrocks pressure washes their rock until it's very clean, would that shorten the curing process??

Thanks in advance

-victor


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[Emac909]

Acid bath will not cure rock to make it live. The acid strips the rock of all life and cleans the rock.
So are you trying to cure the rock to make it live or are you trying clean dry rock?

Ok so to cure rock to make it live you need to add a bacteria to the rock so it can have the ability to break down the Ammonia.
I do this by seeding it with another piece of live rock. So what I do is take all the dry rock I'm going to use and through it in a barrel or the tank. Then fill the tank/barrel with water to cover the rock. Add a pump for flow and a heater to keep the temp up.
Then I add a piece or two of cured live rock. The Bacteria will beg to start colonizing the rock to make it live. This process takes time so be patient. I found you can speed the process up a bit by adding a dead fish or piece of shrimp from the market.
I usually hit up a lps to see if they have any dead fish. If so I take the fish and toss it in a mesh sock like the ones you would use for carbon or gfo. The toss that in the water with the rock. After about a month the fish will decompose and all that will be left in the bag is scales and bones. This means the rock is cured and live. The Bacteria in the water and rock broke down the fish. The rock can now handle a bio load.
There are other ways that can help cure rock like certain additives but I've never used them so I can't speak on those ways.

 

[Emac909]

To bake live rock (has to be live rock not dry) u put it in a barrel in a dark place and leave it in the barrel for months or longer. With doing small water changes every now and then. The water changes are to take out phosphates of the water by adding clean phosphate free water and slowly pulling the phosphates out of the live rock. Usually people do this to live rock that is really dirty and saturated in phosphates. By baking the rock you keep it live and the bacteria in the rock breaks down any organic matter that is in the rock and all the little critters and live matter will consume the nitrates and phosphates that are trapped in the rock. This method can take a really long time depending on how dirty the rock is. You really don't see a lot of people bake rock much any more. It's really time consuming and can cost a lot, with all the water changes. Most days people use acid baths to clean rock. By doing a acid bath you pull out any organic matter and life out of the rock to strip it down to its raw form Calcium.

 

[victorhe]

To bake live rock (has to be live rock not dry) u put it in a barrel in a dark place and leave it in the barrel for months or longer. With doing small water changes every now and then. The water changes are to take out phosphates of the water by adding clean phosphate free water and slowly pulling the phosphates out of the live rock. Usually people do this to live rock that is really dirty and saturated in phosphates. By baking the rock you keep it live and the bacteria in the rock breaks down any organic matter that is in the rock and all the little critters and live matter will consume the nitrates and phosphates that are trapped in the rock. This method can take a really long time depending on how dirty the rock is. You really don't see a lot of people bake rock much any more. It's really time consuming and can cost a lot, with all the water changes. Most days people use acid baths to clean rock. By doing a acid bath you pull out any organic matter and life out of the rock to strip it down to its raw form Calcium.

Thank you for he reply eMac; my main concern is to get the rock to leech out all the phosphates!


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[victorhe]

I heard dry rock/base rock leeches phosphates for months, this was my main concern with the curing process. I was under the assumption that the curing and cycling process should be separated


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[Smite]

From what I've read acid baths strip the top layer of rock, removing dead/live matter. It helps to reduce phosphate aND nitrate spikes from die-off. I don't think it pulls any phosphate that absorbed deeper in the rock. Soaking with water changes is the beat way. Cheaper if you do the Soaking separate from the cycle by just using Rodi water. Once no phosphate is detected, start your Cycle.

I'm thinking of getting some tonga Soaking here soon. I'm about done with the GHA in my tank, I believe my rock is leaching phosphates.

 

[victorhe]

From what I've read acid baths strip the top layer of rock, removing dead/live matter. It helps to reduce phosphate aND nitrate spikes from die-off. I don't think it pulls any phosphate that absorbed deeper in the rock. Soaking with water changes is the beat way. Cheaper if you do the Soaking separate from the cycle by just using Rodi water. Once no phosphate is detected, start your Cycle.

I'm thinking of getting some tonga Soaking here soon. I'm about done with the GHA in my tank, I believe my rock is leaching phosphates.

I see. So when it comes to soaking the rock, do you use pure rodi water or rodi mixed with salt? Also are heating, circulation, and lighting required in this soaking process?



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[Smite]

I see. So when it comes to soaking the rock, do you use pure rodi water or rodi mixed with salt? Also are heating, circulation, and lighting required in this soaking process?



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If you want to keep cost down and put the time into soaking to remove any stored phosphate then just use RODI water. Acid bath it first to speed up the process. For the soaking part I wont be using any heat or water movement. I plan to check phosphates once a week and if detectable do a 100% water change then repeat until there are no phosphates detected for a few weeks to month or so. Then I'll swap out for salt water, add flow and heat, a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only and something to feed the bacteria. Food works, dead fish as posted above or you can add straight ammonia and continue to test until you see the cycle complete. I plan to do the last one with ammonia.

Hope that helps some. It may not be necessary but you should know a few weeks in when you either see phosphates or not.


Edit:

I wouldn't use light during the soaking or cycling process. It will more that likely lead to algae

 

[Six2seven]

All dry rock whether it was live or was man made will leach phosphates for weeks/months. I made my own diy rock and let it cook in saltwater for 5 months to get the phosphates out. I put it in my tank and saw no bad effects. Cleaning the rock with acid is one thing, curing is another and cycling is another itself.


www.LAreefsociety.org

 

[victorhe]

Thanks for the replies everyone! So just plain rodi water is sufficient for the soaking process? I have a salifert (hoping I didn't butcher the name) test kit, would it work for testing plain rodi water?


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