Curing live rock

[EliWhitney314]

Since I have no fish in the tank, a few people were saying I could cure it in my aquarium. A friend at work said it would take a few months before I could get any fish though. Is that the case? I don't want to rush anything.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

Is it fresh off the boat? lol. Was is curing in your LFS??? Just check your ammonia, nitrate, and nitrites soon. If all is clear I'd add some CUC to handle come cleanup.

 

[EliWhitney314]

CUC? I was either going to buy it from someone on craiglist, from their tank, or from the lfs.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

CUC = Cleanup crew

If you buy it from someone off of craigslist the rock SHOULD be cured and be of great benefit to you, depending on how well the seller has kept their tank.

I bought my LR from and LFS and it had already been curing for about 2 weeks, I had a quick spike, then went on adding stuff.

If the craigslist offer is a good price I'd do it. IMO

 

[EliWhitney314]

3 dollars a pound

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!!!!

Even if they have algae on them, just scrub the f*** out of them before you add'em to your tank.

 

[EliWhitney314]

That won't ruin the live rock?

 

[bjohanson1234]

No just take a tooth brush and scrub away.

All the good little critters are living in the pores of the rock. All the little nooks and crannies. The algea will come off pretty easy

Oh and dont put the tooth brush back into your GF's tooth brush holder.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

That won't ruin the live rock?

Negative. It'll be beneficial. Brushing the rock will release coraline spores, so you'll have even more coraline when you place it in your tank. Also, look out for aiptasia.

 

[EliWhitney314]

So what order should I do all of this? Drip, scrub, then put it in my tank?

 

[bjohanson1234]

I personally dont drip LR. I just take the peices I get from the LFS and put them in. They dont have algea on them.

I do take the ones that I have with algea on them and scrub them in the bucket of used salt water at water changes

Brian

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

+1 Brian

I don't drip LR, there's no reason to acclimate the LR to your current params.

If I need t scrub some algae off I do what Brian does. Whenever you do a water change just scrub the rock in a bucket that you've siphoned the water into. If you need to. I personally am anal about stuff from ANY LFS, no matter the contents may be.

 

[dcantucson]

Scrub, repeat then scrub again! Actually do it enough to just get all the dead crap and bad stuff off the surface. And $3 a pound is a great price. I don't drip acclimate rock either.