Quick Rock Question

[Greenman]

A friend of mine has a ton of "dry" rock that looks like its basicly porris rock. Its never been in an aquarium and im pretty sure its just man made stuff possibly from Concrete. Other than washing them really well to get dust and such off do i need to cure these or can i put them directly into the tank?

 

[RockStacker]

I would recommend curing them first.

 

[Greenman]

Isn't curing just to remove dead organic matter? These would have no organics whatsoever

 

[chichimom79]

If your not sure what it's made out of, I wouldn't use it in a reef aquarium

 

[Greenman]

Its the stuff they sell on reef cleaners

 

[over my head]

If its dry base never been in the tank than just clean them to remove any dust and dirt their is no need to cure a rock that has nothing growing on it

 

[BL1]

If its made from concrete you have to cure it, for months sometimes. Concrete will initially give your water a higher pH then is healthy so you'll have to cure it to bring that down. Some people have used hydrochloric acid to do it in a condensed time frame.

 

[over my head]

I winder if anyone has used hydro cement (plug) for aqua scape ing

 

[Aquarian]

I winder if anyone has used hydro cement (plug) for aqua scape ing

I tried to use it but it is very dense and it raised the ph level as BL1 said, I read that if you put the concrete rocks in your toilet tank the constant filling and flushing will help flush out the chemicals in the man made rock. But after testing a small amount, the time involved in making them then "curing" them wasn't worth it. There is also no real savings in making them. The supplies cost about the same as the dry rock would and by the time you cure it your dry base rock would be seeded.

 

[RockStacker]

Isn't curing just to remove dead organic matter? These would have no organics whatsoever

What about inorganic matter that could be toxic?
Unless you have a written guarantee from the source that it is tank-safe as is, I would not risk it.
Some chemicals mixed with cement/plaster are known to jack up pH beyond safe levels.

 

[Greenman]

as i said like 5 posts ago... its the stuff on reef cleaners i just wanted to make sure i didnt have to cure it....

Dry aquarium base rock for saltwater and reef aquariums