How To Cure Not Cured Live Rock

[aly_starh]

Is it possible? If so how?

is it ocean rock that you use?

 

[-Nemo-]

If there's absolutely no life on the rock, you'll need some LR that's full of life and use that rock to seed the dead stuff.

 

[Anguilla82]

as far as i am aware, 'Uncured Live rock' is rock straight from the ocean which contains all of the critters (good and bad) that live in the ocean.
good points are the number of species present.
Bad points include adding baddies to your tank and because of the large amount of life on it, the subsequent large amount of die off and nitrate/ammonia/nitrite problems.

Best way to cure it is to give it a good scrub in old tank water to get rid of as much 'already dead stuff' then chuck it in the tank as you would in a normal cycling process. It will take a lot longer to 'cycle' than cured live rock.

uncured is also generally cheaper i think than cured.


Ocean rock is a different beast altogether. generally not as porous as 'live rock' and therefore in the long term not as good for filtration but is a suitable rock to use for building up your rockwork in a more affordable manner (its alot cheaper than 'live rock'. in time (12 months or so) it will become 'live' but as already mentioned is limited by its nature.

hope that helps a bit.


IMO-stick to cured rock from your LFS or a reputable online company. at least you know what you're getting and it won't take a month plus to go through the cycling process!

 

[aly_starh]

cool thanks

 

[seffieuk]

If you want some info and pictures re: uncured live rock jump on over and take a read of Trod's Indecisive journel in the Journel section - its just as well we haven't yet got smellycomputers! Phew it stank!

Seffie x

 

[aly_starh]

will do... thanks seffie =]

 

[aly_starh]

Uncured- brown
Cured- purple with life

That right?

Took me about an hour to read half of it...

 

[-Nemo-]

Uncured- brown
Cured- purple with life

That right?

Took me about an hour to read half of it...

Pretty much.

Purple or red or just colorful in general.

 

[aly_starh]

I need approx. 7KG of live rock.

So, if i got a majority of cured live rock say 5KG and Ocan Rock 2KG, will i not be able to stock the tank till the ocean rock is cured?

Im not planning on doing this, just curious..

 

[seffieuk]

You could but it wouldn't be worth it. The ocean rock would become 'live as opposed to cured from uncured. However ocean rock is not as porous as Live rock and in such a small tank you want your heart and lungs to be strong

Seffie x

 

[Anguilla82]

yeah completely agree with seffie.

if you only need 7kg ish then you're best off getting all live rock.

to save money take a look around for people breaking their tanks down in your area. usually they'll sell live rock at £5-6 per kilo, and if you keep it wet during transportation you'll get next to no die off, and therefore no cycle!!!