Curing Live Rock

Laura and Jim will be hosting the May meeting this Saturday the 12th and it will be the usual of food, drinks, raffle and fun.
 
Doors will be open at 6:00 pm for social talk and the meeting will start at 7:00.  Parking gets a little tight and the city says you can't park on 4th but there is a parking lot a block away.   Meeting is usually held in the backyard so feel free to bring your favorite lawn chair, weather permitting of course.

If you need address/directions, contact a club member.

Best if you park at Mini Mall (where the spaghetti establishment use to be)
 
You will get to see his new frag tank set up in the making.
 
Hope to see you there!

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[Danielie21]

Does anyone have any hints or tricks on curing new live rock, i'm going to be ordering mine for the new tank this weekend and wanted to get some input from everyone.

[Ed]

Patience...lots of patience.

flow around rock, steady temps, skimmer, photo period to promote algae...wait..wait..wait...

[Nate C.]

some recommend adding a frozen shrimp to give the water a bit of a bioload to help get things started.  Several club members have done exactly as Ed mentioned with a single frozen shrimp dropped in at the very beginning and had very good results.

I think a water change after a couple weeks of roughly 50% is recommended as well - Ed, do you have an opinion on that?  I've always started from live rock that was ready to drop in and use, so can't really pull up that memory file at the moment.  :p

[Danielie21]

I never heard of using light to promote algae. Is the skimmer needed , I don't have a spare one and would hate to buy a small one just for the rock and i'll never use it again.

[Ed]

You do not need a skimmer.  It helps. 

Light is nice if you have rock already in the tank.  You speed things up by algae dying and then regrowing with new lights.

[Danielie21]

It just going to sit in the garage for 6-8 weeks i've read that it will take to cure. I don't even have the tank drilled yet or other parts i'm going to need. Will it hurt at all if i leave it in longer than the 6-8 weeks if something else comes up and I don't have the basic stuff to get a tank up and running?

[Danielie21]

This is what I was thinking of getting from reefcleaners: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=135&category_id=15&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

Or I'll get it at BRS: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/brs-reef-saver-dry-aquarium-eco-rock.html

If I do get the rock from BRS and someone wants anything from there please let me know I'll add it to my order.

[Nate C.]

I'm going to be ordering from them for a Jumbo GFO reactor.  I'm a preferred customer with them, so if you want, I can get you a price on the rock compared to what you would pay if you order.  Let me know, I'm happy to do the order for your rock along with my reactor (reactor alone is $119, so we'd be pretty close to the free shipping - I'm sure your rock would put it over the top).

As for the rock sitting longer, just keep doing the water changes and keep flow and heat on it and you should be fine.

[Danielie21]

That would be great Nate, just let me know when you need the money and place the order and i'll find a way to meet up with you.

[Nate C.]

Dan,

How much are you looking for?  According to my cost schedule, I get 1-49 lbs for $2.38 per pound, or 50+ lbs for $2.32 per pound.  Not a ton of savings, but every little bit adds up!

As for payment, pay when it comes in is fine, I trust you.  I'll be putting it on a credit card anyway, so won't be due until next month.

[Danielie21]

Would 60 be fine for a 55 or should I get a little more??

[Nate C.]

60 is fine for a 55 - minimum recommended is usually 1 lb per gal.  More is better to a point though.  As a comparisson, we have 40-50 lbs in a 29 gal.  I think we have close to 450 lbs in the 270, with more in the fuge and sump as well.  Now, that tank has a total volume of ~400 gallons as well when you factor in all the pipes/reactors/sump/fuge/etc.

[Danielie21]

60 will be ok for now i'll add some more later before I move over everything.

[Nate C.]

OK, 60lbs it is.  That comes up to $139.20 - so we are in the range of free shipping without a doubt.  Unless you are in a huge hurry, I will hold the order until Friday to see if anyone else wants anything.  Let me know if want it quicker than that.  If you are good with that - I'll put up a stand-alone post for the order.

Nate

[Danielie21]

nope i got all the time i don't even have the tank drilled or any other parts, tring to find someone or somewhere locally that will drill the tank under 30 bucks a hole.