Cure dry rock in bin outside

[Jl330]

Can I cure my live rock outside? For the next few months we'll be seeing temps in the 90s. Will that kill any beneficial bacteria? I'll be starting with dry dead rock.

 

[andrewey]

Absolutely! There will be a drop off of nitrification rate in the 90's -at about 95 degrees, there is a 50% reduction in bacterial efficacy- whether or not that translates to curing taking twice as long remains to be seen. My only concern would be to make sure the actual temperature of the water doesn't get hotter than the ambient temperature. At 120 degrees or so, you'll have complete die off and between 90 and 120 it might take substantially longer to cure the rock.

 

[andrewey]

I would also add that this just refers to whether the rock will be able to build up a large enough population to process ammonia. It gets more complicated if you're question pertains to the actual bacterial diversity you're growing as certain species are much more heat tolerant than others, so you may have skewed bacterial populations following your cure than if you were to cure at 78 degrees or so.

 

[Jl330]

I wish there was a way to regulate the temperature out there year round. A big reef pond would be amazing but our temps range from 0-110 depending on these season.