Curing dry rock then aquascaping

lmfbs · Nov 9, 2022

I have old LR from a tank from 10-ish years ago (now dry, and has been for a few years). I'm re-entering the hobby and was thinking to cure then aquascape, but aquascaping with dry rock is so much nicer (and will let me cut/glue etc). Hopefully curing will also help jumpstart the cycle too (the rock is pretty clean, but I'm sure there's stuff on it).

I live in NZ, so live rock isn't an option because it's not available.

I'm not in a hurry; this isn't my first rodeo, but I'm also not SUPER keen to have the really ugly stage of curing rock just live in a tank in my house.

How do people usually do this?

Cure, dry, aquascape then cycle
Wash, dry, aquascape, cure in tank, cycle
Something else?

Timfish · Nov 9, 2022

I reuse old rock as well as local honeycomb rock frequently and all I do is hose it off well. I would use some maricultured live rock or wild live rock to get sponges and other stuff that can't be stuck in a bottle. You may find Aquabiomic's article helpfull:

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

And here's an interesting video by BRS

Waters · Nov 9, 2022

I just aquascaped with dry rock and then dosed liquid bacteria daily for roughly 3 months, curing in tank. Never ran into any issues with algae or anything else other than some early stage diatoms that quickly went away.

CoastalTownLayabout · Nov 9, 2022

Hey mate, this is how I do it. Glue or cement dry, cure in plastic bin with heater for at least a month, add to tank.

Since you live in NZ I assume you're reasonably close to the coast. An extra step you might consider is to cure the rock in natural sea water. Same with your sand if you're doing a sand bed.

I'm across the ditch from you and have used this process many times to success both with old live rock and dry Marco and CaribSea. It's choice 'bro