Curing Pukani Rock

[underwaterdan]

So I am about a month in to curing 125 pounds of my brs pukani rock. In two rubber made containers, each with an mp40 and a heater with saltwater. My question is, do many people change the water it is curing in or do I leave it the way it is?

 

[Downbeach]

I've bought this rock on three separate occasions, and found it best to first clean and etch the rock before the "curing" process. I first cleaned as much of the dry organic matter off as possible, i.e. sponges, serpant stars, etc. then hydrated overnight in plain water, and hosed off again the next day. I then place them into a brute can with a mix of vinegar and water with a PH, etching off more of the organic matter, and possible PO4 that may have been on the surfaces. Once that was completed I hosed it off again, and placed it in my 55 QT tank with freshly made SW, and began to test for PO4, did WC's, etc. Once the PO4 was down to a manageable level I place it in my existing DT.

 

[philosophile]

You'll want to.... It will be absolutely filthy and smell horrible.

What I did with mine: let it sit in the tub for about a week, then pull it out, swish it around in salt water in a bucket that is fresh. Really get the gunk out of the rock, because there will be lots. Change out the water in the tub, and do that about every week. If you have a tank up and running already, I would use water from the water change to help seed bacteria, and save water.

When the tub doesn't look like sewage after a week, then you can start treating it like a mini tank. Throw in some detrivores like worms to really get the gunk out of the rocks deep inside. Keep swishing. You will continually get crap out, because of the bacteria deep inside breaking up stuff.

If the water doesn't look and smell horrible, you could just use the tub water to swish. But I would still change up the water in significant amounts. The one exception is if you decide to use a skimmer in the curing vessel. That thing will pull monster amounts out, and you could probably just change the water maybe a couple of times, making sure you replace all the skimmed water.

 

[underwaterdan]

Ok. It had an odor but not too bad. I'll change the water, I assume it's not a big deal to take the rock out of water for a few hours while I fill with Rodi, heat and make salt water before I put the rock back in.... Am I correct in assuming that?

 

[CastAway]

I did not even rinse my BRS Pukani - threw it in dry, filled the tank, initial cycle complete in a month, no phosphates.

 

[underwaterdan]

I should add it was actually pretty clean when I got it, meaning I didn't find too many large matter in it. I rinsed it in tap water, then started to cure. I think I will change the water, give it 2 or 3 more weeks then into the dt for a cycle...

 

[DiverGirl82]

What about curing dry rock? I'm a newbie and still in the researching phase. I didn't realize the rock curing process took that long. I'm thinking of going with reef saver dry rock. So I'm wondering if I go ahead and get the dry rock and start the curing process but it finishes before I'm actually ready to start filling my tank is it ok to let the rock dry back out? The reason I'm thinking reef saver dry rock is because I like that it's not being harvested from live reefs and because it's very clean with little to no organic crud that needs to be removed. At least that's what the YouTube video says.

 

[CastAway]

Curing and cycling are basically the same thing, letting bacteria develop. I would suggest dry rock first, then fill. It's easier to set up your aqua scape and you only go through the initial cycling process once. "Curing" rock is a term and process used when you're adding new or additional rock to an existing set-up, wherein there is already livestock.

We'll see if the experts agree...

 

[gpwdr]

No water changes are required. If the water starts to smell just put a bag of carbon in there and the smell will be gone in a few hours. When the nitrite level drops to zero throw the water away and place the rock in the DT.

Gene

 

[underwaterdan]

Hum.... Some people say change some say don't. .. Leaves me wondering

 

[Cyclone-G]

I cured mine in a couple of days. I did a video on this a long time ago that shows the technique. It sure worked well for me.

 

[Jlentz]

I did the acid bath, then I did the chlorine (I reasoned that I'd kill more stuff that way since the acid would eat a bunch of rock away anyway). Both from the pool store.

Now I'm about a week and a half into leaching out the po4 with lanthanum chloride in Rodi. I've done 3 full water changes so far. I believe I've just about got all of the po4 out with the LC so I hope to put it in saltwater in a few days. I've got to break out the po4 tester tonight to double check but the LC is no longer clouding the water.

 

[underwaterdan]

I cured mine in a couple of days. I did a video on this a long time ago that shows the technique.

Thank you so much for this. It was actually one I watched and appreciated when I was trying to figure out how I was going to cure it.