Curing Rock, when should I change the water

[cr2jones]

I have rock that I have ran through an acid bath and a chlorine bath. I have it in an old tank setup with water running from the tank to the sump. I am going to let it cure for 2 month while I collect a few more pieces of equipment and prep the area for the tank in my livingroom. My question is what parameters should I check and how often should I change the water?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have rock that I have ran through an acid bath and a chlorine bath. I have it in an old tank setup with water running from the tank to the sump. I am going to let it cure for 2 month while I collect a few more pieces of equipment and prep the area for the tank in my livingroom. My question is what parameters should I check and how often should I change the water?

Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with curing rock, i've never had to do it,
but perhaps someone from #reefsquad has and knows the answer

 

[redfishbluefish]

What you're looking for is all the dead stuff that was in and on the rock.....including stuff you can't see, such as bacteria, .....to rot and decay, breaking down to soluble elements. The easiest way to monitor is measuring nitrates. They will climb and level off fairly quickly. When they level off, do a water change. Don't be afraid to do 100% water changes. Continue monitoring and water change as needed.....maybe weekly at first. Eventually nitrates will not climb as high telling you that you're approaching the end of your cure. The time it takes depends on how dirty the rock was. The shortest I've seen is a month, but two months is more the norm.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I take it the chlorine bath was after the acid bath? Did you happen to let the rock fully dry out in the sun after the chlorine bath? If so, awesome, you are ready to cure. If not, I would either do that or add an additive dechlorinator such as Prime to eliminate it.

As far as curing after your above mentioned acid and chlorine bath my recommendation would be the following:

1. Fill up a brute container or something else you can eliminate light from with RODI water. Get salt levels to 1.023-1.026.
2. Add your rock, a small power head, and a heater (heater is not required if water will be maintained at room temperature in the 70's F or above.
3. Add a "bacteria-in-a-bottle" or some live rock from a buddies tank (if it is pest free!)
4. Add food for the bacteria! This is either a source of ammonia or ammonia itself. You'll want to test during this process to know how quickly the bacteria is consuming the ammonia and converting it to Nitrite. I would not worry about Nitrite and Nitrate until at least a month in. My recommendation would be to add enough ammonia to get to 1ppm in your volume or water. Test to confirm, and then test 24 hours later. When your bacteria can convert 1ppm of ammonia to 0ppm in 24 hours or less, continue adding it and test to confirm nitrite and nitrate and being converted also.

The rock will be ready by the time your Ammonia and Nitrite do not show up on test kits a few hours after adding it. Nitrate can hover between 0-20ppm without any concern.

Hope this helps!

 

[redfishbluefish]

I take it the chlorine bath was after the acid bath? Did you happen to let the rock fully dry out in the sun after the chlorine bath? If so, awesome, you are ready to cure. If not, I would either do that or add an additive dechlorinator such as Prime to eliminate it.

As far as curing after your above mentioned acid and chlorine bath my recommendation would be the following:

1. Fill up a brute container or something else you can eliminate light from with RODI water. Get salt levels to 1.023-1.026.
2. Add your rock, a small power head, and a heater (heater is not required if water will be maintained at room temperature in the 70's F or above.
3. Add a "bacteria-in-a-bottle" or some live rock from a buddies tank (if it is pest free!)
4. Add food for the bacteria! This is either a source of ammonia or ammonia itself. You'll want to test during this process to know how quickly the bacteria is consuming the ammonia and converting it to Nitrite. I would not worry about Nitrite and Nitrate until at least a month in. My recommendation would be to add enough ammonia to get to 1ppm in your volume or water. Test to confirm, and then test 24 hours later. When your bacteria can convert 1ppm of ammonia to 0ppm in 24 hours or less, continue adding it and test to confirm nitrite and nitrate and being converted also.

The rock will be ready by the time your Ammonia and Nitrite do not show up on test kits a few hours after adding it. Nitrate can hover between 0-20ppm without any concern.

Hope this helps!

This is the recipe for cycling, not curing. Note that cycling and curing can happen concurrently, but just don't be fooled that your cycle is done from the presents of nitrate. I'd also suggest if you wish to do concurrently is to hold off on starting the cycle until you've done a couple water changes.

 

[Brew12]

This is the recipe for cycling, not curing. Note that cycling and curing can happen concurrently, but just don't be fooled that your cycle is done from the presents of nitrate. I'd also suggest if you wish to do concurrently is to hold off on starting the cycle until you've done a couple water changes.

I think we need a better idea of what the OP is trying to accomplish. I agree that the recommendation isn't curing but I think it may be what the OP wants to do.

I have rock that I have ran through an acid bath and a chlorine bath. I have it in an old tank setup with water running from the tank to the sump. I am going to let it cure for 2 month while I collect a few more pieces of equipment and prep the area for the tank in my livingroom. My question is what parameters should I check and how often should I change the water?

Curing is typically done to live rock to make sure that anything that dies off during transit has a chance to decay and not adversely effect the water. With rock that has been cooked there is no reason to cure it as all the life should be removed by now. If the goal is to get the rock pre-cycled, the above advice is excellent. If this is your end goal, I recommend testing it for nitrates and phosphates 2 times a week. If either gets off the charts high then do a large water change.

 

[ihavecrabs]

This is the recipe for cycling, not curing. Note that cycling and curing can happen concurrently, but just don't be fooled that your cycle is done from the presents of nitrate. I'd also suggest if you wish to do concurrently is to hold off on starting the cycle until you've done a couple water changes.

Correct. I assumed the curing was completed due to the acid bath and chlorine bath. Essentially after those two steps, dead organics are now removed.

As long as the rocks fully dried in the sun after the chlorine bath then there are no concerns from the remaining residue. The open question is if that was done after the acid bath. If not, I would agree fully on further rinse and soak.

You could let the rocks sit in tap water (or rodi if you prefer) and test for phosphates if you are concerned with leaching.

Next step would be to cycle the rock to build the filtration capacity of the rock. My steps above outline how to do this and test to confirm the bacteria ability to convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. I would not simply test for nitrate alone.

Hopefully this eliminates any confusion [emoji4]

 

[redfishbluefish]

@Brew12 , I believe we might have a difference of opinion. It also depends on what your definition of "cooked rock."

Curing is not just for live rock. As a matter of fact, I've never heard of one curing live rock.....although, if transport caused some death, I could see where it's beneficial. The curing I'm talking about is for dead rock, whether it went into an acid or bleach bath or not. It will still have the remnants of dead stuff that needs to come out. If you decide not to separately cure this rock, expect high nitrate levels in your DT almost immediately. If you've cured dead rock before I'll guarantee you'll know about the dead stuff within a day or two from the stench coming from the cure tank. JMTC

 

[redfishbluefish]

A BRS TV bit worth watching. I personally would not recommend the acid wash.

What's the most effective rock curing method?

 

[October Sky]

The rest of the commentors have debated curing/cycling, but without a reply from OP, it's tough to know what he wants to achieve.

I'm "cycling" my rock as well as "curing" it in a Brute, much the way ihavecrabs suggested, although I didn't use bacteria in a bottle, but rather a bunch of my current live rock and dosed ammonia. I'm cycling it to, well, cycle it. And I'm "curing" it to kill off some unwanted items (I'm not feeding it anything) and getting rid of way too many bristle worms. My new tank is in the process of being put together. I just have to skin the stand, because I have 2 kids under 4 and they'll destroy it. I just haven't gotten around to it because of the aforementioned 2 kids under 4.

 

[ihavecrabs]

A BRS TV bit worth watching. I personally would not recommend the acid wash.

What's the most effective rock curing method?

Agreed and +1 on the BRS video.

I think the OP is looking to cycle his rock noe that he has completed his acid and bleach bath. Hence my recommendation above.

Good call out on the difference between cure and cycle though. Definitely don't want to confuse people.

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 , I believe we might have a difference of opinion. It also depends on what your definition of "cooked rock."

Curing is not just for live rock. As a matter of fact, I've never heard of one curing live rock.....although, if transport caused some death, I could see where it's beneficial. The curing I'm talking about is for dead rock, whether it went into an acid or bleach bath or not. It will still have the remnants of dead stuff that needs to come out. If you decide not to separately cure this rock, expect high nitrate levels in your DT almost immediately. If you've cured dead rock before I'll guarantee you'll know about the dead stuff within a day or two from the stench coming from the cure tank. JMTC

It does seem like there isn't much in the way of a standard definition of the terms cooked and cured. I think of curing as the process done with live rock and cleaning the process for dry rock. I've seen some people call acid cleaning cooking and others call cooking the same thing as curing live rock.

We need a definition page to go along with the acronyms in the sticky section! Can you imagine the debate that some of these definitions could lead to?

 

[cr2jones]

Thank you to both of you. This build is gone on far to long, Life got in the way. I have had most of the equipment for 2 years. The Rock was bathed more than a year and a half. Since the rock is the dry pukani rock I was more worried about the phosphates. I will start the cycling process too but will wait for that when it is in the display tank. I am taking this build slow.


Edit* I got on a conference call before I refreshed the screen! A lot of conversation. I did cook my rocks and I have watched the BRS TV video. I like the acid bath when I have a chance to do it. I did mine as safe as possible outside and with all the precautions and PPE. I also am one of those that recharge my DI resins. LOL

I like the conversation and I think my goal of curing my rock was to give it one more time to leach any phosphates and to start the cycling process. First is to cure it for a month or so then to start the cycle process. Goal is to be ready for my bonus in mid April.

Thank you Again for your comments

 

[ihavecrabs]

Thank you to both of you. This build is gone on far to long, Life got in the way. I have had most of the equipment for 2 years. The Rock was bathed more than a year and a half. Since the rock is the dry pukani rock I was more worried about the phospates. I will start the cycling process too but will wait for that when it is in the display tank. I am taking this build slow.

Got it. In that case, you'll want to test for phosphates while curing. GFO or Lathium chloride could be used to remove excess phosphates. Water changes would also work.

No need for saltwater or rodi at this step.

I love pukani. My current build has it curing as we speak.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I apologize if I'm sounding like the Grinch, with a difference of opinion, but if you mean using tap water by the comment of, "No need for saltwater or rodi at this step.", I couldn't disagree more. Tap water has phosphates and silicates and I'd only consider tap water if I knew these were near zero.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I apologize if I'm sounding like the Grinch, with a difference of opinion, but if you mean using tap water by the comment of, "No need for saltwater or rodi at this step.", I couldn't disagree more. Tap water has phosphates and silicates and I'd only consider tap water if I knew these were near zero.

Depends on your local source. That's for the OP to decide based on his/her individual case.

 

[KJoFan]

So, did we decide that if we're holding the rock in saltwater and monitoring for nitrates and/or phosphates to decline we are....cycling? As..this should be building the biological life on the rock, correct?

 

[October Sky]

So, did we decide that if we're holding the rock in saltwater and monitoring for nitrates and/or phosphates to decline we are....cycling? As..this should be building the biological life on the rock, correct?

I think it depends.

Is there heat? Or what is the room temperature? My Brute is in the basement, which is usually about 60 degrees, so I have a cheap heater. Also, was there anything introduced to it that would feed the bacteria? I dosed ammonia, but this was in addition to putting in about 10-15 pounds of "live rock" from my current tank. Also, I think you need a power head for circulation, or at least a bubbler.

But it is my understanding, that if you just have a tank of rocks, with no heat (or high heat, 85+), no circulation and no food source, you're technically "curing.". But, even then, you should be doing water changes to get rid of the phosphates.

I have 2 brutes, and given the amount of rocks in them, they hold about 10 gallons of water. About every two weeks, I fill up the empty can with 10 gallons, make it salty, and then swap the rocks over after shaking them violently in the old water. The old water ends up really cloudy, and the nitrate go way down upon the transfer (old tank is about 40ppm, new is undetectable, then rises as things continue to die off).

Finally, I'm by no means an expert, just a culmination of reading things and testing things out. I'm also taking my time as I haven't finished my new tank. Moreover, I'm slowly swapping all my current rock in my tank for tank from the Brute, and vice versa. I'm doing this to kill off things, and the new tank rock more than "trash can cycle" ready. Once it sup and running and leak tested, my available space dictates that the odl tank has to go asap.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Curing to me means removing dead organics, whether starting with live or dry rock. This is different from cycling which is meant to introduce an appropriate population of saltwater nitrifying bacteria.

For example, I am currently curing some dry rock that will be added with live rock to a new build in the spring. I am curing only, not cycling. I first bleach soaked for two weeks with tap water. I am currently soaking in a bucket with RO/DI and dechlorinator to remove any bleach, I specifically use RO/DI because my tap water, although low TDS (38), has high Phosphates (2-3ppm, 0 Nitrates). I will continue to soak in RO/DI for a couple of months as I monitor Phosphates (Hanna ULR). Freshwater nitrifying bacteria will begin to populate the water and break down the organics in the rocks.

After Phosphates drop, and I am close to setting up the tank, I will switch to using saltwater in the bucket and cycle the dry rock. The freshwater bacteria will die off and that should start the saltwater bacteria growing.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I note I am using a powerhead only, no heater. I will add a heater when I cycle.

Also, I posted some notes on temperature and bacteria here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/curing-dry-rock-temperature.342063/#post-4278809