Haitian dry rock

[punziracing]

Hello all,

As I stated in a previous post, I have been out of the hobby for over 15yrs and believe I now have the patience to dive in again. I am currently researching what rock to start off with. My LFS has at least a ton of this Haitian dry rock in stock and I need to know if this is a good foundation to start with. The rock is not cured but looks to be completely dead, it’s not cheap 7.99 a pound. Anybody with long term experience with this rock? I was planning on a bleach bath before I cycle but the LFS said I could just cycle the tank with it? I appreciate any input good or bad so I can get past this first decision of many.

If there is a better place to post this type of question, please let me know.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Hello all,

As I stated in a previous post, I have been out of the hobby for over 15yrs and believe I now have the patience to dive in again. I am currently researching what rock to start off with. My LFS has at least a ton of this Haitian dry rock in stock and I need to know if this is a good foundation to start with. The rock is not cured but looks to be completely dead, it’s not cheap 7.99 a pound. Anybody with long term experience with this rock? I was planning on a bleach bath before I cycle but the LFS said I could just cycle the tank with it? I appreciate any input good or bad so I can get past this first decision of many.

If there is a better place to post this type of question, please let me know.

Bad advice from the LFS. It looks to be loaded with algae and algae spores. Not to mention what's locked in it.

I would acid bath it and cure it as normally done out of the tank. Don't want all that excess nutrients in your DT.

By the way, it's a nice piece though.

 

[cracker]

Hello, I personally like Haitian rock . I like the look & it's light & pretty porous. I use this mostly. At 8 bucks a lbs ? I haven't bought any in a long time & it was fresh liverock. I guess the price has gone up over time.
I'm old school & wouldn't bleach it . Start the curing in a barrel now & You can setup the tank at your leisure. Please keep us posted s Haitian is my favorite rock type.

 

[siggy]

Ok here's for the tie breaker or three differing approaches. the first will accelarate the cure time if you want to get rolling in a month the second will do the same thing just take longer to leach the ugly stuff out and is painless.
I like the acid process it leaves the rock very porous but it is work and you need to have the location to safely do it and dump the mixtures good luck and BTW Nice looking rock

 

[punziracing]

Bad advice from the LFS. It looks to be loaded with algae and algae spores. Not to mention what's locked in it.

I would acid bath it and cure it as normally done out of the tank. Don't want all that excess nutrients in your DT.

By the way, it's a nice piece though.

Thanks for the advice, I will look into the acid bath then, do I need to bleach after the acid bath or just completely flush out?

 

[cracker]

There Ya go ! Already differing Op's ! LOL

 

[punziracing]

Hello, I personally like Haitian rock . I like the look & it's light & pretty porous. I use this mostly. At 8 bucks a lbs ? I haven't bought any in a long time & it was fresh liverock. I guess the price has gone up over time.
I'm old school & wouldn't bleach it . Start the curing in a barrel now & You can setup the tank at your leisure. Please keep us posted s Haitian is my favorite rock type.

I love the look of this rock, this was a 20# piece. I want to take all precautions necessary to insure a smooth start up. I will update this post as I move forward, thanks for the reply,

 

[siggy]

this was a 20# piece

Ouch! I like the colors of that rock

I'm old school & wouldn't bleach it

Agreed

 

[punziracing]

Ok here's for the tie breaker or three differing approaches. the first will accelarate the cure time if you want to get rolling in a month the second will do the same thing just take longer to leach the ugly stuff out and is painless.
I like the acid process it leaves the rock very porous but it is work and you need to have the location to safely do it and dump the mixtures good luck and BTW Nice looking rock[/QUOTE

I am leaning towards the acid bath as well, the rock does seem like it needs to open up a bit. Will the acid deteriorate the rock itself?

 

[Flippers4pups]

It could take a very small layer of the rock off. I would cut the recommended amount of muriatic acid used down a 1/4 and see how it looks first.

 

[siggy]

Some say 10-20% but I never noticed a loss,....You have to check out BRS video on how to do this....I just filled my brute with a hose until rock was covered then added acid until i seen a reaction (rolling) as the reaction occurs it will slow as the acid is neutralized, after 15-20 minuets I dump and repete, rinse and store in old tank water, or fresh if thats all you have. Now I am surprised none mentioned to simply place rock in clean water and monitor nutrients to see if you need to do anything other than a simple cure.......Check out the videos on curing live rock MD & BRS

 

[Flippers4pups]

Some say 10-20% but I never noticed a loss,....You have to check out BRS video on how to do this....I just filled my brute with a hose until rock was covered then added acid until i seen a reaction (rolling) as the reaction occurs it will slow as the acid is neutralized, after 15-20 minuets I dump and repete, rinse and store in old tank water, or fresh if thats all you have. Now I am surprised none mentioned to simply place rock in clean water and monitor nutrients to see if you need to do anything other than a simple cure.......Check out the videos on curing live rock MD & BRS

I would have suggested just curing, but it's covered in green dried algae.

 

[DancingShark]

Rock looks perfect. I would cycle it straight saltwater.

 

[punziracing]

Some say 10-20% but I never noticed a loss,....You have to check out BRS video on how to do this....I just filled my brute with a hose until rock was covered then added acid until i seen a reaction (rolling) as the reaction occurs it will slow as the acid is neutralized, after 15-20 minuets I dump and repete, rinse and store in old tank water, or fresh if thats all you have. Now I am surprised none mentioned to simply place rock in clean water and monitor nutrients to see if you need to do anything other than a simple cure.......Check out the videos on curing live rock MD & BRS

After watching the BRS vid I am thinking I will do the bleach and Acid, I want to start off as sterile as I can, I am in no rush. I have worked with MA in the past and as long as you prepare and follow the safety procedures its not too bad, just a little messy. What is the advantage to using RO water for the acid and bleach baths? I see a lot of people recommending this but as long as I will be curing in RO then what's the point?

 

[siggy]

After watching the BRS vid I am thinking I will do the bleach and Acid, I want to start off as sterile as I can, I am in no rush. I have worked with MA in the past and as long as you prepare and follow the safety procedures its not too bad, just a little messy. What is the advantage to using RO water for the acid and bleach baths? I see a lot of people recommending this but as long as I will be curing in RO then what's the point?

I don't have a answer for that but you can ask @Randy Holmes-Farley..... Good Luck

 

[punziracing]

It could take a very small layer of the rock off. I would cut the recommended amount of muriatic acid used down a 1/4 and see how it looks first.

That's not a bad idea, I may do a small test piece first.

 

[Fumanchu]

Nice piece ..........
I would bleach and then cure

 

[punziracing]

Update:

So I did a 10:1 30 minute acid dip on a 2# piece of the Haitian rock, it lost about 40% of its total weight . Came out super clean but I don’t know if I want to sacrifice that much loss. I am going to try a 20:1 mix for 15 minutes and see what happens next.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Update:

So I did a 10:1 30 minute acid dip on a 2# piece of the Haitian rock, it lost about 40% of its total weight . Came out super clean but I don’t know if I want to sacrifice that much loss. I am going to try a 20:1 mix for 15 minutes and see what happens next.

;Jawdrop

 

[dtracy1119]

Hello all,

As I stated in a previous post, I have been out of the hobby for over 15yrs and believe I now have the patience to dive in again. I am currently researching what rock to start off with. My LFS has at least a ton of this Haitian dry rock in stock and I need to know if this is a good foundation to start with. The rock is not cured but looks to be completely dead, it’s not cheap 7.99 a pound. Anybody with long term experience with this rock? I was planning on a bleach bath before I cycle but the LFS said I could just cycle the tank with it? I appreciate any input good or bad so I can get past this first decision of many.

If there is a better place to post this type of question, please let me know.

Go with the bleach bath. I started my tank with dead rock about 5 weeks ago. I thought the dead matter would be a good idea to start the cycle instead of the fish cycle. I think the fish cycle is just torture on the poor animal. From my experience the nitrites and nitrates are off the chart and hard to get down. I just started my skimmer so let's see if they will drop.