No Room for Curing Rock?

[Slayvoff]

So I know people say curing rock is pretty important, but I frankly just don't have the space for it. 670 sq. ft. apartment in NYC on an elevated floor. There really is no space to have a big tub of water curing rock for upwards of a month, especially if that tub is going to stink.

Given this situation, what is the best way to proceed? Going with uncured dry rock, or just live rock and hoping there aren't hitchhikers? Or some other option I have not considered?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

In tank is fine. It just takes longer to mature like any other dry rock tank build.

 

[mcarroll]

I haven't heard of anyone getting uncured rock in a long time.....tbsaltwater is about it. All the stuff we'd gotten at the store in recent years seemed to have been "pre-cleaned" so that it could almost be put right into a reef after shipment. Didn't guarantee no evil hitchhikers (that's a side-effect of the rock sitting in shallow water waiting to be boxed up...lots of dying stuff to attract scavengers) but they were very rare.

Managing a rock cure in the tank isn't any more intensive than some of the crazy break-in methods you read about.....pure ammonia, rotten seafood, etc. It's pretty automatic.....watch ammonia and keep it from getting too high...water flow in the tank might be enough to stimulate bacteria to do that. And the benefits of uncured live rock vs rotten seafood ought to be apparent.

 

[Slayvoff]

I haven't heard of anyone getting uncured rock in a long time.....tbsaltwater is about it. All the stuff we'd gotten at the store in recent years seemed to have been "pre-cleaned" so that it could almost be put right into a reef after shipment. Didn't guarantee no evil hitchhikers (that's a side-effect of the rock sitting in shallow water waiting to be boxed up...lots of dying stuff to attract scavengers) but they were very rare.

Managing a rock cure in the tank isn't any more intensive than some of the crazy break-in methods you read about.....pure ammonia, rotten seafood, etc. It's pretty automatic.....watch ammonia and keep it from getting too high...water flow in the tank might be enough to stimulate bacteria to do that. And the benefits of uncured live rock vs rotten seafood ought to be apparent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUFUSR4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is what I have. It says no curing necessary but everything I see everyone says you need to cure your dry rock before putting in a tank.

 

[Mikedawg]

I have three tanks with Caribsea Life Rock and in each case just rinsed it, built my aquascape in tank, filled tank with saltwater, added some Biospira and a piece of rock from an established tank and waited for cycle to begin/finish. Never had a problem.

 

[Slayvoff]

does live sand need to be cured or any risk of hitchhikers? or is regular sand better to go with?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YJMYP...ATJGGE0K0DW7Y0ZP0&ie=UTF8&qid=1505349887&sr=3

 

[mcarroll]

That rock looks like dry rock...and that sand is not real live sand in the sense of live rock...it's just seeded with bacteria. Good, but not the same.

Check out the pics on this thread!!!
Tampa Bay Saltwater Live Rock

Real un-cured live rock might look like this....even if this stuff is somewhat ideal.

Most live rock is from MUCH further away and does not get babied like this does.

Still great to use, just use properly. That often means dealing with an ammonia cycle where the animals that didn't make it get sorted out from the ones that did make it.