Rock and cycling conundrum...

[Captain Quint]

With all the great info imparted already, there is not much more I can really add. I congratulate you on your research and welcome you to R2R fogcutter.

We like pics. Pics from Africa would be interesting too.

 

[fogcutter]

Man made rock and mined rock(reefsaver, marco, reefcleaners, reefrocks.net) don't need to be cured as they don't have trapped organics in them. So no acid or bleach soaking required. They just need to be cycled(either in a bucket or in tank). Ocean dry rock(like pukani when you could get it) needs to be cured to reduce/eliminate having the trapped organics break down in the tank, then cycled. Ocean collected rock that is shipped damp(kpaquatics, gulfliverock) Likely have significant die off of organisms that can't handle being out of the water for the time it takes to ship it. They will likely require a short cure time, but if you want to preserve the life that comes on it you probably need to do it in a tank with a lights. I would do it in the DT but before I added other livestock and just run carbon and overskim for a week or two to make sure it's stable. Wet rock like TBS should have very little die off(there will always be some because your tank is not the ocean but it should be minimal) so should be added directly to the DT.

Just my .02 cents

Very nice overview! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain all of this. As you said TBS ships The Rock in water. And that is a very attractive option to me where it concerns ordering live rock.

Thanks again man, you rock. [emoji6]

Agreed....very concise and helps me with my decision.

 

[DarkTang]

Started my process yesterday!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Started my process yesterday!

Nice. A protein skimmer and activated carbon are not absolutely necessary, but can be very helpful. In a display I would probably run both. Obviously there are many methods to this that have worked well.

 

[NY_Caveman]

The odd thing is, they mention a 50lb minimum. But there are 20 lb options with free shipping. So strange

This means you get 20 lbs. of rock but the minimum shipping charge is as if it were 50 lbs. I believe this is a minimum from the airlines for freight shipping.

 

[DarkTang]

Nice. A protein skimmer and activated carbon are not absolutely necessary, but can be very helpful. In a display I would probably run both. Obviously there are many methods to this that have worked well.

It’s absolutely needed for this size. This is a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. I want to get rid of po4 and organic die off and wasted as much as possible. The skimmer will help take them out. I’m adding a po4 gfo reactor today to help. Next week I’m adding 12 multi branch with leafs mangroves to reduce po4 even more. This is a naturally curing process. After some time I will do a 100 water change and rinse off all the rocks in saltwater and clean the entire tub as it will be connected to my system. This will prevent the rocks from leeching. If the 100 water change is still accumulating po4 then I know my rocks are still leeching and not yet ready rinse and repeat until ready!

 

[pshootr]

This means you get 20 lbs. of rock but the minimum shipping charge is as if it were 50 lbs. I believe this is a minimum from the airlines for freight shipping.

They have an option for 20 lb package with free overnight shipping. The thing is if you select quantity 3, which comes out to 60 lb it still says free overnight shipping at the checkout.

 

[fogcutter]

With all the great info imparted already, there is not much more I can really add. I congratulate you on your research and welcome you to R2R fogcutter.

We like pics. Pics from Africa would be interesting too.

Thanks! But I'm in that part of Africa that you think of when you're NOT thinking of safari's......or when you hear song Feed the World from years ago....

 

[pshootr]

Thanks! But I'm in that part of Africa that you think of when you're NOT thinking of safari's......or when you hear song Feed the World from years ago....

We are the ones that make a brighter day just you and me... [emoji23]

That actually is a beautiful song. It's just the way you said that made me laugh. [emoji6]

Cool picture to

 

[427HISS]

I bought many lbs. of the BRS dead white rock at a very low price and planned on using several lbs. of my well established 15 year old rock from the ocean. But I really don't want to the huge time and expence factor of curing it, even more than ocean live rock.
So, don't know what I'll do now after reading this thread ?

 

[pshootr]

I bought many lbs. of the BRS dead white rock at a very low price and planned on using several lbs. of my well established 15 year old rock from the ocean. But I really don't want to the huge time and expence factor of curing it, even more than ocean live rock.
So, don't know what I'll do now after reading this thread ?

If you only want to use several pounds of it, then it won't cost much to cure it.

What are you planning on using the rest of the rock for?

I see. You want to use several pounds of your live rock to seed the dry rock. Sorry I misread what you were saying. Unfortunately I don't see any way around curing the rock.

 

[427HISS]

Using the dead white rock, I invision the phosphate at a nuclear level. lol....
I guess I'll put enough of that rock in one of my 55g Brutes that I plan on using, and soak for a few days then measure the phosphate and see what reads. If it's high, I'll just hurl them onto the street.

 

[pshootr]

Using the dead white rock, I invision the phosphate at a nuclear level. lol....
I guess I'll put enough of that rock in one of my 55g Brutes that I plan on using, and soak for a few days then measure the phosphate and see what reads. If it's high, I'll just hurl them onto the street.

Yeah you might as well see what it is going to do. Did you watch the BRS video on curing Rock? They have one method that uses acid, and then bleach. I believe this shortens the process.

 

[427HISS]

I just hate to use harsh chemicals unless needed. I only attend to use enough of that rock, as a gradual sloping wall on the left side of the tank, blending towards the center, then stop for an open area, then use the live rock on the right side.
The way the white rock is formed, it can be easily stacked and locked into place, unlike the natural smooth live rock.

 

[pshootr]

I just hate to use harsh chemicals unless needed. I only attend to use enough of that rock, as a gradual sloping wall on the left side of the tank, blending towards the center, then stop for an open area, then use the live rock on the right side.
The way the white rock is formed, it can be easily stacked and locked into place, unlike the natural smooth live rock.

Slow cure or Fast cure. Pick your poison

 

[Dragonreef202]

Take your time with the cure I ordered rocks from marcorocks.com and added a couple of pieces of live rock from the lfs and let it spread over time. I believe that they're located in Florida as well.

 

[jda]

While man made rock is usually phosphate and organic free, it is very dense and really only capable of surface life. The purple is epoxy or another coating which is not penetrable by water. Most people like rock for the external life as well as the porous structure to house bacteria and microfauna. This is not the end of the world if you have a deeper sand bed where the bacteria can live. If you have neither, you can fight escalating nitrate problems. All of this is manageable, but there is a downside to man-made rock.

 

[427HISS]

We have to remember, that origional rock from the ocean has 100's to 1,000's of years in the reefs to gain bacteria, way deep in the rock, where as the man made rock does not, and never will. In time it can cover the surface. The hope we have, is rock that is farmed in the ocean for our hobby and public aquariums, as it is packed with bacteria. But, I've seen that rock that has been cultivating for several years, that when cut in half it's pure white, with very little life. Like mentioned, live sand can be very rich in bacteria and critters,....good and bad, mind you, as there's pro'& con's of a deep sand bed, of at least 3" depending on the size of tank.

I've never went deeper than 6" and that was a system measured of biologist Alf Jacob Nilsen's nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria sandbed and screened 4" of plenum. I used it in my 75g reef and 40g breeder for clams, and it was amazing on how well it worked, even with a high fish load. No skimmer, no filter products and had less than 15 nitrate no phosphates in 3 years. I may set up my 93g cube using the same method using all dead rock, as a clown hosted anemone tank.