Curing dead live rock

[dakota9]

How long should I let dead LR cure before putting it in my tank you think?

Thanks for any input!

 

[wbholwell]

Is it clean (no dead gunk on it)?

 

[dakota9]

well, its white, but sat in a carage a few months, and if you look closely, you can see skeletal remains of a few very small inverts. I was thinking bout curing it for like two weeks. No heat, no light, just circulating water, but dont want my creative streak to nuke my tank.......

Thanks for the reply,

 

[FutureInterest]

I think you're wise to cure it. It's going to have dead organics on and in the rock regardless of how long it has been out of water. The purpose of curing is to let the ammonia cycle do its damage outside of your tank. When you're no longer reading ammonia or nitrites in the circulating water it will be safe to add. That doesn't mean it doesn't have still have nutrients in the rock, but at least it won't cause your tank to cycle.

G'luck!

 

[tsciarini]

I'd take a hose and blast as much DO off of it as you possibly can... put it in SW w/ normal SG and a PH for atleast a month or longer. Might not be a bad idea to throw a piece of LR in with it as well.

IWHMAICUAOT....

 

[dakota9]

ok, I'll assume tony knows best since I got the idea to do it from him.....

Thanks

 

[tsciarini]

...just as a side note, I have some rock in my tank now that was so nasty it actually had mold on it. Obviously, I cured that rock in the dark with TONS of flow and a huge skimmer for almost 6months.

tsciarini;49133 wrote: I'd take a hose and blast as much DO off of it as you possibly can... put it in SW w/ normal SG and a PH for atleast a month or longer. Might not be a bad idea to throw a piece of LR in with it as well.

IWHMAICUAOT....

...oh and do some waterchanges on it every week too.