Adding 50 lbs of dry rock previously in another tank. To cure, or not to cure?

Schreiber

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I'm moving this week (yay!) & am upgrading to a 75 gallon tank. The larger tank means more rocks to fill it.

I bought 50 lbs of dry rock from a reefer who broke down a 400 gallon tank about 2 years ago. I'm wondering if curing the rock is necessary before adding it to my new system?

Background info: My current tank is a 55 gallon, which has been running well for over 3 years. I have about 70 lbs of rock in there at the moment. It's a very low bio-load tank with 4 fish (2 clowns, a goby, & a royal gramma).
 

ludnix

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Absolutely! I am curing a trashcan worth of dry rock from someone's tank and the water was vile. You do not want to add even one peice of that stuff until it's been cured. If it was never in tank it might not need curing but I would still give a soak for a few days to test it, if it's been in someone's system the water will tell you.

I soaked it in tap water for a week and changed the water and repeated three times until it was clear. I then salted it and kept a powerhead going and will test ammonia and nitrates to determine when it's ready.
 

stiffljp

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Definitely cure, when I moved a couple years ago I ended up baking my existing rocks even though I didn't have any issues. Saw it as an opportunity to make it "fresh". Muriatic bath, etc..
 

Duncan Tse

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I would cure it for a few months while running gfo or lathanum chloride to get rid of the leaching PO4.

Adding it to your tank without curing will definitely release the built up PO4 in the rocks causing an algae bloom in your tank.

A soak in bleach will help remove most of the organics in the rocks tho and will speed up the cycling process.

Check our BRS's video on curing rocks
 
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