DRY ROCK HELP

[FindingNem0]

Hey R2R


About a month ago I taken out about 20lbs of live rock which has been sitting outside. What is the process of it being back into my tank, should I cure it for X amount of days? Should I Rinse it in RODI water or saltwater? I really wanted to add more rocks but im unsure what I should do to prevent algaebloom or ammonia to kick in !!


Any help is appreciated

Cheers

 

[BestMomEver]

I would rinse it off then put it in a bucket with a power head and cure it for a few weeks.

 

[FindingNem0]

I would rinse it off then put it in a bucket with a power head and cure it for a few weeks.

In a bucket of saltwater or rodi water?

 

[cracker]

salt I'd think .

 

[FindingNem0]

Is there another form of dry rock I can use without curing? Like a man made rock?

 

[minus9]

You need to cook the rock before you put it back or all of that dead organic matter will cause a lot of problems. There are plenty threads here that talk about cooking dry rock with acid (use proper safety gear), bleach, etc.... Also, curing the rock in saltwater would require a lot of work and time to clean it of the dead organic matter.

 

[FindingNem0]

You need to cook the rock before you put it back or all of that dead organic matter will cause a lot of problems. There are plenty threads here that talk about cooking dry rock with acid (use proper safety gear), bleach, etc.... Also, curing the rock in saltwater would require a lot of work and time to clean it of the dead organic matter.

I was just searching up on reef rock 2.1. I might just buy those and skip the whole curing process of my dead dry rock.

Also on another note. What if I removed all my rocks in DT and Re-aquascaped it, would that put me in a mini cycle again?

My DT contains about 20lbs and Sump contains about 25lbs of live rock.

 

[minus9]

Depends, are you replacing the rock or just rescaping with what you have? If you're replacing, then you're starting from scratch for the most part. You're essentially removing have of the bio filter, does that sound safe?

 

[Forsaken77]

No, you won't have another cycle if you have basically the same amount of rock in the sump. I would use the Caribsea Life Rock that has spored bacteria on it already. You can also take your new rock and put it in a can of heated saltwater with some bottled bacteria to seed it.

 

[KJAG]

Get ready for a long maturing phase when using dry rock. Diatoms/Cyano..Its the way to go if you want to aquascape exactly to your vision, but theres no way around the extended ugly phase.

 

[FindingNem0]

dang. I really dont wanna go through the ugly phase again lol. It really bugged the hell out of me and it was planning on replacing the whole aquascape with new dry rocks but I guess I wont be doing that.

 

[FindingNem0]

I might just add dry rocks in and leave what I have already in there.

 

[Forsaken77]

I might just add dry rocks in and leave what I have already in there.

You could always swap some of the rocks with the ones in the sump. Then just toss what you don't need for aquascaping back into the sump.

Btw, dry rock is different than man made dry rock.

 

[FindingNem0]

You could always swap some of the rocks with the ones in the sump. Then just toss what you don't need for aquascaping back into the sump.

Btw, dry rock is different than man made dry rock.

Yeah dry rock has dead organics on them while man made has nothing. That's why I thought curing wasn't needed for man made rocks.

 

[James M]

Could u cure the rock in freshwater ?

 

[minus9]

Could u cure the rock in freshwater ?

No, completely different bacteria.

 

[Forsaken77]

Yeah dry rock has dead organics on them while man made has nothing. That's why I thought curing wasn't needed for man made rocks.

It's not needed. You can seed it with extra bacteria to give it a boost when you put it in the tank, but you don't have to cure it and being you already have an established rock colony in the sump, you're good.

I would just say to play it safe that if you remove any rock from the DT, don't do it all at once. Remove 25% every week with seeded man made rock. That's why I suggested the Life Rock. It's man made from aragonite, not cement, has bacteria sprayed on, is coralline algae colored and come in numerous shapes and sizes.

My brother has fully cycled 3 tanks from scratch (a 120, a 210 and a 40 gallon) with Life Rock and Dr Tims bacteria (cheapest on Amazon btw), with no uglies at all. I have 200 pounds of Life Rock waiting to go in a 180. It's more porous inside than the cement brands as well.