To cure or not to cure?

[brandondavidson]

I’m replacing half of the rockscape in my reef tank. The new scape will be dry Marco rock while the other half of the scape will remain in the tank and has been in there for nearly a year (about 1/4 of the rock in the tank consists of Australian live rock and gulf live rock). For this new dry scape would you recommend curing it beforehand to avoid some of the uglies or will the remaining rock be enough to stave off any diatoms/hair algae/cyano severe enough to irritate corals? Those with experience partially replacing their scape with dry rock please let me know! Thanks

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I always cure rocks before use. I switched out a new aquascape exactly 2 months ago and the rocks are still white-ish, no sign of algae. I find 3-4 months of curing in ambient light to be the sweet spot to avoid algae growth.

 

[brandondavidson]

Personally I always cure rocks before use. I switched out a new aquascape exactly 2 months ago and the rocks are still white-ish, no sign of algae. I find 3-4 months of curing in ambient light to be the sweet spot to avoid algae growth.

Thanks!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

By the way, in whatever I use to cure the rocks (last time I used a plastic storage tote), first I cycle the new rocks with bacteria, then I add a damsel. A few months with real fish bacteria is better than bottled bacteria.