Cured live rocks are usually costlier than the uncured ones and that is the reason why most of you would prefer to buy them uncured and does the curing procedure by yourself. That is no bad idea if you know the guidelines for curing them correctly and apprehensively. The most important fact that you got to keep in mind is that the curing needs to be done just after you have brought them from the store. The conditions in which the storekeepers keep the rocks may not be the same at home and there are chances that the non-required bacteria and organism might grow faster. Once you have brought them, make sure you get them ready to get into the tank soon and that is possible only after you get it cured quicker.
The term cure applies to the process of conditioning or cycling live rock for use in a saltwater aquarium. When you see live rock labeled as fresh, uncured or unseeded this means it is NOT cured and it shouldn’t be placed directly into a main aquarium until you cure it, otherwise, you will have a huge ammonia spike in your tank in a matter of a few hours. Here you go:
1.Keep 2 saltwater tubs, one with higher salinity and the other with lower salinity. Dip the rock in higher salinity water tub and keep submersed for few hours. Some unwanted pests and shrimps that hide in the crevices will come out this way.
2.Remove from this tub and scrub with a toothbrush to remove dead wastes. And place it in the other tub and Cover the rock completely with freshly mixed saltwater.
3.You must have a good skimmer and lots of water flow to properly cure live rocks. Get them immersed in the skimmer. The process of curing a live rock might take 3-4 days depending on the amount of contamination it holds.
4.Use a heater to keep the water temperature near 80 degrees to speed die off. The rock may have a strong smell for the first 3-4 days, but with a good skimmer and a close initial inspection of each piece of rock and removal of obviously dead material should lessen this situation. In the first few days you will need to closely monitor your skimmer because the initial load of material and nutrients in the water with the addition of all the rock will cause the skimmer to foam excessively. After the first few days the skimmer should stablize and less monitoring will be needed. Be certain that you have plenty of reserve for the waste the skimmer will be producing during these first few days.
5.Create constant water movement with a powerhead or air stone. Keep the area dimly lit to prevent algae blooms. You must have some light for the coralline algae to survive, but not too much.
6.Carry out 100% water changes twice a week. Scrub the rock between water changes to remove dead material. Remember to use pure water when mixing your salt water for the water changes otherwise you are just adding more nutrients to the system and the water change is useless. During the curing process you will also need to add purified freshwater to keep up with any evaporation to keep a constant salinity level in the tank or curing container water, your water’s specific gravity should be about 1.025.
7.Consider adding bottom drains to the container to speed draining and water changes.
8.Check water quality and test for ammonia. When ammonia tests are negative, the rock is safe for your aquarium.
If you add reprehensively cured rock to your aquarium too hurriedly, it will still be in the process of a die back, which can harm (if not kill) existing tank inhabitants with toxic levels of ammonia. In addition, if you do not maintain proper aeration and temperature during the curing process, then high levels of beneficial nitrifying bacteria will die, reducing the initial effectiveness of the rock as a biological filter. Live rock is not difficult to cure properly and the benefits of high quality live rock are well worth the effort. Be sure to follow the simple steps above, and you can be confident that you are adding clean, healthy live rock to your aquarium.
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