Curing Dry Rock is driving me mad!

[christyw]

Hi everyone,
So I purchased Macro Rocks dry rock and wanted to cure it in a trash can so the beneficial bacteria would help keep the algae away when I go to cycle the new tank.
15 days ago I set up 50 pounds of dry rock in a 32g plastic trash can (lid on to block out light) with saltwater (a salinity of 1.025), put in my heater and set to 85F, put it my pump (Synca 4.0) and turned it on. THEN I added ammonia (Pine Glo) bc. the rock is clean, very clean, and I would not have anything dying off like on live rock. The ammonia was really high 5ppm or higher (the paper read out only went to 5ppm) Did an approximate 50% water change. Got the ammonia down to 1.2 ppm. That was 8 days ago.
Today the ammonia level is still 1.2ppm, nitrites 0, and nitrates 2ppm.
HOW IN THE WORLD can my nitrates be 2ppm if my ammonia level hasn't dropped at all in 8 days and I have no nitrites. How long should it take to start seeing nitrites? It's seems like nitrates shouldn't even be in the reading now but it's showing up as 2ppm.
BTW, I'm using a red sea test kit.

Any help would be fantastic! Many thanks!!

[bmrigs]

I bought Marco Rocks and never cured them in a new tank setup. Why do you feel it is necessary?

[gone fishin]

I would discount any nitrate readings right now and would not even bother testing until the nitrites go down.

What is pine glo is it like pine sol? You may have an issue here if it is. The fragrances and soaps in it could very well render the rock useless.

[CStrickland]

pine glo makes a pure ammonia. My grandma uses it on her floors (waay old-school).
If it was me I'd prolly add some bacteria, either from a bottle like biospira or a chunk of live rock to seed.

[gone fishin]

AAHHH thanks C.

[christyw]

Thanks for the feedback!
I wanted to cure the marco dry rocks only because I heard on BRS and read on a few other sites that if you cure the dry rock it helps keep the green algae away during the full tank cycling process.
Forgot to mention I've been adding 5mls each day of MicroBacter7 for the last 8 days as well. Looks like I just need to keep waiting! Ugh...this hobby will teach me patients!

[gone fishin]

Yeah unfortunately curing goes at its own pace.

[thegrun]

It usually takes around 1o to 21 days for the ammonia to drop. As posted above you are not going to get reliable nitrate readings until the cycle is complete.

[CStrickland]

I don't see what curing the rock to develop the bacteria would do for algae. Are you sure they weren't talking about "cooking" (NOT WITH HEAT- it's a terrible name) the phosphates out of the rock? That prevents algae but not cause of bacteria, it's about pulling the fertilizer out of the rock itself before it can leach slowly into your tank.

[christyw]

I finally saw the ammonia level drop at day 19! Super excited now. The nitrite level is at 0.5ppm, so I'll wait to see that drop more before testing for the end product of nitrate.

[Rookie07]

best of luck...patience is the key

[christyw]

Hi CStrickland. Great question. Here's my best answer, but not sure if I'm totally correct. The idea with curing the dry rock is to develop the bacteria layer on the rock and by having this biofilm on the rock before going into the tank for the full cycle process, it significantly helps reduce the growth of algae by reducing the phosphates from taking hold during the tank cure and therefore less phosphates in the H2O then less algae. Since the Macro is so bright white, the algae is quickly attracted to it and can take a hold fast during the cycling process. I'm guessing the bacteria that is already on the rock will start consuming the phosphates that may be in the H20 faster then the algae can grow if they are present in abundance before going into a new tank for the full cycle. I obviously don't completely get it, but it sounds like either way, its better to have then not.

[A1t2o]

Plus, you will have cured LR without the raised nitrates from the curing process. That might have more of an effect than the bacteria layer. Just smell the water while it is cycling, do you really want to start your reef with that?

[Texas Paul]

Christy- fyi the Marco dry has no phosphates so I'm pretty sure you should be good there. I tested it for phosphate for a little over a week before I started my cycle. It comes from a dry rock quarry if memory serves me correct.

I like to use your cycling method for dry rock. Starting with new water in the display and cycling the rock somewhere else is a little bit more hassle, but the cycle water will have quite a bit of nitrate in it after the cycle is complete (and I don't want to use it). Last time I cycled using a 100 gal tub my nitrates reached at least 200. It was a lot easier keeping that out of the display. Best part of it was I got to hear my wife say "we have a horse trough in our house! It stinks! What's that for! That's not staying is it!!!" Lol....

Good luck!

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by christyw

Hi CStrickland. Great question. Here's my best answer, but not sure if I'm totally correct....

I think I get what your saying. It's really confusing cause people use curing and cooking to mean all diff things. Cooking is a stupid word for it anyway since you shouldn't ever heat up rock. Mostly when people say cure they mean build up the bacteria so that the cycle is shorter (you have nitrifiers on the rock to consume ammonia fish produce before it hurts them). When they say cook they usually mean get the phos out of the rock (mined rock can absolutely have phos bound to it, but the better vendors pre-cook the rock before they sell it).

I doubt having a bacterial film on the rock would stop algae from growing by making a physical barrier. You see algae pop up in really old tanks too like after a reefer goes on vacation and their sitter over feeds. But I do think that just from sitting in low phos water the rock will give up its phos, and I wouldn't be surprised if bacteria pull it out too since they need some to grow and for energy and they have the carbon and nitrogen (ammonia) so phos is all that's missing. I agree it can't hurt, I just think that's a pretty creative story the lfs spun for you, hadn't heard it before

For your first question, it's just really wonky in the beginning. There's a bunch of strains of bacteria at work, their populations bounce around and they canabalize each other for a while until everything is in balance. From the update it sounds like your moving in the right direction, good luck!