Lighting for curing rock

CaptainMorgan · 12/13/2009, 08:26 AM

Just submerged some live rock in a new tank 2 days ago(curing).I've been lighting the tank with pc and mh lights. Now i have brown algae and bleaching of plants. Flotida aquacultured rock with lots of life. Trying to save it all for now (sort of an instant reef). what's the best way to keep as much life as possible? Thanks in advance for the response. Oh tank is 180 with sump 35g. Lighting is 3x250 mh 4x96pc blue. Should i be running carbon?
Skimmer? was told by rock vendor carbon yes skimmer no. Hope that doesn't start anything.

Rhodan · 12/13/2009, 08:42 AM

You are going to have a lot of die off and a skimmer is a must. Carbon will help too. When I cured my rock it was just in a 39 gallon trash can with a recir pump major skimmer and no lights. With a water change everday. But once cured and I added the rock to my tank I still had a lot of life still present. Running your lights will cause alega to bloom with all the die off your chemical makeup in your water it going to be way off balanced until the rock is fully cured.

This recent post will help you too: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1756042

CaptainMorgan · 12/13/2009, 08:55 AM

From what i was told the rock was only out of water for a few hours. it has plants and coral and all kinds of cool stuff. Are you saying that most will die off? Ammonia is at.025 and has not risen since day 2.

Rhodan · 12/13/2009, 09:10 AM

depends. When the rock as out of the water did it completely dry, or did it come in come in contact with freshwater ? So depending on the time exposed outside of the saltwater....Including the shipping to your LFS, will determine how much die off you will have. But if this is wild rock....You will also run the chance of having unwanted pests or predator(s) that can just havoc a new tank. You need to do a lot of reading on this subject cause everyone curing rock is trying to minimize die off so there is several different "fine tuning" to curing rock....But the one thing that cannot help is rushing it. It is a time consuming process and there is no way to speed that up.

CaptainMorgan · 12/13/2009, 09:19 AM

Hey Rhodan, Thanks for the response.
It does have undesireables. Some of which I removed. Most live rock i've worked with did not come close to this and i'm a little confused about how to go about it. Thinking no fish until I know the environment better. I've done some research but it gets confusing (so many opinions). Does it help to clean the surface of the substrate during cycling?

Rhodan · 12/13/2009, 09:34 AM

I hate scrubbing and freash water dipping....Both will cause massive die off, cause like you I purchased my rock for the life it contains, why would I want to scrub it off. I have used freshwater in a spray bottle to remove the "undesireables" to try to minimize damage...But either way die off will occur....Even when I bought life rock from a another reefer that was in water in his tank, wrapped it in wet newspaper, and added it my sump...I still had die off. Pateince is the key here and a Nitrate Kit

CaptainMorgan · 12/13/2009, 09:54 AM

I have read I should check ammonia until undetectable then nitrite and then nitrate when those are undetectable. Is that correct. Again thanks.

12/13/2009, 08:26 AM	#1
CaptainMorgan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 34	Lighting for curing rock Just submerged some live rock in a new tank 2 days ago(curing).I've been lighting the tank with pc and mh lights. Now i have brown algae and bleaching of plants. Flotida aquacultured rock with lots of life. Trying to save it all for now (sort of an instant reef). what's the best way to keep as much life as possible? Thanks in advance for the response. Oh tank is 180 with sump 35g. Lighting is 3x250 mh 4x96pc blue. Should i be running carbon? Skimmer? was told by rock vendor carbon yes skimmer no. Hope that doesn't start anything.

12/13/2009, 08:42 AM	#2
Rhodan Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 201	You are going to have a lot of die off and a skimmer is a must. Carbon will help too. When I cured my rock it was just in a 39 gallon trash can with a recir pump major skimmer and no lights. With a water change everday. But once cured and I added the rock to my tank I still had a lot of life still present. Running your lights will cause alega to bloom with all the die off your chemical makeup in your water it going to be way off balanced until the rock is fully cured. This recent post will help you too: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1756042 __________________ - Matt D. Current Tank Info: 180g with 150g basement sump Last edited by Rhodan; 12/13/2009 at 08:54 AM. Reason: Added link

12/13/2009, 08:55 AM	#3
CaptainMorgan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 34	From what i was told the rock was only out of water for a few hours. it has plants and coral and all kinds of cool stuff. Are you saying that most will die off? Ammonia is at.025 and has not risen since day 2. Last edited by CaptainMorgan; 12/13/2009 at 09:02 AM.

12/13/2009, 09:10 AM	#4
Rhodan Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 201	depends. When the rock as out of the water did it completely dry, or did it come in come in contact with freshwater ? So depending on the time exposed outside of the saltwater....Including the shipping to your LFS, will determine how much die off you will have. But if this is wild rock....You will also run the chance of having unwanted pests or predator(s) that can just havoc a new tank. You need to do a lot of reading on this subject cause everyone curing rock is trying to minimize die off so there is several different "fine tuning" to curing rock....But the one thing that cannot help is rushing it. It is a time consuming process and there is no way to speed that up. __________________ - Matt D. Current Tank Info: 180g with 150g basement sump

12/13/2009, 09:34 AM	#6
Rhodan Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 201	I hate scrubbing and freash water dipping....Both will cause massive die off, cause like you I purchased my rock for the life it contains, why would I want to scrub it off. I have used freshwater in a spray bottle to remove the "undesireables" to try to minimize damage...But either way die off will occur....Even when I bought life rock from a another reefer that was in water in his tank, wrapped it in wet newspaper, and added it my sump...I still had die off. Pateince is the key here and a Nitrate Kit __________________ - Matt D. Current Tank Info: 180g with 150g basement sump

12/13/2009, 09:19 AM	#5
CaptainMorgan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 34	Hey Rhodan, Thanks for the response. It does have undesireables. Some of which I removed. Most live rock i've worked with did not come close to this and i'm a little confused about how to go about it. Thinking no fish until I know the environment better. I've done some research but it gets confusing (so many opinions). Does it help to clean the surface of the substrate during cycling?

12/13/2009, 09:54 AM	#7
CaptainMorgan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 34	I have read I should check ammonia until undetectable then nitrite and then nitrate when those are undetectable. Is that correct. Again thanks.